Summary:

This paper focuses on the balance between superior governmental control and
enterprise autonomy by examining the Norwegian Hospital Reform. We describe the
enterprise model and give a description of the policy instruments that the government,
as owner, has for exercising power and control vis-à-vis the health enterprises. How the
trade-off between autonomy and control is experienced and practiced is analyzed by use
of survey data collected among regional executive board members, and illustrative cases.
The trade-off can be characterized as ambiguous and unstable and we ask if it is possible
to achieve a plus-sum game between political control and autonomy.