Lean public management: How lean principles facilitate municipal governance reform in China

Abstract

Traditional Chinese municipal governance set up on “information islands” brought negative effect to municipal governance reform. E-government has become a hot topic in public management recently just as lean supply chain does in business management. However, there is little discussion about their relationship. This article focused on this gap through referring to lean principles in supply chain management. The aim was to illustrate the determinants of efficient public service provision for citizens to support flexible municipal governance reform to satisfy increasing public demand. The explorative and deductive principles were put forward following by a case study on Jiangmen municipal service hotline that set an example of cross-network integration for lean public management. The determinants of different dimensions were demonstrated by analyzing the process and key points of the cross-network integration. Direction and endeavor for implementing lean management in public sectors were further discussed. This paper contributed to identifying framework, determinants and criteria of lean public management for municipal governance, and, was essential for ensuring the successful practices of lean public management in future. It provided a new insight for public sector reform and contributed to public management research as well as business management study. Key words: Public management, lean principle, municipal governance reform, cross-network integration, municipal service hotline, case study, China.