In the media

Norwegian municipalities should think like McDonald's

By Grete Kvernland-Berg

Finansavisen

17 March 2025

Norwegian municipalities had a combined deficit of nearly NOK 4 billion in 2024, according to figures from KS. Greater inter-municipal cooperation and standardisation of services could help save money.

If you walk into a McDonald's restaurant in Oslo, Steinkjer, or Barcelona, you will find the same efficient systems for ordering, food preparation, and waste management. This ensures a consistent experience for customers, regardless of location. In Norwegian municipalities, the situation is completely different. Services vary significantly from one municipality to another, and even basic administrative tasks are not handled uniformly. This leads to unnecessary use of resources and inefficient operations.

Standardisation, shared services, and inter-municipal collaboration are still underused in Norwegian municipalities. Given the financial strain many municipalities face, this is concerning. A government report highlighted that municipal finances are under pressure, with healthcare and social care expenditure rising significantly over the past decade. By 2040, the proportion of residents over 80 will double, and by 2050, every tenth resident in 319 municipalities will be 80 or older, according to KS. Without smarter ways of operating, costs will skyrocket.

What can municipalities learn from McDonald's?

McDonald's success is built on three core principles:

  1. Standardisation – Every restaurant uses the same processes and systems, ensuring low costs and consistent quality.
  2. Local adaptation – Each restaurant adjusts its menu based on local preferences, such as McSpicy in Asia or McFlurry with different toppings.
  3. Efficient procurement – Global coordination ensures economies of scale while local suppliers are used where appropriate.

If more Norwegian municipalities adopted similar principles, they could save billions. Why should 357 municipalities each have their own IT services, accounting departments, switchboards, and archiving solutions?

McDonald's is, of course, not the only organisation using this model. Norwegian municipalities could also take inspiration from other private companies that have successfully improved efficiency without sacrificing quality:

  • IKEA has shared procurement, logistics, and digital systems across countries while allowing each store to tailor its range to local needs, ensuring low prices and flexibility.
  • Coop operates as a cooperative, leveraging shared purchasing and marketing benefits while allowing stores to adapt their product selection.
  • Sparebank collaborates on IT platforms and compliance solutions while maintaining local branding and identity.

Examples of Municipal Collaboration

Not all Norwegian municipalities are lagging behind. Some have already embraced collaboration and efficiency improvements:

  • Agder municipalities have established joint procurement agreements for welfare technology, achieving significant savings.
  • 15 municipalities in Agder collaborate through IKT Agder IKS, leading to cost reductions, better access to expertise, and high-quality IT services.
  • Værnes region’s municipalities share response services for welfare technology, ensuring round-the-clock, responsive services while cutting costs.
  • Approximately 70% of municipalities participate in formalised procurement collaborations, with smaller municipalities benefiting the most, according to a report from Inventura.

While some municipalities are cooperating on complex tasks, administrative functions that could be standardised are rarely included in joint efforts. Despite positive results, 90% of municipalities still do not collaborate on tasks such as switchboard operations, payroll, accounting, archiving, and document management, according to Kommunal Rapport.

Standardisation with flexibility

To ensure sustainable municipal services in the future, municipalities must embrace more collaboration and smarter operations. This involves:

  1. Shared administrative solutions – Municipalities should join forces on IT operations, accounting, archiving, switchboards, and procurement.
  2. Operational standardisation – Implement common procedures and systems while allowing local adaptations.
  3. Inter-municipal cooperation – Municipalities must dare to coordinate more services to secure economies of scale.
  4. Learning from the private sector – Efficiency does not mean loss of control but rather better use of resources.

McDonald's demonstrates that standardisation and efficiency can coexist with flexibility. Norwegian municipalities must adopt and adapt this model to meet their needs. Doing so will free up resources for what truly matters - delivering high-quality services to residents.


Read the original article here.

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