TY - JOUR
T1 - Outsourcing public service delivery
T2 - Management responses in noncompetitive markets
AU - Girth, Amanda M.
AU - Hefetz, Amir
AU - Johnston, Jocelyn M.
AU - Warner, Mildred E.
PY - 2012/11
Y1 - 2012/11
N2 - Capturing the benefits of competition is a key argument for outsourcing public services, yet public service markets often lack sufficient competition. The authors use survey and interview data from U.S. local governments to explore the responses of public managers to noncompetitive markets. This research indicates that competition is weak in most local government markets (fewer than two alternative providers on average across 67 services measured), and that the relationship between competition and contracting choice varies by service type. Public managers respond to suboptimal market competition by intervening with strategies designed to create, sustain, and enhance provider markets. In monopoly service markets, managers are more likely to use intergovernmental contracting, while for-profit contracting is more common in more competitive service markets. The strategies that public managers employ to build and sustain competition for contracts often require tangible investments of administrative resources that add to the transaction costs of contracting in noncompetitive markets.
AB - Capturing the benefits of competition is a key argument for outsourcing public services, yet public service markets often lack sufficient competition. The authors use survey and interview data from U.S. local governments to explore the responses of public managers to noncompetitive markets. This research indicates that competition is weak in most local government markets (fewer than two alternative providers on average across 67 services measured), and that the relationship between competition and contracting choice varies by service type. Public managers respond to suboptimal market competition by intervening with strategies designed to create, sustain, and enhance provider markets. In monopoly service markets, managers are more likely to use intergovernmental contracting, while for-profit contracting is more common in more competitive service markets. The strategies that public managers employ to build and sustain competition for contracts often require tangible investments of administrative resources that add to the transaction costs of contracting in noncompetitive markets.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84873423785&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02596.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02596.x
M3 - Comment/Debate
AN - SCOPUS:84873423785
SN - 0033-3352
VL - 72
SP - 887
EP - 900
JO - Public Administration Review
JF - Public Administration Review
IS - 6
ER -