Strategies for the Municipal Utilities of the Future – INFRAFUTUR: A Study on the Future of Municipal Enterprises

Nikolaus Richter and Stefan Thomas

Strategies for the Municipal Utilities of the Future – INFRAFUTUR: A Study on the Future of Municipal Enterprises (1)

Important Point of Departure: Synergy Potential in the “Municipal Family”

Another Important Point of Departure: Cooperative Brand Formation

Strategy Development

What Strategies were Developed?

The Results are Available and can be put into Effect

Notes

References

Abstract:

In the context of the research partnership INFRAFUTUR, the “Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, and Energy” together with firms and organisations in the utilities industry has taken a look at whether municipal enterprises have a future – and if so, what future. They have found that a broad spectrum of strategies and packages of strategic measures is needed to safeguard and build up general-interest services at the local level. Municipal multi-utilities (Stadtwerke) do therefore have a future. There are naturally conditions: Stadtwerke have a future if they adapt. For example, they are needed as the central partner for the local authority in elaborating and implementing its climate protection concept.

In late May 2008, the “Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy” (Wuppertal Institute) reported on the findings of the “INFRAFUTUR research partnership”(2) at a conference in Heidelberg. The acronym stands for the future of distributed infrastructures in the face of competition and the challenges of climate protection, and quality assurance. Together with firms and organisations from the utilities sector, the issue was raised whether municipal multi-utilities (3) still have a future,(4) and if so, what future.

Research focused on what developments in the core areas of local general-interest service provision, energy supply, water supply, sewage and waste disposal are to be expected, and what challenges municipal services face from changing framework conditions and markets and from developments in substantive functions. This raises the question: What strategies are best suited to secure a sustainable future for municipal enterprises in providing households and industry with utility services? There are a number of reasons why the general-interest services municipal utilities deliver are of crucial importance for the development of society and the economy (see figure 1).

Figure 1

Source: Richter/Thomas et al. (2008b), 2.

Figure 2

Source: Richter/Thomas et al. (2008a), 55.

The strengths of municipal enterprises shown in figure 2 are many and diverse. However, they often become apparent only when they are no longer “there” (e.g., after privatisation). Weaknesses were naturally also taken into account in developing strategies. Strengths and weaknesses were categorized for three basic types of corporate orientation,(5) representing typical constellations of municipal undertakings:

• enterprises, for example local network operators or logistics service providers, limited to distributing energy to customers in the local energy grid or to collecting and removing waste;
• municipal full service providers, which offer the whole range of distributed infrastructures in the given sector;
• regionally expanding municipal enterprises that offer at least some of the products and services provided in the home local authority in other areas, as well.

Figure 3

Source: Richter/Thomas et al. (2008b), 9.

Vested market interests mean that the positive contributions and prospects of distributed infrastructures will not come of their own accord. The necessary conditions have to be established nationally and throughout the EU through activating policy on climate, energy, waste, and water and complementary (and not counterproductive) economic policy. In addition to the internal analysis of enterprises, the development of external factors was considered to identify the opportunities and risks arising from future developments. The point of departure was three qualitative, consistent scenarios (6) for development over the coming decade (see figure 3).

The scenarios were as follows:

Scenario 1: Market trend development and government-set framework conditions (with opposing trends in the fields of competition and ecology).

It should be noted that political and administrative authorities often act inconsistently; there are also major differences between states and between local authorities.

Scenario 2: Redirection of market processes through consistent sustainability policy in response to ecological problems and resource depletion, for example threatening raw materials crises.

The various policy areas are consistently reoriented to satisfy resource protection requirements. In addition, the necessary conditions for implementation are established. Where there is competition, it is organised on an ecologically and socially responsible basis (and placed on a sound legal basis).

Scenario 3: Play of market forces owing to the withdrawal of government.

By means of liberalisation, privatisation, and general deregulation (accompanied by more stringent regulation where competition is lacking), political and administrative action seeks to lower prices and tariffs as input prices for firms and factors determining households’ disposable income. The tools are deployed consistently. The intensification of international competition is accompanied by a reduction in the number of domestic providers.

