During the 1980s and 1990s, the public sector in the Netherlands has b
een subject to considerable change to adjust it to the demands of the
market and increasingly greater international competition. This has re
sulted in the adoption of two techniques of organizational reform: one
involving functional decentralization and the other corporatization l
eading, in several cases, to the partial or full divestment of the com
panies which have been formed. The corporatization and divestment init
iatives are the particular focus of this discussion. It is acknowledge
d that significant results have been achieved, but there is still more
to be done to enhance the overall performance of the public sector. (
C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.