New Public Management Reforms in Public Asset Management at the State Governments of the United States

摘要

New Public Management is marked for its preferences to a variety of management approaches and standards in the public sector, including privatization, public-private partnership, performance improvement, output and outcomes, citizen participation, and financial saving. From the perspective of new public management reforms, this paper examines the current status of public fixed asset management in the process of providing public goods and services. The paper explores innovative approaches of fixed asset management at U.S. state governments in such dimensions as legal and regulatory system, management organization structures, management process throughout life-cycle of assets, human resource strategy, management information system, and monitoring and transparency. Data analyses demonstrate that along these dimensions, various New Public Management approaches are implemented to manage fixed assets at the state governments, but at different scales and producing different effects. To provide quality services for government operation, U.S. state governments are expected to exert further efforts to enhance reforms in fixed asset management.