The Stakeholders of State Owned Companies (SOCs)

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to indicate and characterize the stakeholder of the State Owned Company (SOC).

Methodology: All fi ndings are based on classic functional research and consists of regulation analysis and large sample analysis conducted among SOCs’ management and supervisory boards’ members and offi cials of Polish Ministry of Treasury that supervise SOCs. The research sample contains all the SOCs in which the shareholder’s rights are performed by the Minister of Treasury and all the ministry offi cials that supervise these companies.

Findings: The stakeholders of the SOCs are members of their management and supervisory boards and their employees. Partially (from some perspective), the minister, vice ministers of treasury and the ministry officials can be also regarded as the stakeholders. The shareholder, i.e. the treasury may not be regarded as the independent (autonomous) stakeholder, since it is represented by the minister who is attended by the ministry officials.

Implications: Generally, the article’s conclusions may relate not only to the Polish SOCs but to relevant companies in other countries. The problems of SOCs’ stakeholders and the infl uence of political and administrative factors on SOCs may constitute important fi eld of the corporate governance research.

Value: This research is unique due to the fact that it contains all the Polish SOCs. Their interdisciplinary character provides to indicate practical implications of the regulation in force. The high rate of return achieved in the research enables to conduct reliable reasoning.