Other Institutional Forms — A Brief Note

6. Other Institutional Forms — A Brief Note

Beyond the Co-operative Society and the Joint Stock Company, a student should be briefly aware

of two further institutional categories at this level (this note is deliberately kept short —

neither is the main focus of this chapter):

Public Sector Enterprise — a business undertaking owned and managed, wholly or majority, by

the Central or a State Government, set up to serve broader economic/social objectives

(infrastructure, essential goods/services, regional development) alongside or instead of pure

profit. Common organisational forms a public sector enterprise may take include a Departmental Undertaking (run as a government department, e.g. the postal service), a Statutory/Public Corporation (created by a special Act of Parliament/State Legislature, e.g. many state

electricity boards and financial corporations), or a Government Company (a company

incorporated under the Companies Act in which the government holds not less than 51% of the paid-

up share capital) — the last of these shows how a public sector enterprise can itself take the

Joint Stock Company form already studied in this chapter.

Multinational Company (MNC) — a company that is incorporated in one country (its home

country) but owns, controls, or manages production/service facilities in one or more other

countries, coordinating operations across national borders under a single organisational …