The impact of innovation training on successful outcomes in public–private partnerships

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly seen as a way of innovating the production and management of public services. However, the question of what drives innovation in partnerships has so far received only limited attention. Drawing on network governance and collaborative innovation literature, this article presents the findings from a survey among 260 Danish PPPs. The study shows that while innovation training has a significant effect on achieving innovation in PPPs, factors such as trust and institutional support only affect some innovation types. The findings demonstrate the importance of individual innovation skills and a differentiated understanding of innovation outcomes in PPPs.     

The optimality of public–private partnerships under financial and fiscal constraints

The government may delegate two sequential tasks (e.g., building and operating an infrastructure) to the same or different agents (i.e., partnership vs. sequential contracts). Agents are risk-neutral but face financial constraints, whereas the government's contractual capacity may be limited by the renegotiation-proofness and fiscal constraints. By relying on history-dependent incentives, the partnership contract corrects moral hazard more effectively than sequential contracts. Thus, it is socially preferred unless bundling different tasks deteriorates the agent's financial conditions. Our results shed new light on the role of firms' financial and government's fiscal conditions in driving the cost–benefit analysis of public–private partnerships.     

The bounded welfare pluralism: public–private partnerships under social management in China

This article discusses a new public–private partnership promoted by an emerging social management agenda in China. Based on an analysis of recent developments in social policy, the present study suggests that the inherent logic and local practice of social management has crowded out the space for societal sectors despite the proclaimed recognition of their social contribution. The collaboration of public and private entities in welfare provision by social management may end up merely co-opting civic organizations into taking responsibility for meeting welfare targets over which they have scant influence, while providing little support for them to thrive and prosper.     

Managing partner opportunism in public–private partnerships: the dynamics of governance adaptation

ABSTRACT

Controlling partner opportunism in public–private partnership (PPP) is still controversial despite its extensive adoption. We demonstrate that partner opportunism gets controlled by the extent to which deployed governance mechanisms are aligned with the governance needs of the transaction. As unique constraint, the institutional voids limit this alignment. If not aligned with governance needs, governance adaptation cycle continues, resulting in extensive or minimally acceptable partner opportunism. The organizations tolerate opportunism as long as they derive some economic value. In the context of institutional voids, the risk of exploitation of incomplete contracts is high but if governed effectively PPPs could still deliver value.     

How does public participation affect perceptions of public–private partnerships? A citizens’ view on push,pull, and network approaches in PPPs

ABSTRACT

In this study, we analysed US-based public opinion data to determine the influence of particular modes of participation on citizen perceptions of public–private partnerships (PPP). Our summary finding is that information dissemination can improve community support of PPPs, but interactive engagement is more important, and likely required, for assuring citizens that projects reflect their interests – an issue vital to the long-term sustainability of PPPs. Counter to expectations, respondents indicated a preference for meetings with private partner representatives over those with their public sector counterparts; implying the value of citizen-direct relationships in holding third-party providers to account.     

Public–private partnerships: lessons from the British approach

British governments have for many years sought to move activities from the public to the private sector. For the past decade, this has included the provision of public services not only operated but also financed by the private sector. In 2000, these private finance initiative (PFI) projects were incorporated into a wider programme of public–private partnerships (PPPs). Compared to conventionally financed procurement, the PFI approach has brought both benefits and costs. The balance of advantage is often unclear, and at the strategic level the main drivers appear still to be ideology and accounting. However in its practical application many useful lessons have been drawn and applied.     

Adapting public–private governance to the local context

Abstract

The article analyses the reform of water and sanitation services in Italy, which was introduced in 1994 and is still not fully implemented in many important respects. The introduction of a purchaser–provider split as envisaged in the national reform has had to come to terms with local power relationships and industrial and managerial status quo. In particular, network structures, leadership, and stakeholders' trade off along the top–down process from the policy design to final impacts prove to be relevant not only in reducing, but also in radically redefining objectives and outcomes of the policy. Thus, the concepts of governance and regulation at the local level are critically assessed in view of their dependence on the interplay of actors in local arenas, where power remains a prominent factor in determining processes and outcomes.     

The impact of supervisor–subordinate relationships on morale: implications for public and private sector nurses' commitment

This paper used leader–member exchange theory as a lens for comparing the impact of the supervisor–subordinate relationship on public and private nurses' perceptions of morale and affective commitment. Many countries that are part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development are experiencing nurse shortages, and this theoretical framework proved insightful into factors contributing to turnover. The findings suggested that private sector nurses are significantly more satisfied with their supervision, enjoy greater morale and are more committed to their organisations. However, both groups were only slightly satisfied with their supervisor–subordinate relationships, implying that present management practices are not ideal for promoting effective workplace relationships. Implications for health-care management are discussed.     

