This analysis is based on the 3 year experience of privatisation in Bulgaria and on the case studies of 5 privatized enterprises which were to examine the concrete effect of privatization on their general economic and financial state - the restructuring of their business activity, market positions (suppliers and clients), technological restructuring, change of management system, the workforce and the development of employment, the system of remuneration, crediting, and the final financial results. The aim of the present paper is, by covering all of the above problems, to summarize the principal problems and achievements of the privatized enterprises and make certain recommendations with respect to privatization policy.

The analysis of the post-privatization development and state of enterprises subject to transactions under the provisions of the Privatization Law is to be regarded as a first attempt to outline and assess emerging general tendencies. There are some methodological issues wich have to be taken into account when the outcomes are discused:

First, the relatively short period subject to analysis and evaluation.(THe first privatisation transaktion was concluuded in 1993).

Second, the relatively small number of cases available for analysis, owing to the limited scope of the privatization process.

Third, the insufficient representativeness of the enterprises under consideration owing to the uneven progress of the privatization process by sectors and types of enterprises and activities. Notwithstanding these reservations, there do seem to be enough data about the post-privatization state and development of the enterprises to formulate certain general conclusions.

The enterprises under a review have been selected on a typological principle. The enterprises were privatized about a year ago and it is thus possible to assess their operation before and after privatization. The cases have been chosen to include the three basic types of towns - the capital - 1, large towns - 2, small towns - 2. Insofar as the Privatization Law provides opportunities for the use of various techniques, the study covers cases of implementation of different privatization techniques (open tenders, bargaining with a potential buyer, personnel buy-out) . The aim is to consider the extent to which the privatization technique predetermines the functioning of the already privatized enterprise. The cases under study include enterprises privatized by the three groups of authorities under Art. 3 of the Privatization Law - the Privatization Agency, the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Industry, and the municipalities of Gotse Delchev and Dimitrovgrad.

It is to be noted that two of the cases are from the sector of trade, which is accounted for by the fact that the largest number of privatization transactions have been concluded in this sector.

In addition to the five comprehensive case studies, the specific conclusions and assessments are also based on information about post-privatization state and development of all privatised enterprises, largely in the sphere of services and trade. Even if fragmentary, this information reveals certain common characteristics of specific aspects of their activity. They confirm some of the tendencies indicated by the basic case studies.

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