Are generic strategies ‘fit for purpose’ in a public service context?
| Author | Ian R. Hodgkinson |
| Published date | 01 January 2013 |
| Date | 01 January 2013 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0952076712440301 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Public Policy and Administration
28(1) 90–111
!The Author(s) 2012
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DOI: 10.1177/0952076712440301
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Article
Are generic strategies ‘fit
for purpose’ in a public
service context?
Ian R. Hodgkinson
Loughborough University, UK
Abstract
The environment in which public sector organisations operate is becoming ever more
volatile, with such organisations increasingly facing the dual pressures of growing
customer expectations coupled with significant budget reductions. This study presents
an exploratory research model to uncover significant relationships between generic
strategies and the business and social performance of public leisure providers, in an
attempt to ascertain if generic strategies are fit for purpose in the public leisure sector.
The findings suggest that low cost and price-based strategies are inadequate for service
delivery. Rather, a hybrid strategy – which seeks to add value while also having a cost
base that permits low prices – is deemed fit for purpose in the public leisure sector,
satisfying the dual strategic agenda of public leisure providers. This study provides
contributions to the strategic management, public management, and leisure services
literatures.
Keywords
generic strategies, leisure, performance, public management, public sector, regional and
local government, service delivery, strategy
The environment in which public sector organisations operate is becoming ever
more volatile, with such organisations increasingly facing the dual pressures
of growing customer expectations coupled with significant budget reductions
(Berg et al., 2008; Laffin and Liddle, 2006). Therefore, public sector organisations
are facing growing pressure to provide more effective, efficient and flexible ways of
serving their constituencies (Caemmerer and Banerjee, 2009). One common
response has been for public organisations to mimic their private sector counter-
parts by introducing a range of market-based reforms, intended to improve their
Corresponding author:
Ian R. Hodgkinson, Loughborough University, School of Business and Economics, Loughborough,
Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK.
Email: i.r.hodgkinson@lboro.ac.uk
efficiency and the value that they offer to their customers (Johanson, 2009;
Heracleous and Johnston, 2009). Such reforms have introduced private-sector
management practices into key areas of public service provision (Liu et al.,
2008). Indeed, strategic thinking typical of the private sector – such as sustainable
management (e.g. Enticott and Walker, 2008) and strategic marketing principles
(e.g. Kaczynski, 2008) – is increasingly being transferred to public sector contexts.
To date, most of the literature on strategy, in the public sector, has been conducted
at a macro level looking at its effects at the sector, rather than the organisational
level (Dereli, 2003). In recent times there has been a significant acknowledgement of
this knowledge gap in the literature, particularly in relation to strategy and public
service performance (e.g. Walker et al., 2010; Meier et al., 2007; Andrews et al.,
2005, 2006, 2009; Enticott and Walker, 2008), but it remains under-explored
(Boyne and Walker, 2010). Consequently, there is a pressing need for further
investigation of the uptake and application of strategic management at the organ-
isational level in the public sector, and more specifically, a clearer understanding of
the performance outcomes of strategy content for public service organisations
(Boyne and Walker, 2010).
The majority of research on the strategy–performance relationship focuses on
generic strategies pursued by strategic business units (SBUs) of for-profit corpor-
ations and the ability to achieve a competitive advantage (e.g. Allen et al., 2007;
Thornhill and White, 2007). In the public sector, strategy concerns either the way in
which objectives and actions are selected (processes), or an organisation’s approach
to service delivery (content) (Walker et al., 2010). Though the majority of the
literature from the public sector is concerned with strategy processes, which reflects
an assumption that processes of strategy formation and implementation are more
relevant than the actual content of strategies (Boyne and Walker, 2004; Boyne,
2004), a number of studies have emphasised strategy content over process; applying
the Miles and Snow (1978) typology in the context of public service performance
(e.g. Andrews et al., 2005, 2006, 2009; Meier et al., 2007; Boyne and Walker, 2004).
In extending this research, and in recognition that typically private sector strategies
may benefit the public sector (Caemmerer and Banerjee, 2009), this study seeks to
extend existing research by being the first to consider Porter’s (1985) competitive
generic strategies and Faulkner and Bowman’s (1995) strategy typology as useful
analytical frameworks to explore how different generic strategies are linked to
different performance dimensions of public leisure providers.
The most fundamental contention to the direct application of private-sector
frameworks, such as the above strategy typologies, to public agencies relates to
the differences between the goals of public and private sector organisations (Vining,
2011). Vining (2011: 65) suggests that ‘while it may be plausibly argued that some
concepts and tools originally developed for the private sector are directly transfer-
able to public agencies, most are only likely to be useful if appropriately modified’.
The balanced scorecard, critical success factors, and value chain analysis are exam-
ples of such tools that are used by public agencies (Gunn and Williams, 2007;
Hodgkinson et al., 2005). Additionally, extant strategy research has successfully
Hodgkinson 91
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