scholarly journals Resilient managed competition during pandemics: lessons from the Italian experience

Author(s):  
Germà Bel ◽  
Marc Esteve

One of the main governance decisions that policymakers need to make is whether to implement public services via centralized or decentralized forms. As Costa et al. discuss in their article, when public services are implemented via competing systems, service providers contend to provide good services with the ultimate objective of gaining market quota. This is known as managed competition (MC), as the authorities will have to manage the panoply of public and private organizations offering the service. The alternative is to manage the service more centrally, in what it is identified as vertical integration. As the authors describe, several governments around the globe have abandoned their vertical integrated models in favour of decentralized models. This is the case, as the authors recall, for most health services in Europe. While there is an emerging body of evidence suggesting that decentralized MC outperforms vertically integrated models both in terms of efficiency and in terms of service quality, little is known on how these systems react under different circumstances. This means, for example, how these systems can cope with a sudden increase in their service demands.

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-486
Author(s):  
MAGNUS LINNARSSON ◽  
MATS HALLENBERG

AbstractThis article analyses the inherent conflict between public and private interest from a long time-perspective, using the example of Sweden from 1620 to 2000. The main argument is that there have been two equally decisive historical shifts in the political discourse on how to organize public services in the past: First, a shift from an early modern patriarchal discourse to a more expansive articulation of publicness during the nineteenth century. Second, a shift toward privatization and deregulation in the late twentieth century. Both these shifts must be considered to fully explain the changing forms of public organization up to the present day. Theoretically, the concept of “publicness” is used to explain the political discourses on the organization of public services. Drawing on three discursive chains, the argument is that the political development was affected by the politicians’ conception of the political community, the form of organization, and by perceptions of values such as equal access and modernity. Our results demonstrate how and why political arguments for or against private service providers have motivated profound changes in the way public services are perceived of and organized.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-129
Author(s):  
Adriana Grigorescu ◽  
Cristina Lincaru ◽  
Speranta Pîrciog ◽  
Razvan-Ion Chiţescu

Abstract The last years were of profound transformation in public services that knows more or less the challenge from the private sector. A second dimension of competitiveness for the public services staring from 2007 was the free access of the citizens to at least education and health services in European Union. The paper aims to show the evolution of the cohabitation of the public and private sectors on the services of public interest, their development and evolution in different regions. Identifying and highlighting the key issues in competitiveness and quality of the services provided, will give us the main lines for the further development and public policies that should be considered. Considering the cohesion policy of European Union, an analysis of the public and private sectors in public services in Romanian counties could drive us to a conclusion about the affordability and the quality of the services. Using the statistics it can be show the regional distribution of the service providers especially for education, health, water supply and other services. The integrated analysis we offer a global picture of the regional potential and development. Based on the findings the public decision makers could better set up the sectorial public policies and the public spending. Never the less, the European support could be also directed to increase the quality and efficiency of the public services.


Author(s):  
Petra van den Bekerom ◽  
Joris van der Voet ◽  
Johan Christensen

Abstract Citizens’ perceptions of the performance of public service providers are a central concern for academics and policy-makers alike. A growing body of behavioral public administration research emphasizes the psychological biases that shape the perceptions of citizens. This article makes a novel contribution to this debate by examining the interaction between politically motivated bias and cognitive bias in citizens’ performance appraisals. It asks: Are citizens more negative about failing service delivery by public organizations than by private organizations, and if so, why? This is investigated through a survey experiment conducted among a representative sample of 2,623 Dutch citizens. The main finding of the study is that public organizations are punished more severely by citizens for negative performance information than private organizations, but this tendency is concentrated among citizens who have a preference for private service provision and varies across service areas. Our study shows not only that citizens’ processing of information about public services is subject to various forms of bias, but also that these biases interact in shaping how citizens view public organizations. Further investigating these complex dynamics is an important task for behavioral public administration scholars seeking to understand the specific implications of behavioral dynamics for the broad range of organizations providing public services.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1005
Author(s):  
Rakan A. Alsowail ◽  
Taher Al-Shehari

As technologies are rapidly evolving and becoming a crucial part of our lives, security and privacy issues have been increasing significantly. Public and private organizations have highly confidential data, such as bank accounts, military and business secrets, etc. Currently, the competition between organizations is significantly higher than before, which triggers sensitive organizations to spend an excessive volume of their budget to keep their assets secured from potential threats. Insider threats are more dangerous than external ones, as insiders have a legitimate access to their organization’s assets. Thus, previous approaches focused on some individual factors to address insider threat problems (e.g., technical profiling), but a broader integrative perspective is needed. In this paper, we propose a unified framework that incorporates various factors of the insider threat context (technical, psychological, behavioral and cognitive). The framework is based on a multi-tiered approach that encompasses pre, in and post-countermeasures to address insider threats in an all-encompassing perspective. It considers multiple factors that surround the lifespan of insiders’ employment, from the pre-joining of insiders to an organization until after they leave. The framework is utilized on real-world insider threat cases. It is also compared with previous work to highlight how our framework extends and complements the existing frameworks. The real value of our framework is that it brings together the various aspects of insider threat problems based on real-world cases and relevant literature. This can therefore act as a platform for general understanding of insider threat problems, and pave the way to model a holistic insider threat prevention system.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (61) ◽  
pp. 191-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiane Pimentel Nalin ◽  
Lucia Helena de Freitas Pinho França

