Research Note: Purchaser-Provider – Are the Purchasers Ready for It?
New Public Management (NPM) is correctly seen as a multifaceted set of changes, with different emphases in the many countries in which programs of reform have been implemented (Hood 1995). In Australia and New Zealand, and to a significant extent in the UK, the replacement of hierarchical with contractual or quasi-contractual relations lies at the heart of NPM (Boston et al. 1996; Laffin 1997; Walsh 1995).