As important and, though more rarely, as successful as several NPMinspired
reforms of the public sector might have been and still may be, what
one notices first when looking at the public and private spheres is the difference,
not the similarity. The state is characterised primarily by its monopoly on
power, force, and coercion on one side, and its focus on the public good, on
the other, while the business world legitimately focuses on profit maximisation.
The use of business techniques within the public sphere therefore miscomprehends
the most basic requirements of any state, particularly of a democracy,
seeing them as a liability; yet regularity, transparency, and due process
are simply much more important than low costs and speed.