Figure 4: Overview of analysis in the sectors under study

Source: Richter/Thomas et al. (2008a), 28.

In a given sector, the three scenarios cover the range of relations between competition and climate protection/resource efficiency in which the standard of service is to be maintained or improved. The opportunities and dangers for municipal enterprises that the scenarios outline were identified, assessed, bundled, and weighted. They were then compared with the strengths and weaknesses in the SWOT tables.(7) Together with an assessment of international (and national) experience with liberalisation/deregulation and possible synergies through intensified cooperation between municipal service segments, the results of the SWOT analyses fed into strategy development in the given sector.

The course taken by the study is summarised in figure 4. It shows how the various steps built on one another.

Important Point of Departure: Synergy Potential in the “Municipal Family”

If a sector is considered in isolation, the links between actors and within municipal services as a whole can be overlooked.(8) It was therefore necessary to ascertain the areas of the “municipal family”(9) in which synergies could develop. Values that exceed the arithmetic sum of cooperating partners’ individual activities (synergy effects) are the result of joint increases in effectiveness and efficiency. They can be sought in many areas where municipal enterprises operate, and where local government entities collaborate (see figure 5). Synergies can develop into a unique selling proposition in competition with private firms.

Synergies can be realised through various types of cooperation between municipal enterprises. Important for strategic corporate development are forms of cooperation that have a major impact on the development of the individual enterprise. For this reason, the following aspects are important:

• the formation or expansion of strategic alliances;
• intermunicipal cooperation in the form of special purpose associations (or their substantive and/or geographical expansion);
• the legal integration of municipal enterprises (up to and including mergers);
• the creation of durable operational networks between municipal enterprises (and participation in existing networks).

This list shows that there is no patent remedy for realising synergy potential. In each case, possible partners have to be identified and the most suitable forms of cooperation decided. The potential for synergies will not be realised if the wrong form of cooperation is chosen or if power politics intervenes in cooperative activities.

Figure 5

Source: Richter (2008), 22.

Another Important Point of Departure: Cooperative Brand Formation

The services local infrastructure enterprises deliver are an element in the local government provision of services of general interest. They therefore pursue not only economic but also societal and ecological objectives. They include not only the goals of local authorities but also those of service users, whether private households, firms, or other organisations.(10)

In a competitive environment, offers become economic performance only when accepted and paid for. Potential customers must therefore be informed about what economic, ecological, and social services are on offer generally and for them personally. This shifts the focus of competition from price to quality in the broadest sense (beyond immediate product quality). In the long term, moreover, it is also important to present the various aspects of local authority general-interest services in areas that are currently not subject to competition.

• Insight into the sense of services mitigates the coercive nature of formal compulsory connection and use. This reduces the danger of the instrument being abolished.
• Some services currently provided on a non-competitive basis could already be awarded to third parties in the form of concessions (competition for the market).
• Comprehensive information can provide the basis for extending the activities of Stadtwerke to other operating areas.
• Furthermore, knowledge about the overall performance of municipal enterprises would enable decisions on changes to the legal framework to be taken on a more rational basis.

Where communication is inadequate, the distribution of responsibilities between municipal general-interest service provision and the services delivered by commercial enterprises may become blurred.(11)

It is hence obvious that marketing will be crucially important in the future.(12) Not only must the functions and services of municipal enterprises be presented but also positioned against actual or potential competitors. Over and above comprehensive presentation of the facts, emotional aspects (13) are becoming more and more important. This applies for external communication (with current and potential customers and with decision-makers at the local, state, federal, and European levels (14)). Internal communication is also important. The extent and quality of ecological and social performance by municipal general-interest services depends essentially on whether municipal enterprise employees are aware of the aspects of their activities that go beyond economics.

