1. Concept: State-owned enterprises, in international practice, only refer to enterprises invested or controlled by the central government or the federal government of a country. The nature of state-owned enterprises is the nature of enterprises owned by the whole people. The so-called enterprises owned by the whole people are essentially enterprises whose means of production are owned by the whole people. The nature of enterprises owned by the whole people means that the means of production are owned by the whole people. Therefore, the nature of the so-called state-owned enterprises is essentially the nature that the means of production belong to all people and all enterprises.
Second, the classification of state-owned enterprises
1. A wholly state-owned company is fully funded by the government and regulated by the Company Law. This kind of enterprise takes social public goal as the main goal, followed by economic goal. Such enterprises are mainly typical natural monopoly enterprises and resource enterprises, such as railways, tap water, natural gas, electricity, airports and so on. From an economic point of view, the products or services of such enterprises should be priced at marginal cost or average cost to maximize social welfare, rather than seeking to grab more surplus from consumers.
2. State-owned holding companies are funded by the government and regulated by the Company Law. This kind of enterprise has both social goals and economic goals, which are supported by economic goals. Such enterprises are mainly quasi-natural monopoly enterprises and pillar industries of national economic development, such as electronics, automobiles, medicine and airports. It should be noted that such enterprises do not directly provide public services, but indirectly provide public services by paying dividends and bonuses to the state finance. If these enterprises have to perform some public functions due to special circumstances, the losses caused will be compensated by the state finance. However, after compensation, dividends cannot be exempted. Of course, through agreement and accounting, the two can offset each other.
Strictly speaking, state-owned joint-stock companies should be called "state-owned joint-stock companies" or "government-owned joint-stock companies". They are not state-owned enterprises, but the government is just an ordinary shareholder and is regulated by the company law. There is no doubt that such enterprises and general competitive enterprises have no mandatory social goals, and economic goals are dominant. If they also provide public services, it is an act of consciously fulfilling social responsibilities and should be encouraged and supported. For such enterprises, the government's share participation is only to strengthen the strength of the state-owned economy. In addition, the government has no other additional obligations to such enterprises.