COMMENT ON NYLEHN,BORRE STRATEGY IN LOCAL-GOVERNMENT

Borre Nylehn's article ''Strategy in Local Government'' is an exciting and thought provoking discussion of strategic management in local gov ernment. However, his observations can be discussed, both theoreticall y and empirically. It has been documented that politicians resist atte mpts to introduce strategic management systems in the form of Manageme nt by Objective, especially in small municipalities, but Nylehn's conc lusion that strategic management is not used in local government organ izations, that it is inappropriate, inadequate and even harmful is too hasty. I will argue that there may be good reasons to use strategic t hinking in local government, but more research is needed to document t he costs and benefits.