Research areas

AKF conducts research on how local authorities and regions can qualify and rationalise their efforts, and how the organisation and management of the public sector can be developed to ensure that resources are fully exploited.

AKF’s research areas are “regional development and framework conditions”, “resources and processes”, including management and organisation, as well as the “results and effects” of public-sector initiatives. The common theme for AKF’s research is the management perspective in contrast to a focus on citizens or the population, and key elements are finance, management and organisation.

Regional development and framework conditions

Local authorities and regions are subject to a number of national and international framework conditions that are generally outside their influence. The framework conditions cover government rules and management, EU legislation and local demographic, socioeconomic and commercial conditions. AKF’s research reveals the importance of the frameworks with a view to understanding how they interact with results achieved through public-sector efforts.

The regional development has special importance for local authorities’ and regions’ framework conditions, and AKF’s research has a special focus on regional differences in education, business development and labour market affiliations. AKF’s regional research also provides input for how the municipal economic challenges can be solved while giving an overview of the local authorities’ differences in income and expenses and the background for these factors.

Resources and processes

AKF conducts research on the conditions for democratic decision processes, roles of politicians and the relationship between the politicians, civil servants, general public and non-governmental organisations. We also conduct research on local authorities’ and regions’ finances and how they can be most expediently managed. This involves subjects such as innovative approaches to addressing and developing income, eg in the form of user payment, which can contribute both to generating income and helping limit demand for public-sector services.

It also involves how public-private sector cooperation can lead to new financing models and lower costs. At management level, the question is the extent to which organisational models for eg shared management, area management and district management can produce more efficient operations at institutional level. Employees are unquestionably the most important resource for the public sector, and AKF conducts research on subjects including what motivates public-sector employees, and which mechanisms are involved when frontline employees meet members of the public.

Results and effects

Another AKF research area covers how local authorities’ and regions’ resources can be best applied through effect measurements, benchmarking and value-for-money surveys. AKF’s surveys are based on concrete, measurable and finalised results for members of the public, eg successful courses of treatment, schoolchildren’s reading and mathematics skills, senior citizens’ ability to function and water quality in lakes and waterways.

Research is also carried out on the effect on welfare of reordering priorities and savings. To enable local authorities and institutions to inspire each other to carry out their tasks more efficiently using fewer financial resources, AKF executes a number of advanced benchmarking surveys that take into account, as well as possible, the importance of the framework conditions.