Modernization of the water utility company of Bogotá (Colombia): an example of public and private participation for solving management problems of water companies in developing countries

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-113
Author(s):  
F. Zuleta ◽  
A. Merlano ◽  
A. Alvarez ◽  
M. Montoya ◽  
E. Restrepo
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Practical Case ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Comparative Efficiency ◽  
Utility Company ◽  
Private Participation ◽  
Management Problems ◽  
Water Companies

A common characteristic of water utility and wastewater companies in developing countries is management problems and limited commercial vocation. In the biggest Latin American cities there is a level of infrastructure enough for providing a substantially better service than the one currently supplied to their badly served customers. For years decisions have moved between two extremes: public management – usually corrupted with playing politics and inefficiency problems, and privatization – sharply criticized by many, and which has shown tendencies to inequality that leave it far away from earning panacea status. This paper is intended to expose the advantages of a novel model in which a state-run company with commercial management problems, the EAAB, solves its limitations by keeping the ownership of its assets and successfully incorporating the participation of better practices from other specialized operators, one of which is a state-owned player, EEPPM. This scheme demonstrates how the service indicators of a system serving eight million inhabitants in the Colombian capital improved significantly with state-owned assets and private participation, without giving in to privatization pressures or stagnating in the usual inefficiency typical of public management in developing countries. This is proposed as a replicable experience that can be used in medium and large cities in other countries with similar management problems, with certain adjustments to fit the solution to the specific cases. This is also a practical case for conducting a comparison of competitiveness within a city, of interest for regulatory entities and investigators on the potential of comparative efficiency in a traditionally monopolistic industry.

The most efficient clusters of Brazilian water companies

Water Policy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 902-917 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Carvalho ◽  
Isabel Pedro ◽  
Rui Cunha Marques
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Parametric Method ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Natural Monopoly ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Private Participation ◽  
Water And Wastewater ◽  
Water Companies ◽  
Non Parametric

Usually water utilities provide their services under natural monopoly, with few incentives to become efficient, therefore affecting customers in the form of expensive tariffs. Hence, it is extremely important to find out the sources of inefficiency. The present study aims to identify the most efficient water utility groups in Brazil. For this purpose, a robust non-parametric method was applied. The results show that the utilities that provide both drinking water and wastewater services, the local utilities, and the utilities with private participation are more efficient. Furthermore, this study proved that the utilities were more efficient before the regulatory framework had been implemented.

Phillips Curves in Developing Countries: The Latin American Case

1982 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey B. Nugent ◽  
Constantine Glezakos
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Latin American ◽  
American Case

Marketing urban water services: information needs for water utility managers in developing countries

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
J. Mugabi ◽  
C. Njiru
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Generic Model ◽  
Water Services ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Customer Information ◽  
Willingness To Use ◽  
Utility Managers

A decade ago the ‘Dublin Principles’ shifted global thinking towards treating water as an economic good. The concern was that overly supply-driven approaches had been financially unsustainable, and therefore failed to reduce the service gap. Accompanying this conceptual shift has been a wider move towards focusing on the customer's needs and preferences and their willingness to pay, and applying marketing techniques to meet those needs in a financially sustainable manner. Although regarded as a positive move, its success is heavily dependent on how well water utilities understand their customers. This paper examines existing literature on the determinants of customer willingness to use and pay for improved water services in developing countries. The contribution of past research to our understanding of the behaviour of customers, with regard to service level choice and payment for services, is critically analysed. Basing on this analysis, we develop and discuss a generic model of a water consumer's decision-making process. The model serves two purposes. First, it consolidates past research into a coherent framework to facilitate implementation of the marketing approach. Secondly, we use the model to identify critical customer information that water utility managers need to know in order to be customer-focused.

scholarly journals PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: EVIDENCE FROM AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SECTOR AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-19
Author(s):  
Anup Chowdhury ◽  
Nikhil Chandra Shil
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Performance Measurement ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Measurement Systems ◽  
New Public ◽  
Performance Measurement Systems

This research explored in depth the evolution of performance measurement systems in the context of new public management initiatives in Australian public sector. A governmental department in the Australian Capital Territory was selected for the purpose of the exploration. The qualitative research approach was adopted and data was collected following case study tradition. The main data sources were archival official documents and interviews. In addition, the researchers used direct observation to supplement and corroborate the archival documents and interview data. The empirical evidence presented in this research supports the fact that the selected Australian government department has implemented performance measurement systems in the line of new public management to illustrate the department’s commitment to efficiency and accountability. The research undertaken was in-depth, using a case study and though generalization is not possible from this single case study, the findings may be expected to add knowledge to existing literature and provide some important lessons for other public sector entities of the developing countries who are interested in adopting performance measurement systems as their control devices. Keywords: public sector, performance measurement systems, new public management, developing countries, Australia.

scholarly journals Gerry Rogers (ed) Urban Poverty and the Labour Market: Access to lobs and Incomes in Asian and Latin American aties. Geneva: International labour Office. 1989. Price: 35 Swiss Francs (Softbound Edition).

1990 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-189
Author(s):  
Sohail J. Malik
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Urban Poverty ◽  
Development Models ◽  
The People ◽  
Growth Centres ◽  
World Development ◽  
Effective Contribution

In the period 1965 to 1985, the per capita consumption in the developing world went up by almost 70 percent. Yet one billion of the people in the developing countries today are living in poverty [World Development Report (1990)]. Despite the growth in incomes and consumption, the problem of poverty is enormous. In most development models a large reserve of low-paid workers (often rural based) is seen as a precondition for industrialization (often urban based), which in turn is seen as synonymous with development. It is the exploitation of these workers to generate the surpluses necessary for growth in the urban growth centres that forms the basis of policy in most developing countries. The very processes that generate this growth also make these workers the most vulnerable to poverty. And if stagnation or recession sets in, the results are disasterous. The book under review makes an effective contribution to focusing attention on the issues of urban poverty and the labour market.

Wage- and profit-led growth regimes: a panel-data approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-412
Author(s):  
Guilherme de Oliveira ◽  
Eduardo Prado Souza
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Domestic Investment ◽  
Growth Regime ◽  
Investment Function ◽  
Trade Channel

The extensive empirical effort made in the growth and distribution literature to estimate whether economic growth is wage- or profit-led has not sufficiently considered the theoretical foundation of the Neo-Kaleckian model. This paper attempts to respect key tenets of the investment function by estimating a panel-data model in which country-specific structural characteristics and possible endogenous relationships in income distribution and economic growth are explicitly considered. The identification strategy is based on several estimates of the capital stock and the rate of capacity utilization for 61 countries over the period between 1995 and 2014. The main results suggest that the growth regime was wage-led in developed countries, while most developing countries exhibited a profit-led growth regime. Interestingly, however, while the profit-led regime occurs through the international trade channel in Latin American countries, in other developing countries, the causality channel is mainly related to the domestic investment function.

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