Governments are increasingly contracting with not-for-profit providers to deliver on policy objectives. These organisations are perceived to be cost-effective, flexible and close to their communities. Yet contracting out raises financial, service and reputational risks. Public sector funders...

This paper reviews the origins and development of the value chain (Porter,1985) and its development into value shops and value networks. We argue that these “value models” pay insufficient attention to the increasing role of information and communications technology (ICT) or to the emergence...