Against All Odds!: A Strategic Analysis of the Failures of Three State-Owned Firms

Over the past few decades, scholars have demonstrated that government policies and supports can foster innovation, help new firms to overcome liability of newness and provide conditions for local firms to thrive (Chu, 2011; Edquist, 2011). It has also been demonstrated that such supports can provide the basis for local firms’ competitive advantage (Petersen and Pedersen, 2002). However, scholars have remained relatively silent on how government support for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) can become a source of liability and even lead to such firms’ failure (Doganis, 2006). This dearth of scholarly work is puzzling given that such research has the potential to enrich our understanding of government policies, processes and factors that lead to business failure.