Abstract
This article is related to the design of management information systems, where the use of technology is considered to be an instrument for the creation of a more competitive agency, as it has more clearly strategic aims. The pre-existing instruments are integrated in order to produce a more efficient, productive functioning of human resources. This is needed to comply with the established regulations and procedures.
Italian Competition Authority. The author’s opinions are his own and do not necessarily represent those of the Italian Competition Authority.
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Notes
- 1.
See documents and materials produced by the Agency Effectiveness Working Group (AEWG), posted on the International Competition Network’s website: http://www.internationalcompetitionnetwork.org/
- 2.
Over the last few years, major reforms have been introduced in Italy, which include measures to foster transparency, accountability and organisational performance. Among the most recent reforms was Legislative Decree 150/2009, which implemented Law No. 15/2009, setting out “a comprehensive framework for improving labour productivity as well as civil service efficiency and transparency”. See OECD (2013), OECD Integrity Review of Italy: Reinforcing Public Sector Integrity, Restoring Trust for Sustainable Growth, OECD Public Governance Reviews, OECD Publishing.
- 3.
See also OECD, Evaluations of the Actions and Resources of Competition Authorities, DAF/COMP(2005)30, 16-Dec-2005 (http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/7/15/35910995.pdf), which summarizes the work carried out at a roundtable on the subject organized by the OECD Competition Committee in June 2005. It includes a background note of W.E Kovacic, professor of Government Contracts Law at the George Washington University Law School; see also W.E. Kovacic, Using Ex Post Evaluations to Improve the Performance of Competition Policy Authorities, The Journal of Corporation Law, Winter 2006.
- 4.
Even though the review refers to documents published by the Authorities in the middle 2000s, a cross-check with the most recent data confirmed the validity of their settings over time. The present analysis does not account for recent changes occurred in the institutional design of two of the examined agencies, namely the NL-NMa and the UK-OFT. The former merged on April 2013 with the Dutch telecommunication regulatory agency (OPTA) and with the Consumer Authority, in the newly created Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). The latter merged with the Competition Commission to form the Competition and Market Authority (CMA), operational from April 2014.
- 5.
Sources: (NZ-CC) Commerce Commission, Statement of Intent 2006–2009 (http://www.comcom.govt.nz/TheCommission/PlansandReports/annualstrategicplans.aspx)
(US-FTC) Federal Trade Commission, Performance and Accountability Report. Fiscal Year 2005 (http://www.ftc.gov/par)
(UK-OFT) Office of Fair Trading, Annual Report 2005–2006 (http://www.oft.gov.uk/News/Annual+report/resource.htm)
(UK-OFT) Office of Fair Trading, Annual Plan. Consultation Draft, December 2005 (http://www.oft.gov.uk/About/Annual/2006.htm)
(NL-NMa) Netherlands Competition Authority, Annual Report NMa 2005, pp 108–117 (http://www.nmanet.nl/engels/home/90_Brochures_and_annual_reports/01_brochures_en_jaarverslagen.asp)
- 6.
Measure’s qualifiers: NZ-CC: Investigation – Adjudication – Litigation – Public Information; US-FTC: Identify [fraud, deception, and unfair practices/anticompetitive mergers and practices] that cause the greatest consumer injury – Stop [fraud, deception, and unfair practices/anticompetitive mergers and practices] through law enforcement – Prevent consumer injury through education.
- 7.
The goal is the strategic objective aimed at; the target is the quantifiable level of performance desired for a particular objective over a specified time (timeliness).
- 8.
Introduced in the early 1990s by Robert Kaplan and David Norton as a new approach to the strategic management of resources. The term “balanced” refers to precise indicators given to entities (private or public) that intend to manage their own performance based on what needs to be measured in order to obtain financial (primarily and traditionally) balance. Therefore, an agency is evaluated under four areas: economic-financial (or mission, in the case of public entities); processes; clients (external perspective); and resources (internal perspective). Each area corresponds to a series of performance indicators.
- 9.
The elements listed mostly reflect the areas covered in the Competition Agency Practice Manual written under the auspices of the International Competition Network and mentioned in the introduction.
- 10.
On evaluating the impact of competition law enforcement see Peter Ormosi, Stocktaking on Evaluation, OECD Discussion Note, DAF/COMP/WP2(2012)5, 22 May 2012. The paper arranges impact evaluations into three broad categories: (1) evaluation for accountability, usually conducted on Government request (annual reports, but also accountability and performance reports); (2) ex post evaluation of interventions, which includes court appeal, as well as retrospective studies on market changes following antitrust interventions; (3) broader impact evaluation, which assesses the impact of competition policy on economic factors such as productivity, growth, or employment.
- 11.
See Office of Fair Trading, Perceptions of Markets and Competition, Research report, Feb. 2005.
- 12.
Cfr., U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Performance and Accountability Report, Fiscal Year 2005. We prefer using the term ‘action’ as opposed to ‘activity’ in order to avoid possible ambiguity with the general term “areas of activity” usually used to refer to the carrying out of competencies attributed to single organizational units.
- 13.
The term output is used as a generic reference indicating a result, product or process.
- 14.
Characteristics of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) should usually meet the SMART criteria: S – specific, M – measurable, A – achievable, R – relevant, T – time-phased.
- 15.
In fact, calculating actions (which often coincide with the areas of work of the offices) in terms of hours worked means introducing a system that incorporates the level of complexity of the activity (procedure or project) undertaken.
References
International Competition Network. Agency effectiveness. http://www.internationalcompetitionnetwork.org/working-groups/current/agency-effectiveness.aspx
Kovacic WE (2006) Using ex post evaluations to improve the performance of competition policy authorities. J Corp Law
Office of Fair Trading (2005) Perceptions of markets and competition. Research report, Feb
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2005) Evaluations of the actions and resources of competition authorities, DAF/COMP(2005)30. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/7/15/35910995.pdf
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2013) OECD integrity review of Italy: reinforcing public sector integrity, restoring trust for sustainable growth, OECD public governance reviews. OECD Publishing, Paris
Ormosi P (2012) Stocktaking on evaluation. OECD discussion note, DAF/COMP/WP2(2012)5
U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Performance and accountability report, Fiscal Year 2005
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La Noce, M. (2015). Designing a Management Information System for Competition Law Agencies. In: Di Bitetto, M., Chymis, A., D'Anselmi, P. (eds) Public Management as Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07037-7_2
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