Department Environmental Social Sciences
Capabilities in Utiliy Sectors (CapUS)
Background
Utility services such as electricity, water supply and sanitation and the corresponding infrastructure sectors face several challenges: market liberalization and organizational restructuring, increasing problems with the security and quality of supply, massive investment needs, and the introduction of new technologies. At the level of utility companies, organizational capabilities are a key factor to provide effective and cost efficient services of supply. While the existing literature on utility management has addressed many of the upcoming issues, the role of organizational capabilities for managing utilities and ensuring their long-term viability of large infrastructures has not received much attention so far. This project examines how organizational capabilities influence the governance of utilities. The analysis focuses on the implications that competences and skills have for
- Effective public service provision,
- Long-term viability of infrastructure networks, and
- Regulatory design.
Goal of the Project
CapUS is a joint research project with the Management Programme in Infrastructure Reform and Regulation (MIR) at Graduate School of Business (GSB) of the University of Cape Town, South Africa. The main purpose of this joint research project on capabilities and governance is to develop a deeper understanding of the role that organizational competences and skills play in providing adequate utility services and how to improve the performance of state owned enterprises in infrastructure sectors. More particularly, we aim to contribute to the debate among management scholars and practitioners on a) how policy decisions influence competence building in public utilities, b) how utilities acquire and build adequate competences and skills, and c) how the accumulation of competences affects vertical integration and disintegration in infrastructure sectors. This project intends also to provide a set of recommendation for utility managers and policy makers on how to improve the quality of public services. The project is based on qualitative and quantitative research of competences and skills in the water supply, sanitation and electricity sectors in South Africa and Switzerland.
