Laura Macciò

Structure, Mechanisms, and Managers in Successful Networks

Since public networks became widespread, doubts have arisen over how to make them succeed. Scholars have traditionally addressed the issue in different ways, thus variously shedding light on the network structure, mechanisms, or managers as predictors of the network performance. The aim of our article is to explore the possibility of an interaction effect between the abovementioned factors. Our results show that there may be a relationship between network structure, mechanisms, and managers that jointly affects network performance. Therefore, important suggestions can be made about how to manage public networks successfully: (1) ensure that your network mechanisms and managerial abilities are coherent with the structure of your network; and (2) if you are in a well-established and integrated network, allow yourself some flexibility. Data were collected through a multiple case study that focused on collaboration for joint provision of home care services in Switzerland.

Explaining the Reactions of Swiss Municipalities to The ‘Amalgamation Wave’: At the crossroad of institutional, economic and political pressures

Abstract Public sector organizations are simultaneously subject to three types of environmental pressure: institutional, economic and political. How do these pressures influence the strategic behaviour of public organizations when confronted with efficiency-oriented reforms? We focus on the strategic behaviour of Swiss municipalities facing the amalgamation wave: a reform characterized by a strong economic rationale. Results confirm that the success of reforms depends not only on its matching with economic underpinnings. It is also necessary to take the political leadership and the responsibility of reform implementation.

To wind a skein into a ball: exploring the concept and measures of public network performance

ABSTRACT Since Provan and Milward’s article in 1995, a wide variety of conceptualizations and measures of network performance has been proposed. The lack of consensus among scholars generated a confusing landscape. In an attempt to wind a skein into a ball, our paper aims to synthesize the conceptualizations and measures of network performance proposed by the existing literature and explore their statistical and theoretical relationships. Structural equation modelling techniques were used for this purpose.

Managing Service Delivery Networks Strategically

The relationship between strategy and structure is one of the long-lasting, and rather controversial, topics in the strategy literature. It is also an evergreen and unresolved issue in the literature on public networks. Some authors have focused on structural characteristics of public networks (i.e., network integration and centrality and/or network governance structure) and their relationship with network performance (Kenis and Provan, 2009; Provan and Kenis, 2008; Provan and M il ward, 1995; Provan and Sebastian, 1998). Others have shed light on the criticality of strategies to manage public networks and of the mechanisms for strategy implementation and network partner interaction (Klijn et al, 2010), and have concluded that strategy matters (and matters even more than structure) in affecting public network performance (Klijn et al, 2010). However, just very few studies have investigated the possibility of an interaction effect among the above-mentioned factors.