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This chapter examines the case studies in this volume with a focus on concepts and methods used in the study of multi-organization networks and partnerships, motivations to join in multi-party collaboration, how multi-organization collaborations organized and managed, what kinds of value are created by collaborations, and the role of leadership therein.

A comparative look at four vertical networks (in health care and education); two “issue” networks/partnerships (sustainable seafood and water use); and the roles of government in collaboration in horizontal, vertical, and issue-based arrangements.

The chapter describes “lessons” learned about building both sustainability and collaborative capabilities in and across partnering organizations and about improving partnership structures, processes, and results.

The chapter sums and synthesizes the volume’s contributions.

This chapter focuses on an innovative effort in the Italian context in which a complex web of partnerships was created as the foundation of an alternative model of health care. More specifically, the start-up of a health-care organization – Welfare Italia Servizi (WIS) – is analyzed and discussed with respect to its sustainability.

The process of organizing a sustainable health care is analyzed through the theoretical lenses of multi-stakeholders management and partnership perspectives.

The possibility of developing dense knowledge about the WIS’s case has stemmed from our collaboration with the organization board with regard to a research process intended to monitor the organizational start-up and its sustainability challenges.

The case provides new insights into the dynamic nature of building multi-stakeholder partnership in a complex environment; the developmental life-cycle challenge of multi-stakeholder partnership, and the meaning of sustainability. The case suggests a tapestry of issues such as how sustainability may be “paradoxical,” dynamic, led by different and sometimes conflicting logics, and changeable over time like a growing tree in an intricate forest.

The case can stimulate learning and discussions both within the community of practitioners and the community of academics with respect to which promising conditions could help address the challenge of starting-up a sustainable organization in the health-care field.

The purpose of this paper is to seek to fill the gaps found in the literature to understand why and how the partnerships are formed and to map the dynamics of partnership networks of Brazilian electricity companies.

To map the dynamics of partnership networks formed by the Brazilian electricity companies, a social network analysis technique was adopted: R statistical software was used to make calculations and plot these networks.

It was found that the partnership network had a clear potential for an increase in the number of projects; however, the partnerships for the execution of such projects were dispersed. Although the concessionaires established partnerships with diverse institutions, the latter did not intercommunicate. Moreover, when analyzing the projects with respect to the project-type investigated, the institutions engaged in specific project types can be identified; thus, there is an opportunity for concessionaires, authorized contractors and licensed companies to identify the best partners, i.e. those that already possess the expertise to execute specific projects in future partnerships.

The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap in partnership network development dynamics to understand how such networks form, change and evolve over time.

Tentar preencher as lacunas encontrada na literatura, entender o porquê e como as parcerias ocorrem e também mapear a dinâmica da rede de parcerias estabelecida pelas empresas elétricas brasileiras.

Para mapear a dinâmica das redes de parceria formada pelas empresas do Setor Elétrico Brasileiro, foi adotada a Técnica de Análise de Rede Social com o apoio do Pacote Estatístico R para fazer cálculos e desenhar essas redes.

Os resultados apontaram para o fato de que a Rede teve um potencial aumento no número de projetos, no entanto, as parcerias para a execução de tais projetos foram dispersas. As concessionárias estabeleceram parcerias com diversas instituições, mas estas não se comunicaram entre si. Além disso, ao analisar os projetos em relação aos temas desenvolvidos, é possível identificar as instituições envolvidas em temas de projetos específicos, o que cria uma oportunidade para concessionárias, contratadas e empresas licenciadas para identificar os melhores parceiros, aqueles que já possuem certas competências para executar projetos específicos em futuras parcerias.

Este artigo pretende preencher a lacuna em relação à dinâmica de desenvolvimento da rede, entendendo assim a forma como elas se desenvolvem, mudam e evoluem ao longo do tempo.

Intentar llenar las lagunas encontradas en la literatura, entender el por qué y cómo las alianzas ocurren y también mapear la dinámica de la red de alianzas establecida por las empresas eléctricas brasileñas.

