Shared Services Delivery: The Role of Unioni dei Comuni

The level of complexity of cost saving reforms in local government has grown after the 2008 crisis (Bel et al, 2014). This crisis has also enhanced the need for local governments to overhaul service delivery aiming to a greater efficiency of local delivered services. An answer to this need was shared services delivery: a widespread phenomenon, particularly intense in small municipalities (Warner and Hefetz 2003; Bel and Costas 2006; Carr et al. 2009; Warner 2011). In the literature there are strong indications that shared services delivery is not always successful, but the factors that determine its success or failure are still unknown (Hulst et Al). To study this trend there are many closely linked aspects to consider, in particular political and economic aspects. Political aspects mainly concern decisions taken by national governments which have had positive and negative effects on shared services. The different models of shared services are results of the intersection of two dimension: intensity of collaborative activity by different local governments, and the extent to which this activity is considered to be strategic. Other dimensions to be considered in different models are the autonomy (Feiock and Scholz,2010), and the number of actors (Feiock,2009). In Europe, each member state has created its shared services delivery strategies with its own peculiarities: in Italy through the Unioni dei Comuni, in France through Communautè des Communes, in Germany through Zweckerverband, in Spain trough Mancomunidades. Every state has different forms of cooperation. Economic aspects concern primarily the performance of this strategies. Some municipalities cooperate to save cost. Three variables influence the presence of savings: the cost structure of public services, the size and the structure of local government and the governance framework at national scale (Bel et al, 2014). But it is not just a matter of savings. Several aspects of the performance of the local government can potentially be improved through cooperation: the quality of service, the efficiency of internal process (Haveri et al,), and the value of human capital (Kelly). The aim of this research is to understand what variables may determine the success or the failure of shared services delivery, and analyze them in the Italian context. To this purpose, the research has been structured in three parts, following a substantial logical path. Firstly, the European state of the art of the shared services delivery has been analyzed. On the basis of the Hulst et al (2007) model, four different dimensions were analysed (demographic context, management and institutional bodies, law enforcement, quality and quantity of delivered services) in six different countries (Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland) in order to make a comparative research, which it has allowed to understand how cooperation between small municipalities work in Europe. Secondly, a performance measurement system adequate to shared services delivery in local government was developed. On a content-analysis on the Unioni published performance documents was undertaken to understand if cost saving was the only reason to delivery services in shared form. In this regard, this new measurement system seeks to establish which aspects of shared services should be considered to facilitate the accurately measurement and monitoring of performance in shared services delivery. Thirdly, the role of Unioni dei Comuni in the Italian local government framework was analyzed. On the basis of interviews with Italian director generals of Unioni and of the results of the previous two papers, three different perspectives were investigated: the performance measurement of Unioni, the factors and motivations behind the cooperation, and the efficiency and perspective of Unioni.