Effective Collaboration

The increasing emphasis on building relationships assets, on acquiring knowledge and the importance placed on learning has focused attention on the benefits of using collaborative ventures or partnerships between organizations. The allure of the collaboration as a quick fix to the problems brought about by changes such as the internationalization of business activities, privatisation programmes and technical change is strong and growing. This book investigates the problems of effectively managing partnerships between organizations and highlights many of the pitfalls of an uncritical and quick fix approach to collaboration. The authors find many problems connected to the evolution of collaborative ventures and examine the management issues from the pre-formation stage to the operation of mature partnerships. Potential problems connected to cultural differences, power and trust are identified and possible solutions are outlined. The management problems of partnerships are considered in private, public and not for profit sectors with a focus on generic rather than sector specific problems. Contributors use a variety of theoretical frameworks and evidence from empirical studies to investigate these issues. The editors go on to present a conceptual framework based on the analysis and evidence within the contributions that can be used to identify possible problems and find solutions that enable collaborative ventures to succeed.