SASOL. From State-Owned Enterprise to Chemical Leader: Management and Strategy, 1952–1980

  • Grietjie Verhoef
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Central Issues in Contemporary Economic Theory and Policy book series (CICETP)

Abstract

In 1951, the South African state established the South African Oil and Gas Corporation (SASOL), which became the world leader in the manufacturing of synthetic fuel. By the early 1970s, management insisted on privatization and the listing of the company on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. This chapter investigates the making of the managers of SASOL: their personality traits, their background (as sociocultural context and education) and their relationship with government’s exponents as well as their industry links. The chapter shows the role of independent professional management in securing operational efficiency and its impact on facilitating an exit strategy from the state ownership.

Keywords

State-owned enterprise Synthetic fuel Professional engineers Management Parliament 

JEL Classification

Q3 Q4 L1 L2 L5 P4 
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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Grietjie Verhoef
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of AccountancyUniversity of JohannesburgAuckland ParkSouth Africa

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