An enduring feature of new public management (NPM) in many countries has been the move to create more autonomous, 'complete' organisations such as universities, hospitals and social service agencies. Often referred to as 'corporatisation', this process is assumed to be leading to the emergence of new organisational forms with dedicated management functions and a greater focus on strategy. However, these assumptions remain largely untested and rely heavily on 'technical' accounts of organisational restructuring, ignoring the potential influence of institutional pressures and internal political dynamics. In this paper, we address this concern focusing on the case of acute care public hospitals that have undergone corporatisation (to become Foundation Trusts) in the English National Health Service. Using administrative data spanning six years (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012), the analysis shows that corporatisation is having mixed effects.While it is associated with a shift in the focus of managers to strategic concerns, it has not led to an expansion of management functions overall. Both tendencies are found to be mediated by institutional pressures, in the form of media scrutiny, and, indirectly, by the involvement of clinical professions in management. These results advance ongoing debates about the emergence of new organisational forms in the public sector, highlighting the limitations of technical accounts of change and raising the possibility that corporatisation is leading to organisations that are both more managed and undermanagered at the same time. KeywordsCorporatisation, contingency theory, institutional theory, management.1 'Corporatisation and the emergence of (under-managered) managed organisations: the case of English public hospitals' Abstract An enduring feature of new public management (NPM) in many countries has been the move to create more autonomous, 'complete' organisations such as universities, hospitals and social service agencies. Often referred to as 'corporatisation', this process is assumed to be leading to the emergence of new organisational forms with dedicated management functions and a greater focus on strategy. However, these assumptions remain largely untested and rely heavily on 'technical' accounts of organisational restructuring, ignoring the potential influence of institutional pressures and internal political dynamics. In this paper, we address this concern focusing on the case of acute care public hospitals that have undergone corporatisation (to become Foundation Trusts) in the English National Health Service. Using administrative data spanning six years (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012), the analysis shows that corporatisation is having mixed effects.While it is associated with a shift in the focus of managers to strategic concerns, it has not led to an expansion of management functions overall. Both tendencies are found to be mediated by institutional pressures, in the form of media scrutiny, and, indirectly, by the involvement of clinical professions in m...

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A growing evidence base suggests that increasing the involvement of clinical professionals on governing boards of hospitals has a positive impact on organizational performance.However, less is known about the wider conditions that influence this process and whether recent moves to restructure the governance of public hospitals, extending their formal autonomy, has made any difference to the outcome of clinical involvement on patient experience. Using four years of data and concentrating on the acute hospital sector in the English National Health Service (NHS), this study shows that clinical participation on hospital governing boards can significantly improve the patient experience of the careprovided. Yet, whereas a more autonomous organizational form (Foundation Trust status) does not seem to produce positive effects on its own, patient experience appears to markedly improve in those organizations that have both higher levels of clinical involvement in their strategic apex and greater flexibility in decision-making.

This article examines the failure path of newly-incorporated companies and determines the impact of founder director/board characteristics on survival. Hypotheses are tested regarding director characteristics within a discrete-time hazard model which controls for macro-economic conditions, recursive relationships and all non-insolvency exits. Regarding the estimation method, analysis of the variables’ average marginal effects is helpful in unravelling the subtleties of these effects, being used to confirm the magnitude and economic significance of the results. The study utilises a unique dataset of more than 5.8m company-year observations (near population) of newly-incorporated companies and early-stage board characteristics. Results suggest that the background, experience, networking, gender diversity and composition of new boards are important in determining the trajectory of success or failure of new firms.

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