The Politics of Partnerships: A Critical Examination of Nonprofit-Business Partnerships

In the late 1990s the idea of cross-sector collaborations was relatively new in Europe. The term ‘partnership’ was employed primarily to refer to partnerships between government and businesses, usually termed PPP (Public Private Partnerships). On the other hand ‘strategic alliances’ was the term employed for business-to-business partnerships. Until then ‘sponsorship’ was the most practised associational form between nonprofit organisations (NPOs) and businesses (BUSs), which was included within the broad area of corporate community involvement. The relations between NPOs and BUSs witnessed a gradual intensification over the last 200 years (Gray 1989; Young 1999; Austin 2000; Googins and Rochlin 2000) resulting in increased interactions within both the philanthropic and trans- tional types of relationships (Seitanidi and Ryan 2007). However, the more recent gradual prominence of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within all sectors of society elicited an intensification of the debate with regard to the responsibilities of each sector in addressing environmental and social issues. In effect, CSR contributed to the increase of the interactions across the sectors and propelled NPO-BUS Partnerships (a type of social partnership) as a key mechanism for corporations to delve into a process of engaging with NPOs in order to improve their business practices by contributing their resources to address social issues (Heap 1998; Mohiddin 1998; Fowler 2000; Googins and Rochlin 2000; Mancuso Brehm 2001; Drew 2003; Hemphill and Vonortas 2003). List of Tables.- List of Figures.- Abbreviations.- Introduction.- 1.The Partnership Society.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Societal Sectors, Roles and Definitions.- 1.2.1 Definitions of Terms.- 1.3 The Collaboration Continuum.- 1.4 NPO-BUS Partnership Enablers: Macro and Meso Forces.- 1.5 Conclusion.- 2. A Framework for the Analysis of Partnerships.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Relations Between Non-Profit Organisations and Businesses.- 2.3 The Study Of NPO-BUS Partnerships Within the Literature.- 2.4 NPO-BUS Partnerships: Formation-Implementation-Outcomes.- 2.4.1 Partnership Formation.- 2.4.2 Partnership Implementation.- 2.4.3 Partnership Outcomes.- 2.5 Conclusion.- 3. Stage One: Partnership Formation.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Partnership Overview.- 3.2.1 Earthwatch-Rio Tinto Partnership Overview.- 3.2.2 The Prince’s Trust-Royal Bank of Scotland Partnership Overview.- Overview.- 3.3 Organisational Characteristics.- 3.3.1 Earthwatch-Rio Tinto Organisational Characteristics.- 3.3.2 The Prince’s Trust-Royal Bank of Scotland Organisational Characteristics.- 3.4 The Historical Dimension of the Partnership Formation.- 3.4.1 The Historical Dimension of the Earthwatch-Rio Tinto Partnership.- 3.4.2 The Historical Dimensions of the Prince’s Trust-Royal Bank of Scotland Partnership.- 3.5 Partnership Motives.- 3.5.1 The Partnership Motives in the Earthwatch: Rio Tinto Case Study.- 3.5.2 Earthwatch-Rio Tinto Motives Compared.- 3.5.3 The Partnership Motives in The Prince’s Trust-Royal Bank of Scotland Case Study.- 3.5.4 Motives of the Prince’s Trust-Royal Bank of Scotland Compared.- 3.6 Opening Pandora’s Box: Familiarity, Compatibility and Synagonistic Relationships Across the Sectors.- 3.7 Conclusions.- 4. Stage Two: Partnership Implementation.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Partnership Phases In The Earthwatch-Rio Tinto Case Study.- 4.2.1 Partnership Selection.- 4.2.2 Partnership Design.- 4.2.3 Partnership Institutionalisation.- 4.3 Partnership Phases In the The Prince’s Trust-Royal Bank of Scotland Case Study.- 4.3.1 Partnership Selection.- 4.3.2 Partnership Design.- 4.3.3 Partnership Institutionalisation.- 4.3.4 Change Within The Partnership Process.- 4.4 Conflict in Captivity.- 4.5 Conclusion.- 5. Stage Three: Partnership Outcomes.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Organisational Outcomes in the Earthwatch-Rio Tinto Partnership.- 5.3 Organisational Outcomes in the Prince’s Trust-Royal Bank of Scotland Partnership.- 5.4 Social and Societal Outcomes in the NPO-BUS Partnerships.- 5.5 Change as a Partnership Outcome.- 5.6 Change in Captivity: Converge of Need Versus Divergence of Missions.- 5.7 Conclusion.- 6. Reclaiming Responsibilities.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 A Holistic Framework for the Study of Social Partnerships.- 6.3 Overt Functional Conflict Deficit in NPO-BUS Partnerships.- 6.3.1 Stage 1: Partnership Formation.- 6.3.2 Stage 2: Partnership Implementation.- 6.3.3 Stage 3: Partnership Outcomes.- 6.4 Change as a Process and Outcome in NPO-BUS Partnerships.- 6.5 Partnership Form Versus Partnership Approach.- 6.6 Conclusion.- Epilogue: Beyond Boundaries.- Appendices.- Bibliography.- Author Biography.- Index.