International Public Management Network (IPMN)

IPMN is pleased to provide the call for paper for the 2013 conference to be held 5-7 September, 2013 in Siena, Italy, in partnership with the University of Siena

Conference topic theme: “Achieving results under public sector stress”

Governments around the developed world are under pressure to cut public spending (for example, the majority of EU member states approved the 2012 Fiscal Stability Treaty) and at the same time they are asked to improve public sector performance. Austerity policies force public organizations to deal with, on the one hand, budgetary pressures (due to problems such as ageing populations and increasing health care and pension costs) and, on the other hand, to satisfy citizens’ increasing demand for public needs provision and for accountability. Furthermore, the 2008-9 economical and financial crisis worldwide compounded this situation.
The above implies several policy and governance questions. On the political side, what are the key institutional drivers that may contribute to improve public sector organizations’ effectiveness and efficiency, within revenue and expenditure constraints? On the governance side, which accountability mechanisms and organizational strategies do public organizations need to manage fiscal stress and financial restraint?
There are different strategies that politicians and public managers could implement: primarily fiscal or financial measures (such as cutbacks or retrenchment) or primarily organizational ones (such as decline or downsizing). However, more common strategies actually implemented in the public sector combine multiple measures.
In particular, cutback management and organizational decline management need a comprehensive and long-term perspective rather than a short-term reductionist approach, in order to avoid side effects and contradictions such as short-term political influences, penalties to organizational efficiency, unintended future consequences, loss of key staff, etc.
The aim will be to provide both political and organizational solutions, which allow public organizations to implement innovative approaches to combine spending review targets and public needs’ satisfaction, without undermining qualitative and quantitative standards.

Main topics
· Financial sustainability and innovative management approaches (cutback management, network management, etc.)
· The roles and interests of public sectors stakeholders
· The role of accounting, strategic and managerial tools in the fiscal sustainability agenda
· The partnership between policy makers, public managers, scholars and consultants
· Education, training and professionalization
· The role of international institutions, supreme audit institutions/national audit courts and the rating agencies.
· Cost-cutting vs. professional quality: competiting approaches, tensions, solutions.
· Networked service production under fiscal stress.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION PROCEDURES

Papers with both a theoretical or modeling ambition and empirical content are welcome.

Please submit a short abstract outlining:
· The title of the paper;
· A short description of the contents of the paper (maximum 1 page);
· The research method of your contribution;
· Name, affiliation, and contact information of the author(s).

Submission deadline for abstracts: 1st May 2013
Notification of acceptance: 1st June 2013
Submission deadline for full papers: 31st July 2013
Papers will be then publicized on the Conference Website
Abstracts must be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The email address where final papers must be sent will be communicated to the Authors of the accepted abstracts.

The Conference Website will be ready next January. It will provide you with the latest information on the program, the registration fees, accommodation, Conference Committee, and the practical organization.

Convenor:
Prof. Dr.Riccardo Mussari,
Department of Business and Law
University of Siena (Italy)
e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dear Colleagues,

I am particularly pleased to announce that the University of Siena will host the 2013 International Public Management Network Conference.

The Conference will be held at the Certosa di Pontignano, an ancient monastery owned by University of Siena, from September 5th to September 7th, 2013.

The Conference will be focused on “Achieving results under public sector stress”.

Call for papers, program details and information about accommodation will be provided  soon.

Prof. Dr. Riccardo Mussari

IPMN President

We are all looking forward to a very productive annual conference in June.

For the draft conference agenda, click here.

For travel and other arrangements, click here.

For a map of the conference venue, click here.

We are delighted to announce that Prof. Robert Klitgaard has agreed to be the keynote speaker. Prof. Klitgaard is a University Professor at Claremont Graduate University, where he served as the President from 2005 to 2009. He has advised many governments on economic strategy and institutional reform, and his consulting work and research have taken him to more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.  He has been called "the world's leading expert on corruption" (The Christian Science Monitor).  In recent years he has served on the faculty of the World Economic Forum, the editorial boards of the Journal of Economic Literature and Theoria, and the Board of the International Development Evaluation Association.

Innovations in Public Management for Combating Corruption

in partnership with the East West Center
Conference Dates: June 27 - 29, 2012