Para mapear la dinámica de las redes de asociación formada por las empresas del Sector Eléctrico Brasileño, se adoptó la Técnica de Análisis de Red Social con el apoyo del Paquete Estadístico R para hacer cálculos y diseñar esas redes.

Los resultados apuntaron al hecho de que la Red tuvo un potencial aumento en el número de proyectos, sin embargo, las alianzas para la ejecución de tales proyectos fueron dispersas. Las concesionarias establecieron alianzas con diversas instituciones, pero éstas no se comunicaron entre sí. Además, al analizar los proyectos en relación a los temas desarrollados, es posible identificar a las instituciones involucradas en temas de proyectos específicos, lo que crea una oportunidad para concesionarias, contratistas y empresas licenciadas para identificar a los mejores socios, aquellos que ya poseen ciertas competencias para realizar proyectos específicos en futuras alianzas.

Este artículo pretende llenar la brecha en relación a la dinámica de desarrollo de la red, entendiendo así la forma en que se desarrollan, cambian y evolucionan a lo largo del tiempo.

To examine how partner firms, involved in provisioning m‐business applications and services, manage inter‐firm conflict and cooperation.

Synthesises network analysis and game theory to propose a conceptual model in which to examine the affect of relationship conflict and cooperation on a partnership's business processes. The model is used to examine how Japan's NTT DoCoMo successfully managed its global network of partnerships.

Provides initial support for conceptual linkages between interaction and partner management and the business processes in m‐business partnerships. Suggests that the unit of analysis for studying partnerships should extend beyond the dyadic relationship to a network. The paper also finds support for the use of social control mechanisms as a means in which to safeguard a focal relationship.

Characterised by high levels of uncertainty, task complexity and partner diversity, m‐business is an ideal environment in which to study partnerships. Continuing research efforts in this field will serve to bring managerial focus to understanding the broader concept of how m‐business macro‐markets operate.

The theoretical underpinnings of this paper provide a contemporary lens in which to examine the relationship between conflict, cooperation and process development and for developing a new stream of empirical research in the field of partnerships.

The purpose of this research is to analyse knowledge flows within a transnational educational partnership and to use social network analysis to map out structural differences between the two partners and the evolution of these differences over time.

A single longitudinal case study social network analysis is undertaken over a ten‐year period based on semi‐structured interviews with key informants supported by observational and archival data.

The investigation identifies feedback, feed‐forward and feed‐across knowledge transfer processes resulting in shared personal learning within the network zone and increasing institutionalisation of acquired knowledge.

The findings are based on a single case study setting and further research with similar partnerships needs to be undertaken to establish points of comparison.

How diagrammatic representation can be used to capture key structural issues that underpin the knowledge management process in loosely formed organisational settings.

The paper presents a new diagnostic‐enabling knowledge management model that helps address issues of how knowledge flows/transfer can be analysed and identified between partners at individual, group and organisational level. This model also identifies the inter‐organisational space that bounds the social network under discussion.

This chapter argues that failure to secure accountability can be costly because it raises doubts about the fairness, salience, and impact of cocreation. Cocreation must establish accountability with respect to four different audiences: sponsors, relevant stakeholders, affected citizens, and the general public. The chapter discusses the challenges of trying to solely hold cocreation networks and partnerships accountable based on formal accountability mechanisms. It argues that these formal mechanisms must be supplemented with social and more informal strategies of accountability. Finally, the chapter considers how changemakers can strengthen social and informal accountability in and around cocreating networks and partnerships.

This study analyses the link between product/service innovation, partnerships and Managerial Control System (MCS). Particularly, it aims to analyse empirically the role of MCS in supporting the innovation partnership successful functioning and management.

The sample of this study consists of 106 Italian manufacturing firms belonging to the sectors of the Italian economy with the largest number of registered patents according to the European trend chart on innovation.

