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Green purchasing has seen an increase of attention from researchers but as yet few case studies are available. The responsibility being placed on local councils to consider not only the economic but also social and environmental impacts sets a new agenda. Both these changes suggest a new role for local government purchasing, one which embraces “greening”. This paper outlines the green purchasing strategy adopted by Belfast City Council set against a local government background. The case demonstrates an integrated approach to achieving objectives relating to local economic development, environment and purchasing.

This paper is concerned with the potential role of elected members in the UK local government strategic procurement process. Strategic procurement and the best value regime are discussed. A working definition of strategic procurement in local government is then provided. The rationale for councils to review member involvement in strategic procurement follows. Observations from action learning case studies are discussed prior to proposals being offered as to what might represent appropriate new roles for elected members in the UK local government strategic procurement process.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the fundamental difference between private and public procurement, that of politicians, has been largely overlooked in public procurement strategy and management research. It then aims to argue that existing public procurement research could be improved if greater attention were given to in research design to validity and the interface with politicians.

The research is based on a critical literature review of public procurement strategy and management literature, examining the methodologies used and roles of politicians.

The findings suggest there is an in‐built bias through over reliance on procurement managers as the key respondents, tendency to focus on private sector procurement research attributes and questions, and a tendency to focus on operational as opposed to strategic public procurement decision making.

The research suggests a need for greater understanding of politicians' engagement in public procurement strategy and management and the need for greater triangulation in public procurement research.

The paper highlights how public procurement strategy and management research can be improved to increase its validity. It explores the neglected area of the role of politicians in public procurement.

This paper aims to report lessons learnt from six countries in addressing financial crises; what they have done and the impact. It is intended that these lessons are constructive in shaping responses to the current and future financial crises.

A multiple, mini case study approach is taken which makes use of social media.

The findings suggest that the strategy being pursued within the UK for addressing the financial crisis is generally untested and therefore high‐risk. The evidence cautions that local recovery can be expected to be significantly longer than one political cycle, that social impacts will be greater than expected, and there is over‐optimism in some of the strategic tools being adopted in the UK's deficit recovery.

Those participating, while in senior roles, were being asked to answer big questions, and although there is no reason to believe they were not answering truthfully, there are limits to what they could have reasonably been expected to know.

The research provides lessons for local government on how their international peers have responded to the financial crises. The intention is these international lessons will help central and local government shape timely, effective and appropriate responses, while minimising costly mistakes. It is also hoped the lessons will serve as a “reality check” for policy makers.

The research also suggests there is a high risk that existing policy may be ambitious and have unintended adverse social implications.

The research approach is innovative in its use of social media. The research probes the impact on councils of financial crises at a local level and reports unintended consequences which might not otherwise have been identified. Lessons from other countries' responses may also be of benefit in developing future responses.

This paper aims to consider the problem of public procurement's contribution in moving from the current global economic downturn and accelerating the economic recovery.

A literature review is used to establish perceived local government procurement best practice. Secondary research is then drawn upon to establish local government procurement's response to the current economic recession. The paper is set within the context of English local government. The paper's contribution is in highlighting that perceived best public procurement practice may well, in the short‐term, be inappropriate and perhaps delay economic recovery. Suggestions for more radical short‐term procurement strategic interventions are set out and justified as accelerating the economic recovery. The suggestions are considered appropriate, not only for the current crisis, but also for future economic downturns or indeed any country facing such a situation.

The analysis suggests that English local government procurement strategy generally remains unaltered from that adopted prior to the economic recession. It is then argued that current best practice may well hinder an economic recovery and a short‐term shift in procurement strategy is required.

The economic recession is a current phenomenon and the secondary research could well suffer from self‐selection bias, nevertheless the review of current policy documents suggests that a short‐term shift in procurement strategy is justified.

The paper identifies the weaknesses in current procurement strategy prior to setting out a short‐term alternative procurement strategy that could help public procurement managers accelerate a viable economic recovery.

The current global economic downturn represents a major challenge to public sector organisations, yet there remains an assumption that English local government procurement strategy developed during a period of economic boom, is appropriate during the recession. This paper challenges that assumption and sets out a procurement strategy that could accelerate economic recovery. The strategy advocated can be tested and the lessons learnt utilised in other countries or during future periods of economic downturn.

