Analysis of the Comparative Efficiency of Public and Private Companies in the Oil Industry

In recent years, several competing trends have been observed in the world. On the one hand, the private sector is expanding in multiple countries, and the number of small enterprises, sole proprietors, and the self-employed is growing. On the other hand, there is a clear trend of globalization of public companies and their transformation into transnational state corporations. This trend is typical not only for developing countries, such as China, Russia, Brazil, and India, but also for countries with developed economies such as Norway, France, Italy, and South Korea. Most transnational state corporations are concentrated in the energy sector: nuclear industry, oil production and processing, transportation of oil, gas, and petroleum products.

Aim. The presented study aims to comparatively analyze the activities of public and private oil companies in Russia and globally.

Tasks. The authors determine the degree of compliance of Russian companies with the guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the corporate governance of public enterprises and identify the most efficient companies in the subject industry to determine the components of their efficiency and to develop a management benchmark based on them.

Results. The analysis of variance reveals a correlation between this parameter and the indicators of economic development of a public enterprise - revenue and EBITDA. DEA methodology is used to conduct a two-stage analysis of the comparative efficiency of the largest oil companies. At the first stage, the most efficient companies in the Russian oil industry are identified. At the second stage, Russian companies are compared with the largest oil companies in the United States, Great Britain, China, Norway, the Netherlands, and France. The author identifies the three most effective companies from the initial selection of business entities.

1. Abramov A., Radygin A., Chernova M. State-owned enterprises in the Russian market: Ownership structure and their role in the economy. Voprosy ekonomiki. 2016;(12):61-87. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.32609/0042-8736-2016-12

2. Abramov A., Radygin A., Chernova M., Entov R. State ownership and efficiency characteristics. Voprosy ekonomiki. 2017;(4):5-37. (In Russ.).

3. Cuervo-Cazurra A., Inkpen A., Musacchio A., Ramaswamy K. Governments as owners: State-owned multinational companies. Journal of International Business Studies. 2014;45(8):919-942. DOI: 10.1057/jibs.2014.43

4. Knutsen C.H., Rygh A., Hveem H. Does state ownership matter? Institutions’ effect on foreign direct investment revisited. Business and Politics. 2011;13(1):1-31. DOI: 10.2202/1469-3569.1314

5. Antonelli C., Amidei F.B., Fassio C. The mechanism of knowledge governance: State owned enterprises and Italian economic growth, 1950-1994. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics. 2014;31:43-63. DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2014.08.004

6. Benassi M., Landoni M. State-owned enterprises as knowledge-explorer agents. Industry and Innovation. 2019;26(2):218-241. DOI: 10.1080/13662716.2018.1529554

7. Rodriguez Bolivar M.P., Garde Sanchez R., Lopez Hernandez A.M. Managers as drivers of CSR in state-owned enterprises. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. 2015;58(5):777 801. DOI: 10.1080/09640568.2014.892478

8. Bruton G.D., Peng M.W., Ahlstrom D., Stan C., Xu K. State-owned enterprises around the world as hybrid organizations. The Academy of Management Perspectives. 2015;29(1):92-114. DOI: 10.5465/amp.2013.0069

9. On energy conservation and on improving energy efficiency and on amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation. Federal Law of November 22, 2009 No. 261-FZ (as amended on July 26, 2019). URL: http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_93978/ (accessed on 22.02.2020). (In Russ.).

10. On non-profit organizations. Federal Law of January 12, 1996 No. 7-FZ (as amended on August 2, 2018). URL: http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_8824/ (accessed on 22.02.2020). (In Russ.).