The Performance of Seaport Clusters - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...

64
The Performance of Seaport Clusters
capabilities (such as efficiency and focus on common goals) are required and when both
public and private actors are willing to contribute financially to the activities of public private
bodies. Examples of this include knowledge and education projects and innovation and
knowledge diffusion projects.
Public private bodies have relatively high set-up costs and uncertain pay-offs. Therefore,
they develop only when governments provide substantial support. Public-private bodies are
only exposed to weak selection pressures, because competition is absent and clear
performance monitoring is difficult. Public and private ‘voice’ creates pressure to adapt.
The domain of public organizations is limited to those activities where private initiative is not
likely to yield socially desirable outcomes and regulations also do not lead to socially
desirable outcomes. Activities such as safety and planning are generally regarded as inside
the ‘public domain’.
Selection pressures for public bodies are limited, since competitive pressure is absent and
voice is limited. Furthermore, public organizations in general have relatively strong
‘procedural inertia’ that reduces the effectiveness of voice. Figure 11 summarizes this
overview of modes of governance and their role in a collective action regime.