The results show that MCS may play a key role in reducing risks and lowering the likelihood of failure of innovation partnerships. Particularly, the authors found a positive correlation between the use of informal control mechanisms and a partnership’s successful performance. Moreover, among informal control, the findings show that trust is the only true informal mechanism that can guarantee a successful collaboration. The results of this study may offer relevant implications for practitioners. With regard to the control of the partnership’s activities, the initiatives and creativity of those who are actively involved in the innovation process should not be inhibited; therefore, stifling them with strict rules and procedures would be ineffective but if a firm is not willing to give up formal control mechanisms altogether because it does not believe that a trust-based coordination is sufficiently reassuring, it should opt for “weak”, albeit formal, control mechanisms based on a shared production and management of plans and reports, thus ensuring a perfect information symmetry among different partners.

Notwithstanding the different opportunities provided by partnerships and strategic alliances to support there is a growing body of evidence of a high failure rate in such organisational forms. One of the causes cited in the literature is the high level of risk associated with alliances as compared to internal development of innovation. The risks mainly arise from the difficulties to obtain cooperation with partners that might have different objectives, and from the potential opportunistic behaviour of some of the partners. This is particularly true in innovation networks where the uncertainty of producing an interesting result is very high and the investments that the partners make are considerable. In this context, MCS could play a relevant role in reducing the risks and decreasing the likelihood of failure.

INTRODUCTION Companies operating in international markets have been told that innovation lies at the heart of success and that they should establish early warning systems to help them see the signals of change (Porter, 1990). At the global level, technological developments and competitive conditions have been seen as ‘increasing pressure on firms to co‐operate along and between value‐added chains’ (Dunning, 1993). However, does this apply only to multinational enterprises competing in world markets? In the early 1990s many small firms in London were also under pressure; they were often in industries characterized by significant technical changes, to which managers had responded by introducing technical developments into their own firms. They had often been severely constrained in their attempts to achieve their business objectives by difficult competitive conditions, notably the poor growth of market demand and the increasing intensity of competition. Of course, businesses everywhere have always faced changes in their competitive environments and it is the responsibility of management to make appropriate responses to these changes. However, firms vary in their ability to identify and understand the competitive environment and in their ability to mobilize and manage the resources needed for a successful response (Pettigrew and Whipp, 1993).

This chapter introduces the volume’s theme by considering how the forces of globalization and complexity are leading organizations to reshape and redesign themselves, how meeting the challenges of sustainable effectiveness and shared value require multiorganization networks and partnerships, and how networks and partnerships develop, function, and can produce both private benefits and public goods.

We apply findings from social and political evolution frameworks, partnership and collaboration research, and design for sustainability concepts to induce the likely conditions required for sustainable effectiveness from a network perspective.

Successful partnerships and collaborations in service of sustainable effectiveness will require individual organizations to change their objective function and build new and varied internal and external capabilities.

The chapter sets the stage for the volume’s contributions.

This paper aims first to identify key interorganisational partnership types among non-profit organisations (NPOs) and second to determine how knowledge sharing takes place within each type of partnership. Results explore the value of social media specifically in facilitating external relationships between NPOs, firms and the communities they serve.

Empirical qualitative analysis of exploratory interviews with 16 Canadian NPOs generates a non-exhaustive classification of partnership types emerging from these organisations, and their defining characteristics in the context of interorganisational knowledge sharing.

Overall eight categories of partnerships from the sampled NPOs emerged from the analysis of the data. These include business partnerships, sector partnerships, community partnerships, government partnerships, expert partnerships, endorsement partnerships, charter partnerships and hybrid partnerships. Using examples from interviews, the sharing of knowledge within each of these partnerships is defined uniquely in terms of directionality (i.e. uni-directional, bi-directional, multi-directional knowledge sharing) and formality (i.e. informal, semi-formal or formal knowledge sharing).Specific practices within these relationships also arise from examples, in particular, the use of social media to support informal and community-driven collaborations. Twitter, as a popular social networking tool, emerges as a preferred medium that supports interorganisational partnerships relevant to NPOs.

This research is valuable in identifying the knowledge management practices unique to NPOs. By examining and discussing specific examples of partnerships encountered among NPOs, this paper contributes original findings about the implications of interorganisational knowledge sharing, as well as the impact of emerging social technologies on same.