Two years after the adoption of the Privatization Law, even if slowly, privatization in Bulgaria has made considerable progress. It is expressed in the concluded over 328 transactions (of which 170 involving state-owned enterprises, and 158 - municipal ones) and total revenues from privatization exceeding BLV 1,300m. Privatization procedures have been instituted for about 500 enterprises. One of its chief goals, along with the withdrawal of the state from the management of the economy on a microeconomic level, is for the enterprises to be restructured and, once they have acquired real owners, for their activity to be based on the principles of competition and the market.

The different privatization methods provide different ways of achieving those objectives. The capital (market) privatization favored by Bulgarian legislation is still the dominating privatization method. One of its unquestionable advantages is the speedy restructuring and adjustment of the privatized enterprises owing to the presence of a real owner-entrepreneur and the ensuing more efficient management system. The effect of privatization is ultimately to be sought in the activity of the enterprises and their economic state following denationalization.

The study of 5 privatized enterprises was to examine the 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 provisional attempt to outline and assess emerging general tendencies. The non-final and incomplete nature of the assessments, as well as their provisional character, are accounted for by the following circumstances:

First, the relatively short period subject to analysis and evaluation.

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 analysis covers five case studies. They 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 - 3, 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. 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 another 10-12 enterprise, 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.

The case studies were conducted through a questionnaire elaborated in advance, which makes it possible to draw comparisons and to outline the common tendencies.