The Network Society - University of Massachusetts Amherst

356 The Network Society
tematically split in the provision of welfare services. If the public sector’s
responsibility always extends from the ordering of services to
their provision and evaluation, it will no longer be interested in developing
the services. The reformed purchaser–provider model is shown
in Figure 15.5:
Figure 15.5 The purchaser–provider model
Public
Purchaser Sector
Provider
Private Third
Sector Sector
The future of the welfare society is in creativity
The strong global trends, i.e. increasing competition and population
ageing, increase welfare expenses, particularly in Europe,
and thus increase the pressures for cutting these expenses. In fact,
future welfare expenses cannot be covered even with moderate economic
growth.
Fortunately, there is another alternative, as we can apply the core
principle of the information society to the welfare state: the maintenance
of the welfare state by improving its productivity through innovations.
This does not mean that productivity would be enhanced by
putting more pressure on the employees and by increasing haste at
work—in fact, this would even be impossible, as people are already
overloaded. Instead, it means that productivity is enhanced through
innovativeness, i.e. by combining technological and process innovations
(networked organisations). It must be noted that this does not
mean the provision of services over the Internet only (although access
to services over the Internet is generally a good idea); it means that
the processes with which the services are provided are reformed with
the help of new technology and new process models.