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    The application of complexity theory to contracting out public health interventions : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy, School of Health at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Oakden, Judith Penelope
    The New Zealand government has used a policy approach called New Public Management since the 1980s to contract out public health services. Under this approach contracting out works well for public health services that are predictable, stable and controllable. However, the approach does not always work so well for hard to specify, complex to deliver services, where it is challenging to measure whether the right people benefit. Complexity theorists suggest that public services are complex adaptive systems and therefore do not respond in linear, predictable ways. Complexity theorists also suggest New Public Management framing of contracting out is too simplistic and overlooks the needs of some important population groups, in its quest for efficiency. The overall objective of the research was to explore contracting out of public health services using a general complexity framing to see what insights it might add. The research considered: which ideas from within complexity theory might provide a possible frame to examine contracting out practices; how complexity theory might inform contracting out practice for public health services; and how public sector managers might understand the processes and dynamics of contracting out if informed by complexity theory. A review of complexity and public management literature identified four complexity concepts used to frame interview questions and analyse results for this research: path dependence, emergence, self-organisation and feedback. A small-scale qualitative study used a theory-based approach to test the complexity concepts with public sector managers experienced in contracting out for public health and social services. This research argues that a framing informed by complexity theory resonated with public sector managers in understanding and working in the messy ‘realities’ of contracting out. This research observes that contracting out is often not tidy, linear and controllable as suggested by New Public Management practices. Public sector managers seeking to try new contracting out approaches, can find the underlying New Public Management ethos found in many administrative arms of government hampers them. This research provides insights about why change is hard to achieve, as well as offering public sector managers some alternative ways to think about how they contract out public health services.
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    The procurement of professional planning services for roading projects under a competitive pricing regime : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 1998) Stuart, Rachel
    The introduction of the Transit New Zealand Act changed the provisions for purchasing professional services for the development of roading projects. This change was consistent with the wider shift of the public sector towards greater transparency and accountability, and the separation of the roles of the funder, purchaser and provider of government services. The Act states that all professional services contracts for the development of roading projects are to be contracted out to the private sector by tender, with the selection of consultant determined by a Competitive Pricing Procedure (CPP). This study has been undertaken as a preliminary assessment of the factors that influence the implementation of competitive tendering for professional services and its impact on planning practice in New Zealand. The study is based on a literature review and original research. Surveys were undertaken with representatives from both the consultants and tendering authorities with experience in CPP, to obtain their views on different aspects of the tendering procedures adopted by Transfund New Zealand. Follow up interviews were also carried out with key representatives involved in the market to identify their responses to the survey results. It is concluded that there are significant differences in perception of the effectiveness of the implementation of the CPP between suppliers and purchasers, particularly with the planning services associated with roading projects. Consultants consider that they must put in the most competitive price in order to win a contract. This, they believe, compromises the quality of planning services by limiting the number of interested and affected parties that can be consulted, by favouring the simplest method of evaluation of environmental effects, and by discouraging the use of the best people for the job.
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    An investigation into practices, issues and improvement opportunities of logistical outsourcing : a study of integrated warehouse services : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Logistics and Supply Chain Management at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2008) Rachmayani, Novianti
    A pressure to maintain company's profitability and at the same time a need for the company to increase service level and productivity, has forced the organisation to re-engineer its business systems into a more efficient and effective process. Outsourcing has introduced a new concept to re-engineering the company's business system by transferring the company's non-core business to the experts. Outsourcing can be a tool to achieve the competitive advantage. Even though, unsuccessful outsourcing implementation due to poor planning of outsourcing strategy might result in many problems for the company. The reality is outsourcing is expected to be further developed in the future. Thus, there is plenty of room for logistical outsourcing growth. Nonetheless, the barriers of logistical outsourcing growth, such as poor outsourcing planning strategy causes the lack of understanding of outsourcing and lack of proper logistical infrastructure. These barriers result in the need to review the issues applicable in the practices of logistical outsourcing. This research, therefore, investigates practices, issues and improvement opportunities of logistical outsourcing with regards to the practices of Integrated Warehouse Services. The use of multi-strategy research by combining the qualitative and quantitative research leads to the achievement of the research objective. This research found that reasons to outsource, the selection of outsourced activities and outsourcing provider selection process were the most important factors in outsourcing decision making process. The practices of IWS has been identified to gain success in improving customer service, reducing product cost, improve productivity, improving information sharing, reducing response time and improving space utilisation. The outcomes of this research illustrates that there is a tendency to perceive provider selection process and criteria and also the logistical outsourcing agreements and relationships as the logistical outsourcing issues to have the most concern in the practices of Integrated Warehouse Services. This research also found that the company needs to have improvements in the outsourcing agreements and relationships, employees training of outsourcing concept and the selection process of outsourcing provider.
