Strategic Management in Public Sector: Reforms, Contexts, Traditions

Dear Colleagues,

Strategic planning is a “deliberative, disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization (or other entity) is, what it does, and why” (Bryson 2018). The growth of strategic management models and ideas within public sector was prompted in part by administrative reforms that took place in the 1990s (Hood, 1991; Pollitt & Bouckaert 2004), and that have made it an increasingly common practice in governments around the world (Joyce 2015; Ferlie and Ongaro 2015).

Although strategic management as an area of academic inquiry typically uses a contingency framework (Walker 2013), scarce attention has been paid to the influence of context on the design and implementation of strategic management reforms.

The cultural, political, historical and administrative contexts shape the ways in which public administrations work and the ways in which they may be changed (Ongaro and van Thiel 2018; Pollitt and Bouckaert 2017). However, the study of the evolution of strategic management from the New Public Management to the New Public Governance has not taken into explicit consideration the role of context. Administrative culture as a context determinant could have an interesting impact on public strategic management, not only in the formulation of a strategy, but also in how effectively a given strategy is implemented (Smith and Vecchio 1993). Strategic planning and management in government may have similarities around the world but there will also be important variations in both practices and results (Joyce 2015).

Common contextual features, although appearing with varying intensity, include the attempts to recover from the 2007/2008 global financial and economic crisis and the trend to populism, while differences persist in terms of variations in the strategic capabilities of the national governments (Cepiku et al. 2016; Drumaux and Joyce 2018). Besides the contemporary features of the context, administrative history, culture and traditions are expected to influence strategic management (Meneguzzo 2007).

Do such administrative traditions persist and influence strategic management practice or are they fading as a result of the “globalization” of public management studies? Is there convergence in strategic management reforms and practices? If differences exist, are we overlooking them, by simply classifying countries in pilots and laggards?

The aim of the special issue is to study the relationship between strategic management and national contexts from a comparative perspective. Researches that contribute to our understanding of how context, and in particular different administrative traditions, affects strategic management in different countries are welcome. The guest editors will look for a diversity of articles from different states (Napoleonic, including Mediterranean, Rechtsstaat, and Anglo-Saxon and the Scandinavian types; Kickert 2007) and models of administrative culture (the Weberian and the “public interest” administrative cultures; Pollitt and Bouckaert 2004).

References

Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley & Sons.

Cepiku, D., Mussari, R., & Giordano, F. (2016). Local governments managing austerity: Approaches, determinants and impact. Public Administration, 94(1), 223-243.

Drumaux, A., & Joyce, P. (2018). The Strategic State and Public Governance in European Institutions. In Strategic Management for Public Governance in Europe (pp. 1-28). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Ferlie, E., & Ongaro, E. (2015). Strategic management in public services organizations: Concepts, schools and contemporary issues. Routledge.

Hood, C. (1991). A public management for all seasons?. Public Administration, 69(1), 3–19.

Joyce, P. (2015). Strategic Management in the Public Sector. Routledge.

Meneguzzo (2007), The study of public management in Italy. Management and the dominance of public law. In Kickert, W. (Ed.). The study of public management in Europe and the US: a competitive analysis of national distinctiveness. Routledge.

Ongaro, E., & van Thiel, S. (2018). Languages and public administration in Europe. In The Palgrave Handbook of Public Administration and Management in Europe (pp. 61-98). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Pollitt, C., & Bouckaert, G. (2017). Public management reform: a comparative analysis-into the age of austerity. Oxford University Press.

Pollitt, C., Bouckaert, G. (2004). Public management reform: A comparative analysis. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Smith C., Vecchio, R. (1993). Organizational Culture And Strategic Management: Issues In The Management Of Strategic Change. Journal of Managerial Issues, 5(1), 53-70.

Walker, R. M. (2013). Strategic Management and Performance in Public Organizations: Findings from the Miles and Snow Framework. Public Admin Rev, 73: 675-685.

Prof. Dr. Paul Joyce
Prof. Dr. Denita Cepiku
Prof. Dr. Marco Meneguzzo
Prof. Dr. Josef Bernhart
Guest Editors

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• Strategic management
• Administrative tradition
• Public management