the mid 1980s, government departments with a strong trading function were corporatised as state-owned enterprises and expected to operate as commercial, independent and profitable organisations in deregulated markets. Due to the nature of some state-owned businesses, however, monopolistic positions were sometimes difficult to avoid, enterprises' as was the case with Airways. Under the reforms, shares in state-owned enterprises were owned by the government, and they were required to lodge annual Statements of Corporate Intent, outlining their operational plans and the associated financial implications. Further, there was an enterprises would be in a position to pay regular dividends expectation that state-owned to the government. In the words of Airways general manager, Bruce Heesterman, we're commercialised, we don't have this perceived drain on government fun 7 "Because Despite some scepticism, New Zealand's reforms and indeed some individual enterprises created through them have been recognised for their success. state-owned This success led to changing government views and, in 2006, New Zealand's Labour-led enterprises to state-owned government formally announced a policy change encouraging expand the scope of their business into related areas, with expectations of increased profits and dividends.