Councils are developing commercialisation initiatives by investing in capital assets or by creating trading companies to generate revenue. As more councils look at commercialisation, it’s important they learn from the experience of those in the private sector who have an intimate knowledge of the public sector. Interviews with them have resulted in the identification of six key issues that councils need to consider.

Context

Successful commercial organisations respond to the context within which they operate. In the case of councils this is more complex because not only does this have to relate to a market context but also to a political, socio-economic community context.