The role of the public sector in the provision of housing supply in Turkey, 1950–2009

This study examines the changing role of the public sector in Turkey with regard to housing provision since 1950, and particularly since 2000, and seeks to clarify how public intervention has affected housing provision and urban development dynamics in major cities. Three periods may be identified, with central government acting as a regulator in a first period characterized by a ‘housing boom’. During the second period, from 1980 to 2000, a new mass housing law spurred construction activity, although the main beneficiaries of the housing fund tended to be the middle classes. After 2000, contrary to emerging trends in both Northern and Southern European countries, the public sector in Turkey became actively involved in housing provision. During this process, new housing estates were created on greenfield sites on the outskirts of cities, instead of efforts being made to rehabilitate, restore or renew existing housing stock in the cities. Meanwhile, the concept of ‘urban regeneration’ has been opportunistically incorporated into the planning agenda of the public sector, and — under the pretext of regenerating squatter housing areas — existing residents have been moved out, while channels for community participation have been bypassed.     

Uncovering stakeholders in public–private relations on social media: a case study of the 2015 Volkswagen scandal

While researchers have focused on the nature of interpersonal communication on social media, few have investigated the patterns and structures of interactions among stakeholders engaged in an unexpected event. On September 18, 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation of the U.S. Clean Air Act to Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., citing Volkswagen’s inappropriate software that circumvented the United States’ emission standards. This research is systemically designed to examine the evolutionary structures of interpersonal issue networks on social media by focusing on the 2015 Volkswagen scandal on social media. The interpersonal network emerged and evolved to build a discourse on issues by stakeholders after the event. By using longitudinal data collected from the Volkswagen USA’s Facebook page between September 17 and 20, 2015, this research tests four hypothesized network structures, which are reciprocity, transitivity, popularity, and activity, which assess the evolution of interpersonal issue networks. The results of exponential random graph models, analyzing 4131 stakeholders, show that interpersonal issue networks on social media have evolved overtime into a set of reciprocal relations and stakeholders transmitting critical information to bystanders. The findings imply that stakeholders who have Volkswagen’s cars and stocks play a critical role in placating the scandal by mutually interacting with diverse bystanders on social media.     

Convergence of public and private enterprise wages in a transition economy: Evidence from a distributional decomposition in Vietnam, 2002–2014

We examine the transition of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Vietnam during the period 2002–2014 from a wage perspective by decomposing the differences in wage distributions between SOE employees and non-SOE employees. Although SOE employees received higher pay in 2002 because of differences in the characteristics and residuals, the differences in coefficients were minimal along the wage distribution during 2002–2014. The differences in characteristics decreased over time in the middle and middle-to-high wage distribution groups. University graduates were the main contributor to the difference in endowments. By 2014, the residuals difference vanished and the pay schemes between SOEs and non-SOEs converged.     

The challenge of constructing regional advantages in peripheral areas: The case of marine biotechnology in Tromsø, Norway

The idea of constructing regional advantage (CRA) has recently been emphasized by scholars as a new way for firms to gain competitiveness in a globalizing learning economy. The rationale behind the idea is that advantages in a regional industry can be constructed by proactive public–private partnership. This article uses, and examines the relevance of, the CRA framework in analysing the development and functioning of the marine biotechnology industry in Tromsø, which is a fairly peripheral region in Norway. Despite the fact that much effort has been put into education and R&D at the University of Tromsø and related research institutes, and the fact that many public policy tools have intended to create a blooming marine biotechnology industry in the area, the results have so far been meagre. This article explains the rather weak results in terms of the number of firms and jobs in the marine biotechnology industry in Tromsø as being due to a lack of synthetic knowledge on how to industrialize research results and little spillover of market knowledge. With regard to more general theoretical lessons linked to the CRA framework, this article argues for seeing the concept of related variety in a broader industrial and geographical sense in peripheral regions.     

Personnel Formalization and the Enhancement Of Teamwork: A public–private comparison

Formalization has long been regarded as one of the most distinctive features of the public sector. Personnel systems in the public sector are particularly formalized due to merit system protections and strong due process requirements. In much of the contemporary public management literature, personnel formalization implies red tape, referring to excessive rules that bring negative outcomes such as employee frustration. The present study offers an alternative view, suggesting that personnel formalization results in high-performance work practices, particularly teamwork, by ensuring that organizations attract the right employees and provide employees with various protections such as worker safety, procedural justice and conflict resolution. Given that public organizations are structured more formally, public sector employees are more likely to work in teams than their peers in the private sector. The authors test this view by using variables from the National Organization Survey (NOS) data set and find strong statistical support. Therefore, personnel formalization is not necessarily equivalent to red tape and not always detrimental to the public sector. It enhances teamwork, a central element of high-performance work practices.     

