Dogmatic preferences for either public sector or private sector supply are being replaced increasingly across the world by more varied and pragmatic views based on ‘what is the best source of supply’ to meet the legitimate needs of users and other stakeholders. The term public private partnerships is increasingly used as an umbrella description to embrace the range of options that are now available to replace the previously stark choices between public sector or privatisation. There is also wider acceptance that competition has a role to play in the provision of efficient services to the public.
All this means however that there are increasingly difficult choices for policy makers about the best partnership option to select for a particular activity. The principle options to address are:
- Should the service remain in the public sector but with performance enhancements
- Should it be contracted out or outsourced, possibly to the voluntary sector
- Should it be fully or partially privatised
- Or should it be provided by a joint venture between the public and private sectors, a true public private partnership?
This course equips managers to address strengths, weaknesses and relevance of the options analytically and objectively.