Public Sector Strategy Design: Theory and Practice for Government and Nonprofit Organizations

Within the public sector, strategies are not designed to influence markets, but instead to guide operations within a complex environment of multilateral power, influence, bargaining, and voting. In this book, authors David McNabb and Chung-Shingh Lee examine five frameworks public sector organization managers have followed when designing public sector strategies. Its purpose is to serve as a guide for managers and administrators of large and small public organizations and agencies. This book is the product of a combined more than sixty years of researching, teaching and leading organizational seminars on the theory and practice of management applications in industrial, commercial, nonprofit and public sector organizations. The book consists of four parts: Strategic Management and Strategy Fundamentals; Frameworks for Designing Strategies; Examples of Public Sector Strategies; and Implementing Strategic Management. Throughout, the focus is on the widespread value of strategic management and adopting the strategy appropriate for the organization. Including chapters on game theory, competitive forces, resources-based view, dynamic capabilities, and network governance, the authors demonstrate ways that real managers of public sector and civil society organizations have put strategic management to work in their organizations. This book will be of interest to both practicing and aspiring public servants.

David E. McNabb is Professor Emeritus in the School of Business, Pacific Lutheran University, USA. He has taught undergraduate and graduate business management and public administration courses for Edmonds Community College, Olympic College, Oregon State University, the University of Maryland-University College (Europe), the American University in Bulgaria, the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Latvia, a regional business education program in Northern France, and the MPA program at Evergreen State College. He has worked for the cities of Fullerton, California and the Washington State House of Representatives. He is author of Research Methods for Public Administration and Non-Profit Organizations, 4th edition (Routledge, 2017).

Chung-Shing Lee is Professor and Dean of the School of Business at Saint Martin’s University, USA. Prior to his current position, he was a Professor of Technology and Innovation Management and Dean of the School of Business at Pacific Lutheran University, USA. Dr. Lee has been a visiting Professor in the College of Management and a Research Associate in the Institute of Knowledge Service and Innovation at Yuan Ze University in Taiwan, and a faculty research associate at the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) at the University of Maryland. Dr. Lee is a member of the editorial boards of Technological Forecasting and Social Change, International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, Journal of Competitive Studies, and the Competitiveness Review. Dr. Lee is the recipient of numerous teaching and research awards. He has been helping organizations design and implement innovation strategies for more than two decades.