Lean Supply: a Strategy for Best Value in Local Government Procurement?

Erridge, Andrew; Murray, John Courtney

doi:10.1177/095207679801300206

Cited by 20 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…McQuade 77 discussed the organisational transformation brought about by lean thinking in a UK social housing group. Erridge and Murray 78 reported on the application of lean principles to local government procurement processes, using the example of procurement contracts drawn up by Belfast City Council. The authors concluded that 'lean supply' was compatible with the best value approach to procurement, as long as characteristics of lean that are most closely aligned to manufacturing are adapted to fit the culture of local government.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A mixed-methods evaluation of transformational change in NHS North East

Hunter

Erskine

Hicks

et al. 2014

Health Services and Delivery Research

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BackgroundThe North East Transformation System (NETS) was conceived as an experiment in adopting large-scale transformational change across a NHS region in England. Although the NHS in the North East performs well, the health of the population ranks among the poorest in the country. The NETS was viewed as a means of addressing this conundrum. It comprised three components: Vision, Compact and Method.ObjectivesThe evaluation study comprised six elements: a literature review; an evaluation of the evolution and impact of the NETS; an identification of the factors facilitating, and/or acting as barriers to, successful change; an assessment of the role of the NETS project team; establishing how far the changes introduced through the NETS became embedded and sustained; and an evaluation of the impact of the NETS on end users.DesignThe research comprised a longitudinal mixed-methods study conducted over 3.5 years. Research methods included 68 semistructured interviews, observation, two focus groups, documentary analysis and interrupted time series (ITS) analysis. The ITS component comprised analysis of five rapid process improvement workshops in two of the sites.SettingThe research setting was the NHS North East region until its abolition in April 2013 following the UK government’s NHS changes. Fourteen sites were selected for the study, comprising primary care trusts as commissioners, and provider trusts including mental health, community, acute care and ambulance services.ParticipantsThe study respondents were members of staff in the 14 sites drawn from different levels of their organisations.InterventionsThe NETS comprised a complex set of interventions aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of care pathways for staff and patients.Main outcome measuresThe ‘receptive contexts for change’ framework was used to evaluate the transformational change process and its outcomes.Data sourcesQualitative parts of the study drew on semistructured interviews, focus groups, observation and documents. Quantitative parts of the study used routinely collected NHS data.ResultsTransformational change in a complex system takes time and demands consistency, constancy of purpose and organisational stability. The NETS was seriously disrupted by the NHS changes announced in July 2010. Progress was sustained at four of the study sites, but slowed or ceased at the other sites. Leadership style was found to be critical to the success of transformational change.ConclusionsThe NETS was a bold and ambitious initiative which succeeded in bringing about real and lasting change in some parts of the North East. However, it was unable to fully realise its vision and purpose partly because of the widespread reorganisation of the NHS by the new coalition government.Future workThere is a need to develop new methods to understand how change occurs, or fails, in complex settings like the NHS. There is a need for more in-depth studies in those sites that were able to implement and sustain change. This would inform future policy and practice. The results of the quantitative analyses were less conclusive than those obtained by qualitative methods. Further development of mixed-methods approaches would provide additional support for evidence-based decision-making.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A mixed-methods evaluation of transformational change in NHS North East

Hunter

Erskine

Hicks

et al. 2014

Health Services and Delivery Research

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“…Perceived private sector best practice (Tummala et al , 2006) can be generalised under the banner of “lean supply” (Lamming (1993). “Lean” as a concept has now been espoused by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (2009) but its successful application in UK local government was tested and reported on by Erridge and Murray (1998a, b). The local government lean supply model set out by Erridge and Murray suggests good practice includes long‐term contracts, single‐sourcing, two‐stage tendering and the use of e‐procurement to reduce transaction costs.…”

Section: Perceived English Local Government Best Procurement Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Public procurement strategy for accelerating the economic recovery

Murray

2009

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -This paper aims to consider the problem of public procurement's contribution in moving from the current global economic downturn and accelerating the economic recovery. Design/methodology/approach -A literature review is used to establish perceived local government procurement best practice. Secondary research is then drawn upon to establish local government procurement's response to the current economic recession. The paper is set within the context of English local government. The paper's contribution is in highlighting that perceived best public procurement practice may well, in the short-term, be inappropriate and perhaps delay economic recovery. Suggestions for more radical short-term procurement strategic interventions are set out and justified as accelerating the economic recovery. The suggestions are considered appropriate, not only for the current crisis, but also for future economic downturns or indeed any country facing such a situation. Findings -The analysis suggests that English local government procurement strategy generally remains unaltered from that adopted prior to the economic recession. It is then argued that current best practice may well hinder an economic recovery and a short-term shift in procurement strategy is required.Research limitations/implications -The economic recession is a current phenomenon and the secondary research could well suffer from selfselection bias, nevertheless the review of current policy documents suggests that a short-term shift in procurement strategy is justified. Practical implications -The paper identifies the weaknesses in current procurement strategy prior to setting out a short-term alternative procurement strategy that could help public procurement managers accelerate a viable economic recovery. Originality/value -The current global economic downturn represents a major challenge to public sector organisations, yet there remains an assumption that English local government procurement strategy developed during a period of economic boom, is appropriate during the recession. This paper challenges that assumption and sets out a procurement strategy that could accelerate economic recovery. The strategy advocated can b...

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“…Discussion on procurement collaboration is generally concerned with "buyer and seller" vertical collaboration (for example, [1][2][3][4][5]. More recently that discussion has been supplemented with debating the benefits to be gained through horizontal inter-organisational collaboration with others through joining a consortium [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] or inter-organisation collaboration on shared services [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Collaborate on Local Government Procurement? The Experience of UK Councils

Murray¹,

Rentell²,

Holland³

et al. 2011

JSSM

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Within the UK public sector considerable encouragement has been given to working collaboratively on procurement. Although purchasing consortia have been a feature of the UK local government landscape and a shared services model has begun to emerge, little empirical research has been reported on whether other procurement collaborations take place, why organisations collaborate on procurement projects, what are the perceived risks and what type of procurement projects are considered suitable for collaboration. This paper reports on explorative research, to establish the answer to those questions. Suggestions are made for those considering procurement collaborative projects and further research

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Lean Supply: a Strategy for Best Value in Local Government Procurement?

Cited by 20 publications

References 18 publications

A mixed-methods evaluation of transformational change in NHS North East

A mixed-methods evaluation of transformational change in NHS North East

Public procurement strategy for accelerating the economic recovery

Why Collaborate on Local Government Procurement? The Experience of UK Councils

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