Strategy Development

In the sectoral studies, strategies (15) were developed for each of the basic types of corporate focus in relation to the different scenarios. The sectoral reports describe the bundles of measures. Sector-specific strategies were to cover the relevant spheres of activity and to take account of function areas. Both own resources (existing and developing core competencies, relation to strengths and weaknesses identified by internal analysis) and market requirements (activities of competitors, trends in the sector, future requirements considered in the external analysis in the form of scenarios) were taken into account. The following strategy areas were identified:

• customer-focused services, often highly individualised,
• local contributions to climate protection and resource conservation,
• quality competition at competitive prices or acceptable tariffs,
• safe and reliable public utility services,
• sustainable, distributed infrastructures,
• modern workplaces (16) with competent and well-qualified personnel,(17)
• cooperation and synergies,
• benefits for the local authority owner, as well as societal responsibility,
• influencing the framework conditions for municipal enterprises, and
• public relations.

Strategies were developed both to attain specific goals and in anticipation of future developments. They comprise packages of measures suitable for attaining the goals set and hence for exploiting available opportunities and coping with recognised risks. Before a strategy is finally approved, potentially favourable and detrimental conditions for implementation have to be identified (cf. figure 6).

Figure 6

Source: Richter/Thomas et al. (2008a), 95.

Since strategies are developed over the medium or long term, the focus is on central goals and the activities pertinent to their attainment. In order to structure strategy development and implementation and facilitate monitoring, it is useful to define phases and decision points. Milestones are the interface between strategy development and strategy implementation. When milestones have been reached, it should be ascertained whether the strategic conditions for implementation have been established. What is important for many milestones is not only taking decisions but also motivating staff by specifying plausible intermediate steps and, when these have been taken, being able to assess the results of joint efforts (and the contribution of each team member).

What Strategies were Developed?

In the sectoral studies, strategies were developed for each of the basic types of corporate focus in relation to the different scenarios. This also produced strategies that can be pursued if given assumptions of the scenario hold. However, similarly worded strategies can produce different bundles of measures when boundary conditions (basic type and scenario) differ. This applies both for the tools used and for their dimensions and scheduling. There are numerous possible strategies (see figure 7). Those that involve a shift in the basic type of corporate focus are in italics.

Figure 7

Source: Richter/Thomas et al. (2008a), 98.

An example in local waste management is the energetic use of biomass by municipal full service providers under the strategy “waste management as resource management.”(18) The background is the political demand for the waste sector to contribute to climate protection by producing energy from renewable resources. Local authority waste management enterprises develop the energetic exploitation of biowaste as a new business segment. Political climate protection requirements and constantly rising energy prices have lent the anaerobic fermentation of biowaste considerable ecological and economic potential.

The fermentation of biowaste, as well as summer prunings or kitchen and catering waste produces biogases containing methane through microbial metabolism, which can also be refined into natural gas or used to generate electricity in CHP systems. Depending on procedures, various feed-in tariffs can apply under the Renewable Energy Sources Act. Since both investment costs and operating costs differ widely from process to process, the concrete selection of a provider must be made contingent on the given circumstances. The ideal conditions are a minimum volume of biowaste with a high proportion of kitchen waste compared to garden waste and a nearby customer for the heat generated (combined heat and power, CHP). Anaerobic stages can be relatively easily integrated into existing composting plants, and fermentation residues can also be used in the composting plant after secondary decomposition. There are already well-established and expandable structures for exploiting waste wood (e.g., more intensive CHP use in waste wood cogeneration plants).

For the water/sewage segment, the example of continuous improvement of performance under the full-service provider strategy “efficiency and quality campaign” in the trend scenario is presented (see figure 8).(19) For the water segment, the trend scenario is considered highly probable.

A noticeably better quality of service constitutes an important potential advantage over private firms in the water sector and may also help combat prejudice about “excessively bureaucratic” public enterprises. Municipal water management can draw on two important strengths: closeness to the customer and cooperation with other municipal services. Important elements in the measurement package “continuous performance improvement” are designed to tackle two important adjustments:

• medium-term, cross-segment rehabilitation and renewal planning that brings cost-efficiency advantages through joint civil engineering works to be coordinated with local authority construction measures,
• close collaboration with local authority urban planning, which can have a major medium and long-term impact on infrastructure costs.

Figure 8

Source: Richter/Thomas et al. (2008a), 99.

The two elements are essential to contain infrastructure costs and are based almost perforce on the local authority strength of involvement in political decision-making and close relations with other municipal enterprises. Sustainable water and sewage infrastructure development requires medium to long-term rehabilitation and maintenance planning closely coordinated with local authority road building measures and other infrastructure systems, and where necessary, low-threshold offers for property owners. The next step is to give infrastructure enterprises a bigger role in urban planning processes.

