J.A.M. de Kruijf

Controlling externally autonomised entities by Dutch local governments

Purpose – This paper aims to address the possibilities for (performance‐based) control of externally autonomised (empowered) entities which operate at the level of local government in The Netherlands. The idea is that Dutch regulations do not cover controlling all institutional structures, which might result in unobserved risks for local governments.Design/methodology/approach – Two basic methods are used: a literature study on the variety of institutional structures meant to design an overview. This is completed by a secondary research approach on the findings of 34 local audit offices that have studied the problem for their local government.Findings – In The Netherlands, there is no all‐encompassing framework to cover control of autonomised entities at the local level. The most important problems to be solved are related to the specification of services to be delivered by local governments and the role conflict emerging from being owner/financial stakeholder in the organisation, on the one hand, and com...

Political Control of Arm’s-Length Agencies: One Standard Does Not Fit All

The increased use of semi-autonomous agencies for the delivery of government services has often been criticized for leading to a loss of political control. In the Netherlands, the debate is most st...ABSTRACT The increased use of semi-autonomous agencies for the delivery of government services has often been criticized for leading to a loss of political control. In the Netherlands, the debate is most strong regarding the so-called ZBOs, which are agencies that produce unilaterally binding legal decisions. Based on data from secondary sources and interviews, an assessment was made of the level and type of controls of 11 ZBOs. Results show that political controls are stronger than expected, negatively affecting ZBOs’ autonomy. Also, there is large variety in the application of uniform guidelines. We introduce a citizen demand perspective of services as a new tool for the explanation of variety in control. This tool, together with political saliency and the legal status of ZBOs, has an impact on the actual levels of control.

Implementation of EU initiatives on gender diversity and executive directors’ pay in municipally-owned enterprises in Germany and The Netherlands

A popular topic in the assessment of the functioning of municipally-owned enterprises is the corporate governance (CG) of such organizations. The results of the comparative study presented in this paper indicate that European Union initiatives on gender diversity and executive directors’ pay are often not implemented in public CG codes and in practice in municipally-owned enterprises in Germany and The Netherlands. The paper proposes that EU initiatives should specifically target municipally-owned enterprises and shows concrete hard and soft regulation options for national and international policy-makers and future research perspectives.