The autonomy – control balance in Flemish arm's length public agencies

Abstract

This article aims at contributing to the study of arm's length agencies by focusing on what are considered to be core concepts of agencification: autonomy and control of public agencies. The balance between autonomy and control is studied for a set of Flemish public agencies, from three angles: (1) To what extent can we observe the practitioner model of disaggregation, managerial freedom and results based control in Flanders?; (2) Which autonomy-control balances do we find empirically? Departing from two extreme cases – control loss and false autonomy – I conclude that there is a lot of variation amongst Flemish public agencies as to their autonomy-control balances; and (3) Based on a third set of empirical conclusions, I try to broaden the normative discussion on the accountability debate that surrounds arm's length agencies, by proposing a broader concept of steering and control. I conclude the article by proposing four directions for future research on this specific topic of agency research.     

Motivations and performance of public to private transactions： An international study

This article deals with the motivations and the different sources of value from public to private transactions in Europe, USA and Asia from 2000 to 2007. We determine eight main motivations （tax savings, incentive realignment, control, free cash flow, growth of prospects, transaction costs, takeover defence and undervaluation）. Then, we evaluate the shareholder wealth by measuring the offered premiums and the CAAR （cumulative average abnormal return）. Finally, we analyse the impact of public to private to the wealth shareholder. The main sources for firms from going private are incentive realignment, free cash flow （mostly for Asia）, the economy of cost transaction and undervaluation. Furthermore, taxation benefit is a source of wealth effects for Asia and family blockholder （for the control hypothesis） is significant for Europe. Premiums and CAAR are the most important for the USA and Asia. The main observation that we have made is that Asia gets the same behavior as the USA.     

‘Sweet deals’: State-owned enterprises,corruption and repeated contracts in public procurement

We show how a price analysis of stable relations between customer and supplier in the public procurement of homogeneous goods can help differentiate opportunistic from honest behaviour among economic agents. We consider two types of stable relations: repeated procurements and connections based on the state ownership of suppliers. On the basis of a large dataset on the procurement of granulated sugar in Russia from 2011 to 2013, we find that for private suppliers, prices of repeated contracts were lower compared to one-time deals when procured through more transparent procedures and higher when procured through non-transparent procedures. For non-transparent procedures, we observe significant overpricing of contracts with state-owned suppliers compared to private suppliers, especially in the case of repeated contracts, whereas for competitive e-auctions, there is only a small difference between the contract prices of state-owned suppliers and private suppliers.     

Why do the poor live in cities? The role of public transportation

More than 19 percent of people in American central cities are poor. In suburbs, just 7.5 percent of people live in poverty. The income elasticity of demand for land is too low for urban poverty to come from wealthy individuals' wanting to live where land is cheap (the traditional explanation of urban poverty). A significant income elasticity for land exists only because the rich eschew apartment living, and that elasticity is still too low to explain the poor's urbanization. The urbanization of poverty comes mainly from better access to public transportation in central cities.     

Why do U.S. states adopt public–private partnership enabling legislation?

Public–private partnerships, or PPPs, have the potential to address a range of urban economic issues. As of late 2012, thirty-two U.S. states and Puerto Rico had enacted legislation enabling the use of PPPs. PPP enabling laws address such issues as the treatment of unsolicited PPP proposals, prior legislative approval of PPP contracts, and the mixing of public and private funds. We utilize 13 key elements of PPP enabling laws to develop an index reflecting the degree to which a state’s law is encouraging or discouraging of private infrastructure investment. We examine why states pass such laws, and why some states pass legislation that is relatively more favorable to private investment. We consider demand side, supply side, and political/institutional drivers of passage. Vehicle registration growth and greater traffic congestion both increase the likelihood of passage, as does political agreement between a state’s executive and legislative branches. Traffic congestion, growth in per-capita income, and the percent of Republicans in the state’s House of Representatives all increase a law’s favorability to private investment. There is little indication that traditional public finance variables, such as federal highway aid, affect the likelihood of passage or the favorability of a state’s PPP enabling law.     

Public–private innovation: barriers in the case of mobility as a service in West Sweden

Departing from open innovation (OI), this case study explores the development of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in West Sweden. An analysis of 19 interviews reveals how representatives from involved actors perceive internal and external barriers as hampering the regional public transport authority’s attempts to collaborate with private actors, and that the perception of barriers is incongruent across public and private actors. Transferability to other cases of public–private OI is discussed, and implications for public actors are proposed. The paper expands the knowledge of preconditions for MaaS’ development and of the unique conditions for OI in public–private settings.     

Public Money and Mickey Mouse: Evaluating performance and accountability in the Hong Kong Disneyland joint venture public–private partnership

Abstract

Joint venture public–private partnerships (PPPs) allow partners to share in the risks and rewards of joint production. But the literature offers little theoretical guidance on assessing performance and accountability in this type of PPP. This article fills this gap by examining joint ventures as PPPs and formulates a comprehensive performance evaluation framework. Its application to the case of Hong Kong’s Disneyland Resort reveals a project that has endured several challenges related to achieving objectives, ensuring cooperation among partners, and upholding principles of democratic accountability. Outcomes from this study offer new insight into an underexplored aspect of PPP research.