Small councils may not have access to professional procurement resources – one potential solution is to create a procurement shared service with another council. The purpose of this paper is to focus on evidence of the emergence and existence of inter‐organisational procurement shared services and its benefits; a structural approach significantly different from the intra‐organisational centralised/decentralised organisational models and the use of consortia.

Case studies, making use of stakeholder, semi‐structured interviews, were used to probe the experience of six English procurement shared‐services covering 15 councils.

The findings demonstrate evidence of that some smaller councils are benefiting from collaborating in inter‐organisational procurement shared service. The collaborations were engaged in strategic procurement initiatives which would not have otherwise been possible through the use of consortia. However, there was an absence, within the cases, of formal business cases and strategy.

The paper provides evidence that procurement shared services can be inter‐organisational delivering the benefits of intra‐organisational “hard core/soft core” procurement structures and inter‐organisational consortia. The paper also suggests that the benefits gained from procurement shared services have more akin to inter‐organisational collaboration than intra‐organisational shared services. This research is limited in that it only relates to the experience of a purposive sample of small councils that had already decided to pursue a procurement shared service. The research limitations also include the absence of a political perspective.

A procurement shared service appears a viable structural option for smaller councils, whether they have, or have not currently, access to a procurement professional. The research highlights the need to adopt an incremental approach and also sets out suggestions for a strategic approach to shared services procurement strategy.

There is an absence of literature on delivering procurement as a shared service, and shared services in general – in that respect this paper represents research into a new emerging procurement structural model, not previously reported.

Considers the development and delivery of purchasing strategy within a local government setting. It demonstrates that purchasing can contribute to the political objectives of local government and suggests that strategic alignment leads to a repositioning of purchasing. Consideration is given to the intended and realised strategy prior to a change model being presented which could form the basis for further research.

Delivering best value for money is accepted as the primary UK public sector purchasing objective and indeed a statutory duty for many in sub‐central government. An investigation of a purchasing unit was carried out which aimed to establish how it sought to achieve best value for money. The investigation reflected a spectrum of five roles that purchasing have taken as “process” experts to assist in the achievement of best value for money, namely, researchers, detectives, teachers, doctors, and architects. The conclusion is that these roles represent a model that can be applied, regardless of sector, by professional purchasing managers as they seek to contribute, in a “hard core/soft core” purchasing structure, to the strategic objectives of their organisation. The paper should be of specific interest to those in the public sector undergoing structural or best value reviews of their purchasing function, seeking to compare and challenge existing approaches.

This paper explores the potential application of public value management theory to the practice of UK healthcare procurement. By conducting a literature review, key elements of public value theory and practice that can be applied to healthcare procurement are identified together with mechanisms that can be used in procurement to protect public values and enhance the creation of public value. These are formed into a Public Value Healthcare Procurement Framework which represents a fresh normative approach to healthcare procurement by focussing on a broader, societal view of value; by providing a blue print for procurement leaders centred around Moore's vision of “exploring” and “moral” public managers; and by promoting a public service ethos amongst all providers including the private sector.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how management control (MC) within governmental departments is used in times of austerity, and how insights from agency and stewardship theory can enhance the understanding of this issue.

The authors distinguish two types of MC (constraining and facilitating) based on their different assumptions regarding human behavior (agent-like and steward-like). The authors empirically analyze changes in the use of these types of MC in four cases located in two municipalities. The collected data consists of 51 semi-structured interviews, desk research and multiple field observations.

The authors find that MC at the departmental level becomes more constraining in times of austerity. The authors suggest that an overemphasis on constraining MC has negative consequences. It can, for instance, evoke agent-like, opportunistic behavior while it disregards potential steward-like behavior. These negative consequences are less prevalent when there is a simultaneous increase in emphasis on the use of facilitating MC elements.

The authors acknowledge “human ambivalence,” i.e. an employee’s recurring choice between agent-like and steward-like behavior, and illustrate the dangers of overly relying on constraining types of MC. The authors also contemplate alternative strategic managerial responses to austerity in a public sector context.