An application of dominant method: Empirical approach to public sector reform

Under tight financial conditions, local governments in Japan are required to conduct performance-based administrative management and subsequent public sector reform. Concerning public sector reform, a joint research group proposed a framework of how to reform public sector with theoretical approach. The research concluded that present public sector should be decomposed into two parts: one is the organization specialized in decision-making and ruling with authority and legal power; the other is collective entities which coproductively cover social issues. On the other hand, by employing the dominant method of the Analytic Hierarchy Process, the author of this paper developed a rational approach to the delegation of power from the public sector to other potential sectors. Based on the results of the study, this paper considers the scheme of public sector reform. Principal component analysis concerning properties featuring projects of a local government is carried out, and new concepts representing the aspect of the projects are extracted. The results of this paper illustrate the structure of the publicness and show the scheme of public sector reform. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.