Joanne Meehan

A field-level examination of the adoption of sustainable procurement in the social housing sector

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a field-level examination of the adoption of sustainable procurement in social housing. It explores the role of regulation and procurement consortia in sustainable procurement. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a case study of the UK social housing sector and uses an online survey (n=116) of UK Housing Associations. Factor analysis identifies three parsimonious dimensions of sustainable procurement. Attitudinal data are analysed to explore the field-level adoption of sustainable procurement and the role of consortia. Findings – The results delineate sustainable procurement activities into three factors; direction setting, supplier-centric assurance and local socially oriented supply. High yet sup-optimal levels of sustainable procurement activity are revealed. Prevailing attitudes identify positive commitments to sustainable procurement at individual, organisational and sector levels. The value of network collaboration is identified. Tenant...

MAKE-TO-CONCEPT: A "SOLUTION-BASED" APPROACH TO COMPLEX NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Achieving close and on-going co-ordination between the various stakeholders involved in the product design and process development has been a main issue in complex new product development (CoNPD). Challenges arise in balancing product innovation and process optimisation, particularly when business customers place an order with a requirement featured as open system specification (OSS). This paper examines CoNPD projects in two international engineering companies based in the UK. The aim is to explore the use of specification management, with a particular focus on the project stakeholders that are both internal and external to the companies. Analysis of the data reveals issues associated with how the stakeholders interact to: manage the risks of associated with OSS projects, develop solution-based approaches and deal with the novelty of technology integration. The research findings provide evidence for a make-to-concept specification management process for contracted CoNPD projects. In doing so, the paper makes a contribution towards developing an approach to solution-oriented businesses that is informed by a rich understanding of how project stakeholders work together to manage CoNPD projects.

Exploring legitimacy in major public procurement projects

In the UK, major IT public procurement projects regularly fail at significant cost to the taxpayer. The prevalence of these failures presents scholars with a challenge; to both understand their genesis and to facilitate learning and prevention. Functional approaches have revealed numerous determinants of failure ranging from procurement specifications to risk escalation, but true and definitive causes remain elusive. However, since failure is not itself an absolute truth, but rather a concept which is reached when support is withdrawn, the survival of a project depends on there being sufficient belief in its legitimacy. We use critical hermeneutic methods and the conceptual lens of legitimacy to reveal powerful legitimating influences that enable and constrain action, but which are not analysed in the retrospective government inquiries that determine lessons learned.

The impact of a changing financial climate on a UK local charitable sector: voices from the front line

Forced to compete with private and public sector providers, charities experience tensions as the quest for a more commercially-oriented position may conflict with their social imperative. Little attention has been given to understanding the experiences of local charities as service providers. This paper captures the reactions of those working on the charity front line.

Public procurement as a policy tool: using procurement to reach desired outcomes in society

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue and outline its major themes and challenges, their relevance and the research opportunities the field presents. Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews prior literature and outlines the need to view public procurement as a policy tool to introduce the contributions to this special issue. Findings Public procurement has been consistently used to further public policies in a wide range of fields. The collection of articles in this special issue contributes to a broader understanding of the role and potential of public procurement in delivering desired policy outcomes in society. The articles show that public procurement largely has strategic aspirations, and its potential to deliver on wider societal issues is attractive to policy makers. The issues raised in this collection of articles, however, also demonstrate that public procurement often lacks strategic maturity and critical issues, notably around how to demonstrate and evaluate its impact and “success”. Research limitations/implications This paper aims to stimulate interdisciplinary research into the role of public procurement as a policy tool and its ability to achieve public value. Originality/value This paper discusses theoretical and empirical findings that highlight the importance of public procurement for achieving public value. The special issue examines the interdisciplinary literature on public procurement and shows how it is being used to achieve public value.

The Barriers to Collaboration in Public Procurement: An Institutional Explanation of Legitimized Resistance

The paper explores the barriers to regional collaborative public procurement. It reports the results of an empirical study of five public sector authorities in the emergency services sector in the UK. Exploring the barriers to collaborative procurement through the lens of institutional theory we frame the inter- and intra-organizational strategic resistant responses to isomorphic pressures. The study took a multi-stakeholder approach involving 70 individuals spanning budget holders, operational managers, procurement, and finance across 30 spend workstreams. The results show that operational barriers to collaborative procurement persist at national, regional, organizational and individual levels. While these barriers are used overtly as the rational defence, covert strategic responses of institutional logics, protectionism and symbolic tick-boxing legitimize stakeholder resistance to numerous isomorphic forces and further entrench the operational barriers. The findings contribute to an understanding of choice mechanisms in public procurement research by exploring where, and why, tensions and conflicts occur in collaborative public procurement strategies, both within, and between, organizations. The study contributes to, and addresses a central issue in institutional theory: identifying the social processes embedded in rational decision-making processes. By focusing on different internal stakeholder perceptions and their motivations, we add to current thinking on how organizations create internal power and agency structures through institutional logics to legitimize their actions. The results highlight the criticality of understanding underpinning motivation in behaviour in institutional theory and the links between operational and strategic processes. From an applied perspective, the research highlights that failure to provide sufficient evidence while applying pressure at a political level leads to tick-box approaches to collaborative procurement risking long-term damage and sub-optimized performance.

North West Employers' Conference

Liverpool Business School’s (LBS) Centre for Public Service Management recently organised an Action Learning Conference in partnership with North West Employers (NWE). The conference was held in association with the international journal Action Learning: Research and Practice. Supported by Neighbourhoods NW and the North West Improvement and Efficiency Partnership, the conference attracted over 100 participants who came together to explore the promising potential of action learning from a variety of perspectives. The theme of the conference centred on releasing the potential of action learning to enable sustainable change. Individuals and groups who have experienced action learning shared their stories of establishing, managing and sustaining action learning networks to support individual, business, organisational and community development. On the day, there were representatives from academic institutions, local government, the NHS and other local partners. Dr Aileen Lawless (LBS) and Kelli Pickford (NWE) were the conference organisers and they explained: ‘Our aim was to create a conversation between diverse contributors and participants via presentations, guided discussion and open spaces’. The conference opened with keynote presentations from Professor Mike Pedler (Henley Management School), Professor Kiran Trehan (Lancaster University) and Liz McQue (Chief Executive Officer, NWE). They certainly did not disappoint and gave food for thought with their inspiring theories and stories, which elicited much discussion amongst delegates at facilitated table discussions. Professor Pedler’s presentation entitled ‘What has action learning learned to become?’ explored the history of the action learning concept, questioning whether its practice builds on its original ethos or method. Suggesting that most participants expect its use to grow, Professor Pedler acknowledged three types of problems, with ‘wicked problems’ identified as those particularly suited to action learning. Given their high uncertainty and high need for collaboration, these ‘wicked problems’ can only be effectively challenged through learning and distributed leadership. The identification of these problems is perhaps timely given the current economic climate and organisational contexts and highlights the importance of action learning for sustainable change. The first table discussion session explored the issues raised by Professor Pedler. Each of the conference tables had a mix of academics and practitioners allowing diverse communities to share thoughts and practice around action learning. Delegates raised a number of interesting points specifically around the possibilities and pitfalls for releasing the potential of action