Privatization isn’t new. It’s been happening all over the world for many years. From that perspective, it’s a common type of occurrence. Even so, think of the total change that occurs to those organisations.
A recent case is that of Queensland Rail, a government owned corporation operating rail services, founded in 1865. That’s not a trivial number of years. Years where the organisation was run essentially as a government entity. Last year, the state government decided to split off the freight side of the business, for sale at an initial public offering.
This is a massive change for the organisation. The regulatory system changes, the culture changes, the industrial relations changes. It’s going to be a time of learning for the staff. For-profit entities just aren’t managed like governments.
One thing they’ve done well is to split off another company, QR National, slightly early (although not nearly early enough for me). This allows them to build up the management and reporting structures in the company necessary for an IPO. It also allows them to position the company to maximise the benefit received at IPO. It’ll be an interesting company to watch over the next few years.