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Co-production and Inter-organisational Collaboration in the Provision of Public Services: A Critical Discussion

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Co-production in the Public Sector

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology ((BRIEFSPOLIMI))

Abstract

This Chapter offers a critical discussion of the concepts and practices of co-production and inter-organisational collaboration in the provision of public services. After presenting a theoretical backdrop, it describes four main relationships that may occur between co-production and interorganisational collaboration in the provision of public services: co-production as an antecedent of inter-organisational collaboration; interorganisational collaboration as an enabler of co-production; co-production and inter-organisational collaboration as distinct but complementary; co-production and inter-organisational collaboration as alternative strategies. We discuss the implications of these different relationships, and highlight areas for further research on co-production and inter-organisational collaboration and the relationship between the two in practice.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We are not here concerned with the other streams of the literature on collaborative management, which may also focus—among the others—on the role of managers in working in groups and teams with a collaborative style.

  2. 2.

    This is a fictionalized example which draws on our combined experiences and observations. One of us worked in local authority children's services departments and in third sector organisations for 20 years before researching cross-sector collaboration: the other worked as a local councillor in two local authorities for nine years and had experience as a member of the board of directors in several third sector organisations before working as an academic researcher in the public management field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Open University Business School, Milton Keynes, UK

    Alessandro Sancino & Carol Jacklin-Jarvis

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  1. Alessandro Sancino
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  2. Carol Jacklin-Jarvis
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Correspondence to Carol Jacklin-Jarvis .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dep. of Electronics, Info. and Bioengg., Polytechnic of Milan, Milano, Italy

    Mariagrazia Fugini

  2. Department of Economics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

    Enrico Bracci

  3. Department of Management, Economics, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy

    Mariafrancesca Sicilia

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Sancino, A., Jacklin-Jarvis, C. (2016). Co-production and Inter-organisational Collaboration in the Provision of Public Services: A Critical Discussion. In: Fugini, M., Bracci, E., Sicilia, M. (eds) Co-production in the Public Sector. SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30558-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30558-5_2

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