Strategic Management in the Public Sector: How Tools Enable and Constrain Strategy Making

Abstract

Strategic management (SM) has become prominent on the agenda in several public organizations due to new public management (NPM) reforms. Nevertheless, there are few studies investigating how public organizations apply SM in practice and what tools are used. As a result, calls have been made for such studies. This article can be seen as an attempt to meet this call by presenting a qualitative case study of how SM has been applied in the Swedish Transport Administration (STA), a central government agency in Sweden, and what tools it used in strategy making. By analyzing the micro processes of strategizing at STA, our results indicate that public organizations need to be aware of at least three specific tensions that can enable or constrain strategy making. These tensions are: short v. long-term, parts v. whole, and reactivity v. proactivity.

Strategic Importance of Natural Gas in Polish Energy Policy: A Critical Analysis

“…The role of natural gas in the national economy is not subject to discussion� Bearing this in mind, the natural gas sector is the subject of strategic behavior on the part of the state and its structures� This is undoubtedly reflected in the national strategies adopted in the context of long-term shaping of the energy sector's vision� An example that confirms this thesis may be strategic documents known as: Energy Policy of Poland (in turn: ���until 2025, ���until 2030, ���until 2050)� In this text, the moment of Poland's accession to the European Union was adopted as a starting point for further analysis� It sets a new way of thinking about the national economy in the context of membership in international integration structures� Three long-term strategies were designed during the period� When describing Polish energy strategies, at least two of their constitutive features should be emphasized, one of which is an advantage, the other should be considered an "Achilles' heel"� On the one hand -what is positive -is the fact that they arise based on a certain political compromise� This is a fundamental issue in shaping changes in the economy� They cannot be subject to cyclical party influences or election fluctuations and constant changes along with the new ruling teams, but they should be part of a continuum that will enable the desired economic change to be implemented (Lane & Wallis, 2009)� At the same time, it will allow effective programming of structural changes in the economy� On the other hand, as a negative element, it has to be pointed out that energy strategies have basic disadvantages in the form of relatively strong rooting in the political and economic reality in which they arise (Höglund et al�, 2018)� They are burdened with a weakness of predetermination, which means that they concern the problems of "tomorrow", but they try to solve them with conceptual categories of "today"� In practice, they are conservative and to a small extent they focus on new, innovative solutions (Lisowski, 2005)� Their weakness is also the lack of fastening in econometric models� They are based primarily on the predictions of experts� They are de facto built on the knowledge and experience of the people who created them (Johansson, 2009)� Referring to the natural gas issues, it should be noted that the following challenges appear in these strategies: ensuring stable gas supplies to Poland (especially in the context of diversification of directions), construction of transborder gas connections (with countries neighboring Poland) and new infrastructure (in particular LNG terminal)� Moving on to a detailed analysis of selected issues in relation to the natural gas sector, one should point to the first strategy of this type, i�e�, the document: Energy Policy of Poland until 2025 adopted in 2005 (hereinafter: PEP 2025)� Its approval coincided with Poland's accession to the European Union� It is therefore a kind of reflection of the way of thinking about the energy and gas sector that the European Union at that time adhered to� It was then decided that one of the most important directions of the government's activities should be consistent building of a competitive gas market in accordance with the then energy policy conducted within the framework of European cooperation� This objective was to be achieved by stimulating competition and effectively eliminating barriers such as long-term contracts (PEP 2025)� At the same time, it emphasized -as a key measure in the internal dimension -the need to diversify the directions and sources of natural gas supplies, maintain fuel reserves and ensure transmission capacities that would enable diversification� It also points to the insufficient level of cross-border connections that do not ensure the functioning of the natural gas market in an efficient manner� Such a provision...…”

Analysis of Influence Factors on Corporate Financial Strategy: A Case Study of a Public Energy Company

“…And also, financial strategy matrix can be combined with Balance Scorecard for analyzing [1]. Höglund, Caicedo, Mårtensson and Svärdsten (2018) did some research on strategic management tools and how to apply strategic management by analyzing a case of government agency, Swedish Transport Administration (STA) [2].…”

Implementation Process of Strategic Planning at District General Hospital

“…Even though government-owned hospitals do not seek profit, they must always improve their services following environmental changes that occur either inside or outside. Many studies in recent decades have discussed the importance of public organizations studying strategic planning and thinking (Höglund et al, 2018;Bryson, 2016;Rosenberg, Hansen, and Ferlie, 2016;Pollanen et al, 2017;Bryson, Edwards, and Van Slyke, 2018) Some changes occur rapidly and are affected by various factors such as stakeholders' different perspectives of hospital about hospital services in Indonesia (Assauri, 2017). A hospital is an expensive healthcare center that provides diagnosis, care, and rehabilitation services.…”