Abstract:
In this case, the president of Bolivia and a team of officials grapple with questions of how to set up a model for privatizing a number of state-owned enterprises. In the 1980s, Bolivia, like most other Latin American countries, embraced a more market-oriented development strategy that required the state to intervene less in the economy and to focus more on the essential tasks of government. In the case, privatization is high on the leadership's policy agenda in large part because it is the unfinished business of the neo-liberal economic reform program that was first adopted in 1985. In addition, the president has a number of specific goals he wishes to achieve through the process of privatization, such as eliminating a large source of public sector corruption and responding to problems of poverty and inequity in the country.
Learning Objective:
This case can be used to provide a vehicle of discussion for the best course of action in initiating privatization in a developing country to provide a driving force for economic and social development.