Strategic management in public services organizations: Developing a european perspective

Abstract

This chapter first provides an overview of the academic field of strategic management and highlights some schools with strong relevance to public agencies as well as private firms. These schools include: the learning school; the resource-based view (RBV) and the strategy as practice tradition. Porterian models may also be applicable in marketised New Public Management (NPM) systems. We also consider whether these schools can be applied to European public agencies, as opposed to North American systems where much of the literature originated. We secondly explore whether there is a more interpretive and less functionalist European tradition of strategic management writing developing, as apparent in some other branches of management studies. We thirdly introduce some strategic management literature on public agencies in three different European countries: UK, Germany and Spain to assess variation between these jurisdictions. We finally conclude with suggestions for future research.