The increase in the elderly population has prompted research on retirement. This study investigated the importance of resilience, economic satisfaction, the length of retirement, and planning to well-being during retirement of 270 participants. The majority of this sample were men (64%), and the mean age was 65 years (SD = 5.7). The participants were retired members of 10 public and private organizations in Rio de Janeiro. Factor analysis and hierarchical regression were performed. The results showed that determined resilience (mastery, adaptability, confidence and perseverance) and socioeconomic satisfaction were the main predictors of well-being in retirement and explained 28% of this model. The findings suggest that well-being in retirement is closely related to socioeconomic satisfaction and determined resilience. Additional research should address the importance of resilience for the well-being of retirees who are or not members of retirement associations. Resilience attitudes should be promoted in Retirement Education Programs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
James B Abugre

The purpose of this article was to investigate the concept of time and its management in relation to productivity. Consequently, this work employed phenomenological psychology to unearth the experiences of employees on the concept of time management and its impact on productivity using Ghana as a study. Participants involved both local and expatriate workers sharing their experiences on the subject matter in a conversational style. Results indicated that clock time is considered a flexible resource in both social and professional settings. Findings also revealed that time management drives productivity, and its orientation is consequential to the cultural behaviors of local employees in both public and private organizations based on the quality of their corporate cultures. Hence, rigid timelines can turn around public organizations in sub-Saharan Africa and the world as a whole.


2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktorija Bojovic

This paper discusses recent changes in the way public services are delivered A marked increase in the cooperation between the public and private sector in the realization of complex projects, mostly concerning development of infrastructure, is the main characteristic of present-day developing economies. The creation of new, innovative agreements is driven by the limitation of public funds and an ever-growing demand for an increase in the quality of public services. Looking upon the western economies experience alternatives to the traditional public sector procurement are identified in the public/private partnership. The public/private partnership can be seen as one component in the rearrangement of the public sector with a management culture that focuses on the citizen or customer. Also included in this are accountability for results, investigation of a wide variety of alternative service delivery mechanisms, and competition between public and private bodies for contracts to deliver services consistent with cost recovery and the achievement of value for money. The partnership can be realized through an array of models and in this paper priority is given to the DBFO (design-build-finance-operate) model, due to its importance in implementation. The DBFO model is considered to be a synonym for the public/private partnership, as it is the most suitable for complex projects and gains the most benefits.


Economics ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 703-727
Author(s):  
Georgousopoulos Christos ◽  
Ziouvelou Xenia ◽  
Ramfos Antonis ◽  
Kokkinakos Panagiotis ◽  
Anshu Jain ◽  
...  

Globalization, increasing automation, and the growth of the Internet are setting up a services-driven world at a scale and pace never before witnessed in history whose novelty is the proactive engagement of service recipients in the process of service delivery. Such change-driving forces will inevitably drive Government enterprises to reconsider the way that they deliver public services. As it has been realized in the industry, the transition of Government enterprises to the services-driven world will call for fundamental transformation in the provision of public services in the future, and a complete new way for Governments to work and interact with their citizens. Towards this direction, the authors propose an open innovation model through a process of democratic engagement between service providers and service recipients, where citizenship is reinstated at the heart of public service delivery. A service engineering methodology to support the proposed citizen-driven participatory design of public sector services is also provided.


2018 ◽  
Vol III (I) ◽  
pp. 308-320
Author(s):  
Syed Imran Haider ◽  
Arshad Khan Bangash ◽  
Muhammad Ali

Child marriages and early age pregnancy are an alarming issue among adolescent girls and young females in South Asian region. This research was carried out to understand the knowledge, attitude, and practices towards child marriages and early age pregnancies. For this purpose an exploratory research design was employed and data was gathered through using qualitative and quantitative research techniques. The research found that the respondents were lacking authentic knowledge about sexual and reproductive health rights. Most of the respondents were having access to public and private health service providers and this channel can be a source for the quality information about sexual and reproduce health and rights. An integrated approach through combing all the channels and stakeholders of the society can be vital for the desired social change to counter child marriages and early age pregnancies.


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