ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the possibility of finding or proposing a generic or unifying definition of this multi-faceted phenomenon is becoming more elusive as more scholars with different backgrounds and perspectives join this rapidly expanding field of study. It examines some differences between these different approaches to the study of co-production, and explores their implications for the potential of co-production to reform the public sector. Co-production transforms the relationship between service users and providers, ensuring the former greater influence and ownership, by involving citizens/users in more systematic exchanges with the paid staff who create and deliver public services. The two main contenders as schools of co-production were an input/output model that emphasizes citizen participation on the output side of the political system and a service management model that focuses on various stages in the value chain approach. The input/output model emphasizes the basic features of the context in which co-production takes place, the political system and public policy-making.
