This point of view seems to suggest a somewhat cautious scenario in which innovation
must await the slow, careful development of support systems and institutional frameworks
that Western countries developed over centuries. However, the “latecomer advantage” can be a
real one. So long as arguments about the need to tackle reforms in logical steps or stages are pointing
to the existence of prerequisites for particular measures of improvement, a more optimistic
view of possibilities is opened up. That is, “leap-frogging” may be possible, although not across
the board but rather in selected priority areas: governments may not need to wait until a fully
fledged, functioning traditional public administration is in place in those priority areas before
implementing NPM initiatives so long as attention is paid to having in place vital accompanying
administrative support systems and infrastructure relevant to each particular problem