New Ways of Doing Business

This book is an invaluable guide to navigating the sometimes controversial changes taking place in the internal operations of government, the delivery of services to citizens, and the delivery of environmental programs. Possibly the most monumental change taking place in our modern government is the lessening allegiance to the old model of in-house, in-departmental performance of tasks. The new model asks "how and by whom can the tasks of government best be performed?" The answer sometimes lies with another inter-governmental department, leading to an in-house atmosphere of healthy competition and entrepreneurship, and sometimes with outside contractors.

There are also dramatic new ways in which services to the public can now be delivered: via the Internet, via contracts with private organizations, and via faith-based initiatives and business improvement districts. Experts provide valuable checklists and guidelines and case studies exploring the merits and disadvantages of these new service delivery routes.

Finally, New Ways of Doing Business explores what the editors call one of the most highly experimental policy arenas in government, that of the delivery of environmental programs. The authors of these articles explain via case study analysis many of the innovative programs currently in existence, and postulate that the traditional "command-and-control" stance of government to businesses will be superceded by a flexibility that will allow for increased "eco-efficiency" and attention to market-based regulatory tools.

Table of Contents:

Toward Government of the Future: New Ways of Doing Business
Mark A. Abramson and Ann M. Kieffaber

Part I: Changing the Internal Operations of Governement

Entrepreneurial Government: Bureaucrats as Business People
Anne Laurent

Franchise Funds in the Federal Government: Ending the Monopoly in Service Provision
John J. Callahan

Part II: Changing the Delivery of Services

The Use of the Internet in Government Service Delivery
Steven Cohen and William Eimicke

Implementing State Contracts for Social Services: An Assessment of the Kansas Experience
Jocelyn M. Johnston and Barbara S. Romzek

Religious Organizations, Anti-Poverty Relief, and Charitable Choice: A Feasibility Study of Faith-Based Welfare Reform in Mississippi
John P. Bartkowski and Helen A. Regis

Business Improvement Districts and Innovative Service Delivery
Jerry Mitchell

Part III: Transforming the Delivery of Environmental Programs

An Assessment of Brownfield Redevelopment Policies: The Michigan Experience
Richard C. Hula

Rethinking U. S. Environmental Protection Policy: Management Challenges for the Bush Administration
Dennis A. Rondinelli

New Tools for Improving Government Regulation: An Assessment of Emissions Trading and Other Market-Based Regulatory Tools
Gary C. Bryner