Figure 9

Source: Richter/Thomas et al. (2008a), 100.

For the energy segment, we look at the measure package full-service provider “energy services” in the sustainability scenario.(20) For a local full-service provider, sustainable energy management policy involves diversifying supply sources, drawing on local renewable energy resources, expanding distributed trigeneration (CHCP), and developing customer energy-efficiency potential. In building up and expanding customer-group specific services, the full-service provider can take account of all areas. For the customer, the expansion of energy services is generally highly cost-effective and for the full-service provider – depending on conditions – economically useful (extension of the value chain) and necessary for climate protection purposes. The web of local customer contacts brings a comparative competitive advantage over external energy service providers, which do not offer the same diversity (electricity, gas, water, heat, etc.), continuity, and intensity of contact with the customer.

This allows most potential for energy efficiency and CO2 reduction in the energy field to be exploited more comprehensively and productively at the local or regional level. Moreover, customer loyalty and satisfaction can be improved through the provision of energy services because, for example, strategic efficiency enhancement in these services and, under certain circumstances, rises in the price of final energy can be kept down, thus stabilising supply relations and acceptance. In addition, a broad range of energy services offered by the municipal full-service provider is a locational advantage from the point of view of the local authority shareholder and the “municipal group.” It can help compensate the import of expensive energy into the region through a high proportion of regional value added, as well as purchasing-power and multiplier effects. Outstanding performance by a local energy service provider can also be a positive factor for location marketing, for attracting businesses, and for innovative suppliers or spin-offs from scientific institutions in the region.

What is important is that the enterprise offer “tailor-made” services as far as possible. The range offered by the provider usually takes at least the following categories of customer into account:

• local major accounts and industrial customers
• small and medium-sized enterprises/industry including bundled customers
• public real estate
• private and business households.

The following main categories of service are provided:

• electricity efficiency services (e.g., ventilation, air-conditioning, compressed air, lighting, pumps, and load management)
• gas and heat/cooling services (e.g., heating for residential buildings)
• systems services (also in cooperation with other sectors) e.g., to optimise industrial processes (manufacturing processes) in the applications and technology fields of electricity, space heating, process heat, cooling, compressed air, drinking water, service water, gas, building management, plant logistics, plant waste disposal, and waste water disposal
• analyses, expert reports, and advisory services (e.g., corporate energy concepts).

The distinction between services paid directly by customers (savings or energy contracting) and free advice, promotion programmes, and similar services is important for the economic attractiveness of the energy enterprise. Free advice can be justified on grounds of the contribution it makes to customer loyalty and satisfaction. For far-reaching development promotion programmes as envisaged by the sustainability scenario, however, the legally guaranteed reimbursement of programme costs to the enterprise is important. This could be from a government “energy savings fund,” via network charges or energy prices.

The Results are Available and can be put into Effect

The future of distributed infrastructures depends firstly on how the individual enterprise is positioned, how it responds to the requirements of its customers, and how it exploits its strengths and reduces or compensates its weaknesses. Also important is how it copes with the contradictions between economic goals, changes in the national and international setting, and future challenges. Municipal enterprises can implement the methods developed in the INFRAFUTUR project and many of the project’s findings – adapted to specific local and corporate conditions. The point of departure should be where the enterprise stands in the spectrum of basic strategic orientation. The process begins with in-house analysis of the current situation and the direction in which the enterprise wishes to develop.

