The public sector has continually faced reforms, modernizations and institutional changes. For the special case of Germany, empirical studies illustrate a high relevance of public enterprises (PEs) for fulfilling public purposes and providing public services. An increasing pressure for effectiveness and efficiency of PEs implicates (new) requirements for analytical procedures to review public tasks in general, but also for making best institutional choices. Based on the concepts of a critical review of tasks and an in‐depth performance analysis as well as legal obligations, three major PEs at the federal level are systematically analysed according to their strategic relevance and specificity. However, the study provides a mixed picture. Requirements for the explanation of the public interest of the analysed PEs are not sufficiently met. The paper provides a conceptual framework to assess the role and performance of PEs as well as promising results and further implications, both for researchers and practitioners.

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