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    Logistics outsourcing : an innovative strategy or a logistical nightmare? : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2007) Sangam, V. K
    In the past, a typical company would manage all logistics processes by itself, end-to-end. Larger organisations are able to manage these activities better because they gain economies of scale from processing all logistics functions. However, business rivalry and globalisation have forced many organisations to rationalise all activities from marketing to production, human resources and now also logistics. In the process, the organisational focus has now shifted from an organisation carrying out all its activities to concentrating on its core activities; non-core activities such as logistics and other back office functions are being outsourced. Outsourcing of logistics and supply chain services is not a new concept. While outsourcing has seen renewed emphasis in recent years, the practice can be traced back to almost as far as one would care to research it. In Warehousing Profitably, Ackerman (2000) suggests that one of the first business logistics arrangements is described in The Bible, Genesis 41 1 : This is an account of the seven years of plenty during which the people in the land of Egypt accumulated crops for the predicted seven years of famine. The grains and other fruits of their labours were taken to storehouses for safekeeping. One could argue that this could be the beginning of logistics outsourcing in the form of warehousing by a third party. What we see today is the advanced and most modern form of outsourcing which includes value added services beyond anyone's imagination. This has contributed to the phenomenal growth of the logistics outsourcing industry worldwide. According to a recent study by Armstrong & Associates Inc., the logistics and supply chain outsourcing business exceeded US$100 billion in 2005 in the United States of America alone. This is a 16% increase over the previous year's turnover 2 . This figure includes 22% revenue generated by value added services. The global revenue of Third Party Logistics (3PL) companies in 2005 was US$ 333 billion 3 . However, the success of outsourcing is in question due to an increasing number of outsourcing initiatives failing within the first year and continued discontent among the outsourcing business community. "About one quarter of all logistics outsourcing agreements fail within the first year, and 60 percent within three years," says Jim Tompkins, CEO and founder of supply chain consulting firm Tompkins Associates, Raleigh, N.C. A recent Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) pamphlet reported that 55% of logistics outsourcing alliances are terminated after 3-5 years. In some cases it was noticed that the relationship ended even before completion of the first year of operation. According to a survey reported by the Journal of Commerce, 43% of identified users of 3PLs in North America cancelled at least one 3PL contract in 1998 4 . Outsourcing of logistics and supply chain activities is considered an innovative solution in view of expanding and increasingly growing globalisation. However, the outsourcing of non-core activities to a third party is not always successful. This particular issue encouraged me to investigate the reasons for outsourcing failures. This research focuses on the reasons for outsourcing failure and discontent among the outsourcing community.
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    Culture of partnership to culture of contract : child and family support services contracting with the New Zealand Community Funding Agency : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1996) Florence, Joy
    In recent years major changes have taken place in the relationship between the state and the voluntary sector in the provision of social services in New Zealand. Services are now being purchased by means of contract, rather than agencies being subsidised by means of grants, and this has been accompanied by a shift from state provision to non-government agency provision in certain service areas. Support for these changes came from a variety of very different ideological and interest group positions in the 1980s. State sector reform and legislative changes provided the structure within which the contracting system has been developed. This thesis examines the relationships between five non-government social service agencies, providing Child and Family Support Services, and the New Zealand Community Funding Agency, the unit of the Department of Social Welfare which contracts them to provide services. Small scale qualitative research has been conducted, involving interviews with managers of the agencies and with Community Funding Agency staff, collecting information about their perceptions and beliefs about the relationship between the funder and the providers, the impact of the contracting system, and the proper roles of the state and nongovernment agencies in the provision of social services. Central to the study is a consideration of the complex interplay between ideologies and social realities in shaping the way the participants in changing, social and political relationships think about those relationships. The literature suggests that the nature of the relationship between the state and the voluntary sector has changed, such that the voluntary sector has lost some autonomy and become more an agent of the state; that a contract culture has emerged with its own values; that process difficulties persist even in settings where contracting has been in use for many years and agencies develop various strategies for managing these; and that agencies vary in the extent to which they are affected by the contracting system. This research is limited by the small size of the sample. However, it indicates that while most participants in the contracting system believe it has advantages over other systems they have experienced, there is a high level of frustration with the details of implementation. Survival in this funding environment appears to depend very largely on access to independent sources of funds, or at least the support of a larger organisation through times of cash flow crises. In the absence of these, agencies survive on the back-up of volunteers and the personal altruism of staff and committees. Newer, smaller, stand alone agencies, which include Maori and Pacific Island social services, do not generally have access to independent income and may face the greatest struggle surviving in the contract regime. The thesis concludes that a change is taking place in discourse about the voluntary sector and the state. The commercial values and assumptions of contracting are replacing a culture which emphasised the value of partnership between state and community. The everyday demands of managing in the contract regime mean that agencies in the voluntary sector are themselves participants in this new conceptualisation. While support came from ideological positions which ranged from economic liberalism aiming to minimise the role of the state, to radical reformism and biculturalism seeking empowerment and self-determination for communities, a major impact of the changes has in fact been to increase the level of control which the state exercises over the voluntary sector. Smaller, newer organisations, despite their own strong philosophies of self determination, may in fact be the most vulnerable to state control once they have entered the contracting system.
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    The use of third party logistics services in China : a research report [i.e. thesis] presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Logistics and Supply China [i.e. Chain] Management at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2012) Chen, Jie
    The aim of this study is to understand the current status of Chinese third party logistics (3PL) industry, and investigate the situation of 3PL services usage in China. An empirical research study is carried out to determine: the extent use of the third party logistics services in China, reasons for Chinese firms outsourcing logistics activities, reasons for Chinese firms not outsourcing logistics activities, the level of satisfaction of the company that outsource 3PL for their 3PL providers, selection criteria for choosing 3PL providers, organization impact of logistics outsourcing and future trend of Chinese logistics services. The results of this study are gathered through an online survey questionnaire. The respondents are working in the Chinese firms with the management level position or above. The data is analyzed by SPSS, ANOVA and Chi-square test. The present study has found that outsourcing 3PL services become very popular in China, more than half of Chinese firms outsource 3PL services. The use of 3PL services will be increasing in the future. Most user firms are satisfied with their providers’ performance. However, there is still high expectation for providers to improve. In general, Chinese outsourcing firms believe that outsourcing 3PL services would gain a number of benefits and impose positive impacts on their firms.