Public sector, disrupted

In the wake of the deep austerity facing most governments around the world, leaders are faced with the challenge to "do more with less." Unfortunately, typical cost reduction exercises inevitably result in a difficult trade-off—between price or performance. Breaking this seemingly unavoidable trade-off will require leaders to look at the public sector in a whole new way.

The key to radically reducing costs, while maintaining or even improving services, is disruptive innovation. Creating the conditions for disruption will require policymakers to view government through a different lens. Instead of seeing only endless programs and bureaucracies, the myriad responsibilities and customers of government can be seen as a series of markets that can be shaped in ways to find and cultivate very different and ultimately more effective, less expensive ways of supplying public services.