Scandinavian Political Studies, zyxw Vol. 21 zyx - No. 2, zy 1998 ISSN 0080-6757 zy 0 Scandinavian University Press Comment on Borre Nylehn’s “Strategy in Local Government” Age Johnsen* Bone Nylehn’s article “Strategy in Local Government” is an exciting and thought provoking discussion of strategic management in local government. However, his observations can be discussed, both theoretically and empirically. It has been documented that politicians resist attempts to introduce strategic management systems in the form of Management by Objective, especially in small municipalities, but Nylehn’s conclusion that strategic management is not used in local government organizations, that it is inappropriate, inadequate and even harmful is too hasty. I will argue that there ,may be good reasons to use strategic thinking in local government, but more research is needed to document the costs and benefits. In his interesting article “Strategy in Local Government” in zyx Scandinavian Political Studies Vol. 19, No. 4, Borre Nylehn concludes that strategic management is a model from the private sector that is inappropriate for use in local government. At first glance, this conclusion may seem convincing and almost uncontroversial, and Nylehn does document resistance among local politicians to the implementation of strategic management in local govern- ment organizations. However, after a closer inspection, Nylehn’s conceptual assumptions and analyses turn out to be less self-evident, which I will discuss in this comment. zyxwv (1) In his study, Nylehn defines strategy as rational action based on organizational adaptation to the environment, planning, and development of a common understanding among organizational managers. This conception resembles what today is called Management by Objectives (MbO) and as such contains strategic planning encompassing long-range plans and budgets. While this system may have been common under different names in large organizations for many years, especially in government (Wildavsky 1986), it was probably a new strategic management system when it was introduced in the small Norwegian local government organizations in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. In fact, Nylehn says that he chose his strategy concept because this is what the local governments he studied had been exposed to. *Age Johnsen, Agderforskning, Gimlemoen, Postuttak, N-4604 Kristiansand, Norway, and Norges Handelsh~yskole, Breiviken 2, N-5035 Bergen - Sandviken, Norway. 189