"A country is my company" approach represents the argument that the ruling
businessman sees the country as his company, and therefore, he believes that it
should be run like one. Thus, the government should copy good business practices
and corporate culture from the private sector. To reform the government bureaucracy,
one needs to borrow practices and prescriptions from the business world and its
body of knowledge. However, reform diffusion of management ideas and techniques
into government may not be possible and must be done carefully.4 The problems of
transferring business models to the world of government have been pointed out by
scholars of governance and new public management.5
This article contends that "a country is my company" approach reinforces the
phenomenon of prime ministerialisation as the administrative reforms introduced
by the Thaksin government demonstrate this clearly. More specifically, the author
argues that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is using his own version of a
business approach to government as a means to enhance his control of the government
and the state. Even though Thaksin has not clearly spelt out what he actually means
when he refers to the superiority of the business approach, his "a country is my
company" approach toward government can be analysed by examining the actions,
opinions, and stands taken by his government since he assumed the premiership
three years ago.
The "a country is my company" approach toward government reform has nine
assumptions or beliefs namely: the Prime Minister as the super Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) of the country; government growth is a sign of company's prosperity;
CEO-management style works well in government; employment by contract increases
efficiency; destroy business competitors and silence government opposition; as
voters are like customers, they must be kept happy; marketing techniques must be
employed in government; government must serve the business interests of capitalist
politicians; and fairness is defined in capitalist terms. These assumptions and their
enhancement of prime ministerialisation are discussed in the following section.