Privatization and Firms Performance in Iran

Abstract

During the last two decades, privatization has been one of the most important program of developed and developing governments. In Iran, privatization is projected as an important economic policy to reach higher efficiency in economy. The aim of this study is comparative investigation of the effect of privatization on firms performance during the period 1999 to 2011 regarding modern and traditional performance evaluation measurement. To do so, privatized firms are considered as research population and putting some conditions, 71 firms are selected to be studied. Privatization is captured by free float as independent variable. In this study, traditional performance evaluation measurements are Return of Assets (ROA), Return of Equity (ROE), Return of Sale (ROS) and Operating Income (OI), and modern performance evaluation measurements are Economic Value Added (EVA), Tobins Q and Market Value Added (MVA). The results of the study show that privatization affects firms performance based on EVA, MVA, Tobins Q, ROE, OI but not based on ROA and ROS. In addition, the results show that there is difference between the effects of privatization on firms performance with respect to modern and traditional performance evaluation measurement.

Keywords: Privatization, Firms Performance, Modern and Traditional Performance Evaluation Measurement

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