Explores the record of alternative urban service delivery in selected world areas and assesses the prospects for new designs intended to implement specific programs. It is a continuation of a project which in 1999 culminated in a book entitled Bureaucracy and the Alternatives in World...

States that public administration reform has been a global phenomenon over the last two decades, but that its justification, impact and effectiveness are strongly contested. Reveals that evidence across developed countries varies, but in developing countries conclusions are more difficult to...

Purpose – In Europe, the alignment of national public administration policies and practices to EU directions is regarded as a key factor in the process of integration. Administrative convergence within European public administration systems places new demands on human resource managers in...

Purpose – This paper reports on the research conducted into the adaptations Canadian public sector auditors have made to the emergence of e‐commerce and e‐business in the delivery of public services. Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive review of the literature was completed as...

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore the export of new public management (NPM) to developing countries and to describe and evaluate the introduction of these initiatives in very different environments from their origins. Design/methodology/approach – The article traces the...

Purpose – Sets out to present current dynamics of public management reform in Austria, a country that is characterized by institutional governance features (federal structure, legalistic Rechtsstaat tradition) often described as an obstacle to management‐oriented reforms. The paper's focus...

Purpose – The paper proposes to look at the transformational strategies undertaken in relation to the 1989‐1997 French administrative reform process and to examine their impact on the ministerial field services through using Burgelman's “model of the interaction of strategic behaviour,...

Purpose – The new public management (NPM) agenda is transforming the public sector in many countries. However, there have been criticisms of NPM, particularly over its emphasis on quantification, results orientation and the measurement of performance to the possible detriment of service...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse the factors influencing the relative success and failure of new public management (NPM) initiatives in the developing world, with particular reference to Singapore and Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach – Secondary materials...

Purpose – To present a perspective on partnership grounded in empirical management research. This paper is based on a keynote presentation by the author at a conference on partnership in Durham in 2004. Design/methodology/approach – It reflects on the particular challenges of realising...