Public entrepreneurship (also known as government or public sector entrepreneurship) gained prominence at a time – during the Reagan presidency and Thatcher premiership-- when public distrust of government was high. At the same time, belief in the energy and possibility of the entrepreneurial spirit was great. Citizens felt government had to make itself more accountable to more people. People were mandating more public services, but were voting down tax increases. Thus, the government also had to figure out how to “do more with less”.
Public entrepreneurship continues to this day as a) citizens continue to express their dissatisfaction with government, and b) revenues are down. Given that change is an inescapable reality – and that fast change is becoming more common place – public entrepreneurship allowed innovation to come from within, instead of being imposed from outside.
What is public entrepreneurship?
There is no one definition of what makes something public entrepreneurship or someone a public entrepreneur. However, like their private-sector counterparts, public entrepreneurs can transform their environment by either:
- having and providing or otherwise acting on new information, or
- organizing resources in new ways to make and distribute new products or services
Public entrepreneurship can be viewed as a creatively destructive force, tearing down old thoughts, processes, programs, or even organizations, in order to institute something hopefully more effective in its place.
The scholar Nancy Roberts saw public sector entrepreneurship as a process with three stages:
- creation, which is when a new idea is formed to address some need or problem,
- design, which is the planning stage, and
- implementation
Public entrepreneurs are particularly concerned with increasing government's capacity to respond to issues of quality of life. The innovative approaches taken by certain municipalities to addressing major issues such as affordable housing, recreation and open space, land use planning, and poverty show an entrepreneurial spirit at work.
What is the benefit to public sector entrepreneurship?
Public entrepreneurship invites the opportunity to reexamine the role of government. The government has a responsibility to ensure access to what services? Need it be the service provider, service coordinator, overseer, or simply legislator?
Government can extend its capacity without increasing its size by partnering with other (nonprofit and for-profit) organizations. In fact, public entrepreneurs help for-profit entrepreneurs both directly, by partnering with them, and indirectly, by creating environments that allow for-profit entrepreneurship to prosper. Such public sector entrepreneurial practices include tax codes and regulations that are favorable to a certain types of businesses, capital grants and contracts, business services and networking opportunities.
What is the downside of government entrepreneurship?
Unrestrained belief in the powers of public entrepreneurship is dangerous. For many, entrepreneurial activity is exciting and empowering. Government might start being entrepreneurial for entrepreneurialism’s sake, instead of using it as a tool to make sure citizen needs and public policy objectives are met.
Even when entrepreneurship is reigned in, and used only as an instrument to achieving some greater good, there are risks: innovations can, and often do, fail – in this case, at the expense of the tax payer.
Conclusion
Anyone is a potential public sector entrepreneur – from our elected officials, to government leaders, to government employees, to “civic entrepreneurs,” or folks who are not directly connected to the government. For entrepreneurship to work, decision-making power must be spread and central control eased. At the same time, it is necessary to hold public entrepreneurs and their partners accountable for the results of their work.
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