Strategy Survival Guide

Useful Sources of International Comparative Data
Reform Monitor. This site tries to keep up to date with different government reforms instituted in the areas
of social policy (health care, pensions provision, family policy, state welfare), labour market policy and
industrial relations. It is international in scope (15 OECD-countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark,
Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and
United States of America). It doesn't seem to keep completely up to date (certainly not in relation to UK
policy) but provides some useful descriptive comparisons of policies in OECD countries.
Campbell Collaboration. Newly constituted international collaboration which aims to assess the actual
effect of social and educational reforms more rigorously than has been done in the past. It is closely linked
with its sister organisation, the Cochrane Collaboration, which aims to do the same assessment of "what
works" for medical interventions.
Economist Country Briefings. The Economist has made many of its country-specific articles and surveys
available on its website. These can provide useful context and background material.
Public Management OECD Country Information. The OECD maintains a country-by-country resource on
developments in governance and public management.
International Comparisons toolkit on the Policy Hub
References
Almost every Strategy Unit project has undertaken international comparisons and these are worth a look,
often to be found as annexes in reports. For example, see the Adoption Review (July 2000) and the Ethnic
Minorities in the Labour Market report (Feb 2002).
There is a wealth of academic literature on comparative political science (focussing on the viability of making
cross-national comparisons) and specifically on policy transfer ('exporting’ policies from one setting to
another).
Global Comparisons in Policy-Making: the view from the Centre, Geoff Mulgan, June 2003.
Policy Hub International Resources section provides a range of guidance and resources including the
CMPS International Comparisons Toolkit that includes several case studies and a directory of information
sources.
Learning from others - International comparisons
In Practice 1: SU Workforce Development Project
International comparisons for Workforce Development were undertaken a well-respected academic in the
field. He had already done much comparative work and could therefore put together a report in a
relatively short space of time.
What we did:
• specify a time frame for the work (in this case, about 6 weeks);
• specify the countries we were interested in;
• supplied articles, contacts, and data that the team had already collected;
• organise a day in Paris, with the help of the British Embassy, to visit industry, union and
Government representatives;
What he did:
• gave us an outline of themes to address;
• advised on which countries would make interesting and relevant comparisons;
• wrote a draft report and a subsequent final report to put on the internet;
• presented findings at a seminar;
• continued to be on hand to answer follow up questions from the team.
Further information can be found in Annex 9 of the Workforce Development Report.
Strategy Survival Guide – Strategy Skills
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