Notes

(1) The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Peter Hennicke, Dr. Kurt Berlo, Oliver Wagner, Rainer Lucas and Henning Wilts, as well as Prof. Dr. H. Wallbaum and S. Schaller (bot triple innova) for their contributions. We also thank the many people from the research partners (firms and organisations) who participated. (back)

(2) The findings are published as a summary report in the VKU series (available from bookshops, cf. Richter/Thomas et al. 2008a). Detailed findings have been published in sectoral reports (energy, water/sewage, and waste) (available from the Wuppertal Institute, www.infrafutur.de, where the short version can be downloaded (cf. Richter/Thomas et al. 2008b). (back)

(3) The following discussion is with reference to the municipal utilities (with the focus on energy). It applies equally to other enterprises providing local general-interest services. (back)

(4) The future of a specific enterprise depends firstly on how it is positioned, how it responds to the requirements of actual and potential customers, and how it exploits its strengths and reduces or compensates its weaknesses. Also important is how it copes with the contradictions between economic goals, changes in the national and international setting, and future challenges. Of particular relevance is the contribution to climate protection and resource conservation and adaptation to steadily rising standards for services and products. The municipal utilities of the future will also have to adopt guiding principles for the pursuit of sustainable development from an ecological, economic, and social point of view, and orient their strategies accordingly. (back)

(5) To determine strengths and weaknesses, a specially developed balanced scorecard was used for each basic type. On the methodological background and use of the balanced scorecard see Horvráth&Partners (2004); Jossé (2005); Kaplan/Norton (1997); (2004); Kerth et al. (2007), and Waniczek/Werderits (2006). (back)

(6) On the methodology of scenario development see Albers (2001); Fink et al. (2002), and Wilms (2006). (back)

(7) On SWOT analysis methodology see ten Have (2003); Höft (2001); Steiniger (2003). (back)

(8) Cf. for the following Berlo et al. (2008), 299 ff. (back)

(9) Particularly important are the savings banks and the housing industry, as well as urban planning and economic development promotion. (back)

(10) Cf. Richter/Thomas et al. (2008a), 84 ff. (back)

(11) This is the case, for example, when the residents of a local authority assume that the municipal waste management authority is responsible for refuse disposal where the yellow bags are collected by a private firm. In the event of disruptions, they contact the municipality or the municipal enterprise to solve the problem.(back)

(12) On modern marketing cf. Bauer et al. (2007); Esch (2007); Kotler et al. (2007), 509 ff.; Kotler/Trias de Bes (2005); Meffert et al. (2005), and Meffert et al. (2008), 7 ff. (back)

(13) In addition to purely positive emotions (e.g., for pure and healthy drinking water or a clean city, or for the use of clean energies) or purely negative ones (e.g., against the effects of climate change or against the pollution of waste water with pharmaceutical residues or against a further waste of resources), the conveyance of mixed emotions should be examined (after Bauer et al. 2007), starting most sensibly with the negative emotions. If attention is focused on competitors (against the repercussions of a purely profit-making orientation – in favour of comprehensive local authority provision of general-interest services), one of the results could be to escape the present bad image of big group companies competing (or which in future could compete) in the market or for the market with municipal enterprises. (back)

(14) Whereas communication with actual or potential customers is primarily concerned with market success, communication with the political system is important to secure markets and framework conditions. (back)

(15) In the context of INFRAFUTUR, strategy is defined as such consistent “bundles of measures designed to attain the vision deriving from the purpose of the given basic type of enterprise. It thus lists all the strengths of an enterprise that are to be developed and exploited in order to attain the stated goals. The use of tools is based on assessment of enterprise strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities available, as well as the dangers that threaten” (Richter/Thomas et al. 2008a, 88). Cf. on the following: ibid, 87 ff. On the concept of strategy see also Gälweiler (2005) and Hinterhuber (2004). (back)

(16) “Modern” refers to technical equipment and health and safety at work. (back)

(17) Employees have developed a great deal of competence that cannot be acquired in formal training. It includes the knowledge of local conditions and concrete experience that accrues with stable employment. To this must be added active skills acquisition (continuing and further education, formal and individual) and a human resources development concept to ensure the required skills are available. (back)

(18) Cf. for the following Richter/Thomas et al. (2008a), 118 ff. and in more detail Lucas et al. (2008), 193 ff. and 223 ff. (back)

(19) Cf. for the following Richter/Thomas et al. (2008a), 111 ff. and in greater detail Schaller et al. (2008), 165 ff. and 208 ff. (back)

(20) Cf. for the following Richter/Thomas et al. (2008a), 101 ff. and in greater detail Berlo et al. (2008), 343 ff. and 413 ff. (back)

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