ACHIEVING FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY WITHOUT SUBSIDIES:VIABLE BUSINESS MODELS FOR PUBLIC SECTOR INNOVATION

Abstract

The concept of how the institutions of the public sector may be made financially sustainable without the need of subsidies is addressed in this paper as is the concept of business models that may be utilized to encourage innovation as the case study is the Punjab Sahulat Bazaars Authority (PSBA). An example of the role of strategic leadership, legal empowerment, and operation innovation in establishing self-sustainability in the provision of the public services is that PSBA was established as a full statutory welfare authority and not a Section 42 company. By way of a qualitative documentary case-study, the triangulation of evidence, based on legislative records, government reports, independent audits and media sources, is employed to ascertain the financial, legal and operations performance of PSBA. PSBA under the leadership of Naveed Rafaqat Ahmad has embraced some initiatives that include real-time digital price boards, solar-powered markets, inclusive vendor policies, and mobile bazaars to underserved regions where individuals receive basic commodities at a market price of up to 35 percent. The findings describe the replicable, subsidy-free models of delivering efficient and citizen-based provision of public services in the emerging economies.