1. Professor Stephen P Osborne,
University of Edinburgh Business School
Desperately seeking Susan..?’ In search of innovation in the era of the New Public Governance
Professor Stephen P Osborne,
Chair of International Public Management and Deputy Dean, University of Edinburgh Business School, Scotland

2. University of Edinburgh Business School
This presentation
Genesis of the New Public Governance (NPG)
Key challenges of the NPG
Enabling innovation under conditions of the NPG
‘The one-liner’

3. University of Edinburgh Business School
I - Genesis of the NPG
Public Administration (PA)
The New Public Management (NPM)
The New Public Governance (NPG)
Not a linear history but a layering added complexities

4. Public Administration
University of Edinburgh Business School
Public Administration
Focus on implementation of public policy and administration of law
Politics-administration dichotomy
Flawed in enactment
Public officials as self-serving elite and little genuine citizen engagement
Inefficient allocation of public resources

5. University of Edinburgh Business School
New Public Management
Management of public services not administration of policy, with disaggregation of services to units/unit costs
Focus on efficient allocation of public resources and (variable) focus on markets and competition
Performance management and output control
Re-casting of citizens as customers
Draws upon managerial theory developed from experience of the manufacturing sector
A product-dominant and intra-organisational business logic

6. University of Edinburgh Business School
But…
‘The world has changed’
Fragmented
No longer possible for one organisation to meet social/economic need in isolation
Current public management theory not ‘fit for purpose’ , if it ever was
Policy not service-user focus
Product not service orientation (outputs not processes)
Intra-organizational focus in a plural and pluralist world

7. New Public Governance (Osborne 2006, 2010)
University of Edinburgh Business School
New Public Governance (Osborne 2006, 2010)
Acknowledges fragmentation of needs
Embraces plural and pluralist service delivery
Focus on inter-organisational relationships and service systems
From administration and management to negotiation and governance
Of needs, service delivery, and outcomes
Service users as co-producers
A different, service-dominant, business logic (Osborne et al 2013): beyond the ‘missing product’ of public services delivery

8. University of Edinburgh Business School
Two caveats…
NPG is not a normative term but a descriptive and evaluative one
NPG does not replace the administrative or managerial imperatives of PA or NPM – it adds a new layer of complexity that conditions the other two

9. University of Edinburgh Business School
II - Key challenges of delivering public services under conditions of the NPG
Beyond product-dominant to public service-dominant business logic
Beyond silo organisations and inter-organisational relations to public service systems
Beyond policy dominance to a user orientation

10. A public service-dominant business logic (Osborne et al 2013)
University of Edinburgh Business School
A public service-dominant business logic (Osborne et al 2013)
Public service delivery is not a process of manufacture but of service realisation
Public services are not tangible goods: there is no ‘missing product’ but a process of service delivery
Public service delivery is about the transformation of (professional) knowledge to produce added value for end-users (Lusch & Vargo 2006)
You cannot separate production from consumption: all public services are co-produced by users and staff
The service system is the key unit of analysis

11. University of Edinburgh Business School
The service system
Beyond inter-organisational working to service systems
Public policy creation is a pluralist process: negotiation between stakeholders
Public service delivery requires plural elements: public service organisations, staff, hard and soft technology, end-users, communities…
Not just inter-organisational working and networks but service systems
Moving from closed and natural systems to open systems
A process of negotiation and governance to produce public services

12. Making a reality of ‘user orientation’: Co-production
University of Edinburgh Business School
Making a reality of ‘user orientation’: Co-production
‘User orientation’ and co-production a long time goal of public policy
BUT
Seen as an add-on, under professional/political domination
The reality
(public) service-dominance logic identifies co-production as an inalienable element of service delivery: this way to ‘best practice’…
‘The lunatics are taking over the (public policy) asylum…’ (Bekker et al 2011)
Towards consumer, participative and enhanced co-production (Osborne & Strokosch 2013)

13. NPG: five implications for innovation I
University of Edinburgh Business School
NPG: five implications for innovation I
From manufacturing design to process governance: from the ‘missing product’ to ‘realising the promise’ (Osborne et al 2013)
‘Hard’ innovations can support public services but..
Away from R&D and technocratic dominance
Meshing user expectations and experience to produce performance
From rivalrous competition to open (collaborative) innovation
Share risks, costs, knowledge - and benefits

14. NPG: five implications for innovation II
University of Edinburgh Business School
NPG: five implications for innovation II
Innovation is socially constructed within social systems (Osborne & Brown 2011)
What is acceptable?
‘Pin down’ and biometric ID
Risk is (also) socially constructed (Brown & Osborne 2013)
From technocratic risk management to risk governance
Who are the stakeholders?
How much risk, for what benefit?

15. NPG: five implications for innovation III
University of Edinburgh Business School
NPG: five implications for innovation III
The user is at the centre of public service innovation (Osborne & Strokosch 2013, Radnor & Osborne 2013)
Co-production not an ‘add-on’ but the driver
‘Sticky knowledge’ plus professional knowledge leads to innovation
From R & D and policy dominance to understanding the reality of co-production in service systems
Beyond the technocratic and political imperatives to innovation rooted in a public service-dominant logic

16. The ‘one-liner’ for the NPG?
University of Edinburgh Business School
The ‘one-liner’ for the NPG?
Service users (not technocrats, politicians or professionals) are at the heart of the public service system and drive public service innovation across that system
Their needs, their public services, their innovations, their outcomes