Abstract

Since the early 1990s a new period has begun in the management of public services which has seen an increase the corporate forms available to local authorities and greater responsibily in the delivery of services. The need to reorganize services stems from a reduction in state contributions and requires change in the service delivery system, both by choosing new corporate forms and by acting on the range of services, delivered, for example by merging similar activities to achieve network economies. The essay analyses the role of local authorities in projects for corporate transformation and the reorganization of service delivery. Multi-service companies streamline decision-making, enable a balance to be achieved between profitable and loss-making activities and the integration of similar activities, and they produce economies of scale. The essay then analyses a number of concrete cases of transformation into public service companies in Milan, Bergamo, Genoa, Rimini and Modena.