The role of business intelligence in local government's strategic management processes

Different kinds of external analysis, or business intelligence, are a common and proven medicine in the world of organizations, taken to wisely handle faster and increasingly ambiguous changes in organizations external... [ view full abstract ]

Different kinds of external analysis, or business intelligence, are a common and proven medicine in the world of organizations, taken to wisely handle faster and increasingly ambiguous changes in organizations external environment. External analysis has almost become a motto as all organizations, both private and public, seem to prioritize it. But, is it reasonable to believe that all organizations have the same need for external analysis? 

When Prahalad (2004) discusses the needs for business intelligence, he argue that organizations' dominant logic, like blinders, may prevent to think new and act differently during conversion pressure. As long as everything is as it has been, the dominant logic ensures continued success. The blinders remove the disturbing signals from the chosen direction, but can also filter out signals that indicate the need for development and renewal. The magnitude of this form of institutionalized behavior has lately attracted researchers in the fields of management control and cooperation (Chenhall et al., 2013; Ezzamel et al., 2012; Pache and Santos, 2013).  The NPM strand of research has also started to take an interest in the strategic approaches the NPM control tools are expected to operate within (Johanson, 2009; Ferlie and Hansen and Ferlie, 2016). 
This paper addresses the perceptions actors at the highest level of local government management have regarding the need for external analysis, as well as to what extent their organization has the capability to effectively assimilate external analysis.  
By addressing these perceptions the paper contribute to the emerging research directed at strategic management in the public sector. The paper provides a complementary contribution to the research on a more general and theoretical aggregate level, by analyzing how different strategic school approaches is manifested in practice (Johnsen, 2015). Further, by testing the feasibility and suitability of common strategic management models, developed for the private sector, but implemented in the public sector it contribute to this field of research (see for example Hansen and Ferlie, 2016) as well as to research that develops conceptual frames of reference for how a strategic management processes can be carried out in the public sector (Johanson, 2009).  
The empirical data is from a survey on local governments’ need of and capability to use business intelligence. The survey method origins from Day and Shoemakers (2005) work on business intelligence but is adopted to local government conditions in a Swedish context. The survey was sent to 95 respondents (the chairman of the municipal council and chief officials) in 26 municipalities with a response frequency of 50, 5 %. 
The findings show a fragmented picture of the need and use of external analysis. The management’s perceptions about the need of business intelligence was quite low, given the forecasts of dramatic future changes in the external environment. Their perceptions of the use was even more fragmented, both between different municipalities and within municipalities.  In summary; management perceptions indicates a low need and use of external analysis in local government. More research is needed to understand why this is the case.