Since 2002, as a consultant and lecturer at the Institute of Business and Regional Economics in Switzerland, specializing in public management and change management. Previously, 8 years as a consultant for public organizations and administrations in Germany.
He defended his Executive Doctorate of Business Administration (EDBA) in March 2025, on the theme “Strategisches Management im Public Sektor am Beispiel von Schweizer Gemeinden – Einflussfaktoren eines erfolgreichen strategischen Public Managements” (in English: ” Strategic management in the public sector using the example of Swiss municipalities – factors influencing successful strategic public management”) under the supervision of Professor Damien Mourey, Professor at the University of French Polynesia.
Thesis Direction
Prof Mourey Damien
Thesis Title
Strategic management in the public sector using the example of Swiss municipalities – factors influencing successful strategic public management –
Abstract
This dissertation examines the use of strategic management in small municipalities in Switzerland (from 1000 to 20,000 inhabitants). It utilizes a holistic model to analyze the factors that can be described as having an impact on success. The model is extended to include the following levels of analysis:
– schools of strategic management in public organizations,
– basic strategic attitude of the municipality (typology),
– leadership model of the municipality.
The methodology involved conducting qualitative expert interviews to find out which factors, schools of thought, attitudes and management models are applied and can be effective for strategic management in Swiss municipalities. The evaluation and interpretation of the interviews is based on Mayring’s methodology, which is extended to include Kuckartz’s methodology. The focus here is on a theory-driven and material-developed category system for evaluating and presenting the results. The findings are then compared with the theory and discussed.
The results show and justify which influencing factors are relevant to success and which tend to play a subordinate role and can therefore be neglected. Soft factors from the personnel and cultural dimension seem to be increasingly effective for strategic management in Swiss municipalities. Aspects from the organizational and political dimension can also be increasingly relevant to the success of strategic management. The financial dimension is merely observed and apparently causes hardly any problems in administrative practice in Swiss municipalities. This is probably due to the financial situation of Swiss municipalities.
Swiss municipalities do not favor one specific school of thought, but rather incorporate various schools. A hybrid approach dominates in practical application.
In terms of their basic approach, Swiss municipalities almost uniformly classify themselves as adept strategists in the typology. According to their self-assessment, the majority of the municipalities examined are in a successful phase of applying strategic management.
There are also clear tendencies in the application of the leadership models. Half of the respondents use the classic leadership model and a quarter use the operational model. These models determine the distribution of tasks and the assignment of processes in strategic management between politics (municipal councils) and administration (administrative managers) and therefore have a concrete influence on the design of strategic management in Swiss municipalities.
The DBA thesis also includes management recommendations for practice in all six dimensions of the influencing factors and for strategy consulting, with the personnel and cultural dimensions forming the focus due to their effectiveness for strategic management.