Identifying macro-environmental critical success factors and key areas for improvement to promote public-private partnerships in infrastructure

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify macro-environmental critical success factors (CSFs) and key areas for improvement for public-private partnerships (PPP) in infrastructure development, using Indonesia as a case study.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology includes the definition of CSFs based on the United Nations for Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific's self-assessment diagnostic tool and a survey on importance and performance attributes, the application of gap analysis (GA) and importance-performance analysis to prioritize areas needing urgent improvements, and the use of inter-rater agreement analysis to examine to what extent the ratings tend to converge on the same conclusions regarding importance and performance.

Findings

Out of 40 possible success factors, a total of 16 are identified as CSFs in the context of Indonesia. GA suggests that no performance ratings exceed importance ratings for the identified CSFs, indicating the need for remedial actions. The factors requiring immediate improvements are all associated with commitments: to policy continuity, financial transparency, and corruption eradication.

Practical implications

Although the paper discussing a specific country, the proposed approach is replicable and adaptable in different country contexts. Indonesia's experience can also be of value to governments facing similar problems in encouraging private investment in infrastructure.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the body of knowledge on PPP in infrastructure development by focussing exclusively on macro-environmental CSFs and Indonesia's PPPs, which are both rarely discussed in the existing literature.