The idea that governance is increasingly networked is the leitmotif for a generation of leading scholars. At the same time, the continuing pre-eminence of New Public Management (NPM) philosophy in driving public sector reform has coincided with a wave of management studies (some critical of NPM) concerned with whether and how innovation occurs in the public sector. Considine, Lewis and Alexander bring the two themes together. Starting from the premise that there has been very little research examining the role of networks in innovation, they ask to what extent municipal innovators occupy a strategic position within networks and have communicative ties to other network actors. The central problematic of the study reported in this book, then, is the extent to which network positions and connections align with innovator status. (Author/publisher)
Abstract