Title: The state as entrepreneur : a case study of the government shareholding agency in Solomon Islands, it's origin and development

Abstract: The majority of the countries of the South and West Pacific have achieved independence in the past two decades. Most of these very small countries have become accustomed to using publlic enterprise to promote economic growth more rapid than that which obtained under earlier colonial regimes. Before independence, publlic enterprise was not uncommon, particularly in the field of public utilities, and, to a lesser extent, in the financial sectors - as the several Agricultural and Industrial Loans Boards of the region indicate - but it was nowhere extensive. The loosening of colonial ties at the time of independence, however, sparked off a veritable explosion in its use. Governments, eager to speed up socio-economic growth but faced with relatively undeveloped private sectors, established public enterprises throughout their economies. As a result, one problem has been that of effective coordination and control. Most governments have chosen to place their various public enterprises under a relevant department, ultimately responsible, through ministers, to cabinet and parliament. The Fiji Sugar Corporation, Western Samoa Trust Estates Corporation, Tonga Commodities Board, and many others vital to the well-being of their respective national economies, are dealt in with in this fashion.