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In 2009, Malaysia saw a unique approach to public service improvement. The National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) was designed to enhance governmental performance by breaking down silos across ministries so that resources could be pooled and a leap in value of service is secured. This paper aims to examine the extent to which the NBOS has catalysed inter-agency collaboration and delivered improvements to public services.

The study adopts a qualitative approach drawing on data collected through semi-structured individual interviews with key informants complemented with information from other sources. The interview evidence has been triangulated with those obtained through group discussions, personal observations and review of official records and publications.

The paper shows that despite some teething problems, the NBOS has performed commendably. It has made notable inroads in promoting cross-agency collaboration, demonstrating evidence of improved service delivery and cost savings for the government. In short, it has produced results in areas where previous reforms have performed poorly.

The paper adds to the limited literature on collaborative management in developing countries. The Malaysian experience suggests that leadership and commitment at the highest level, an effective governance structure, participation of key actors at various stages and a blend of top-down and bottom-up approaches to project development and management are among the critical success factors for a collaborative approach.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which Malaysia’s most recent public service reform has improved service delivery and governmental performance. It also endeavors to identify critical success factors that explain reform performance and draw lessons based on the Malaysian experience.

The paper adopts a case study approach and draws on data from both primary and secondary sources. Besides a thorough review of official documents and existing literature, the author conducted 20 individual interviews with key informants representing government officials, academics and civil society organizations.

The study shows that despite some pitfalls and misgivings, the Government Transformation Program (GTP) has produced concrete improvements in service delivery areas where previous reforms failed. One of the factors that underpin GTP’s relative success is the detailed performance management framework, which helped foster inter-agency collaboration and enforce accountability for results at various levels.

The GTP success highlights the significance of adapting reform content to local situations especially when reforms are based on external models; sanctions from the highest political office; a dedicated unit to drive the implementation and an effective performance management framework through which individuals and agencies would be held to account for results achieved.

Despite many and varied reform initiatives attempted in the past, cases of successful reform are rare, especially in developing countries. Little is known on what makes a reform work, a gap exacerbated by notable absence of systematic research on this topic. The paper contributes to address this by reviewing Malaysia’s innovative approach to reform and the insights that the Malaysian experience offers.

Since 2009, e-government has been high on governmental agenda in Bangladesh. Seen as a vehicle for improving governance and service delivery, it is also presented as a key to fighting poverty and achieving the millennium development goals. Thus, the goals of e-government remain broad and ambitious. Can a developing country such as Bangladesh realize its e-government vision? The purpose of this paper is to explore this and other related questions seeking to draw lessons that the Bangladesh experience may offer.

The paper draws primarily on secondary information, complemented by primary data gathered from various sources. In addition to an extensive review of secondary sources, necessary information was derived from websites of relevant government departments/agencies and through interviews and conversations with selected government officials having intimate knowledge on e-government projects at the field and local levels.

The paper demonstrates the ways in which various e-initiatives have transformed traditional administrative systems and practices, notwithstanding the nation’s limited overall e-development. It also shows how e-innovations have helped tackle some complex challenges, thereby adding to convenience and benefits to service users. A major conclusion of the paper is that although e-government is yet to make a breakthrough in governance and service delivery, it has set the wheels of change in motion.

E-government must be seen as a long term project, it must attract high-level political support and it requires fruitful collaboration between the public, private and non-governmental actors.

This paper adds to the limited knowledge in the field. Lessons learned from the Bangladesh experience have much relevance to other developing countries with similar socioeconomic circumstances. The policymakers and practitioners are expected to benefit from the insights of the paper.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse Malaysia's shift towards results‐based management in two key areas of the public service: budgeting and human resource management. More specifically, it shows how and to what extent the values of results‐based management have been incorporated in the Malaysian public sector and describes their constraints and challenges.

The paper adopts a combination of descriptive and analytical methods and is mainly based on secondary sources of data and information. While it provides a systematic and comprehensive review of recent reform initiatives, it also focuses on the discrepancies between policies and practices in terms of actual implementation.

Although Malaysia has followed the global trend by introducing results‐based management in public governance, evidence shows that the implementation of the new approach is far from satisfactory. The paper argues that while personnel management and budgetary reforms have helped overcome many of the anomalies of the traditional approach, the current practice in these areas continues to suffer from major inadequacies and limitations.

The issues and challenges identified in the paper and the policy implications proposed should aid the formulation of strategies and measures intended to support results‐based management in Malaysia and other similar contexts.

The paper adds to the limited knowledge in this field. Managing for results is new in Malaysia and hence scholarly literature on the subject is scarce. The findings of the paper and the lessons drawn would be of practical significance to all those interested in this area – especially the policy makers and practitioners in Malaysia's public service. They are also expected to have wider relevance to public governance in other similar contexts.

The paper seeks to provide an overview of the service delivery innovations and reforms introduced in Malaysia's public sector and examine and analyse their overall impacts on governance.

The paper has adopted a combination of descriptive and analytical methods and is primarily based on secondary sources of data and information. While it provides a systematic review of general literature on service delivery innovations and those on Malaysia, the paper draws its conclusions on the basis of triangulation and careful analysis of data available in various local and international sources.

Although lately Malaysia's service delivery system has witnessed a comprehensive set of innovative changes, public governance of the country continues to suffer from poor records and unfavourable ratings. Innovations and reforms introduced have so far produced generally positive but limited impacts. The paper demonstrates a number of key areas where the impacts of reforms have been clearly unsatisfactory.

The findings of the paper are not based on a comprehensive and rigorous empirical work and, therefore, can only be interpreted as indicative of the overall situation.

The issues and challenges identified in the paper and the policy implications proposed should aid the formulation of strategies and measures for further improving service delivery and governance in Malaysia and other similar contexts.

The paper adds to the limited literature in public governance and service delivery in Malaysia. The findings of the paper are of practical significance to all those interested in this area – especially the policy makers and practitioners in Malaysia's public service.

The present paper seeks to examine the recent changes in public management in Malaysia in relation to new public management and assess their impacts on administrative performance and service delivery.

The scope of the paper is limited to the period of 1981 till the present date. The paper is mainly based on secondary sources of information, and it uses a combination of descriptive and analytical methods.

The paper shows that although reforms are steps in the right direction, their impacts so far have been modest. Despite reforms and a few improvements they have made in service provisions, the public bureaucracy in Malaysia continues to suffer from inefficiency, corruption and a host of other problems.

The paper shows the gap between rhetoric and reality of public management reforms in Malaysia. It is expected to be of great value to all those interested in public management – be they in academia or in policy circles.