Social Partnerships and Responsible Business

Cross-sector partnerships are widely hailed as a critical means for addressing a wide array of social challenges such as climate change, poverty, education, corruption, and health. Amid all the positive rhetoric of cross-sector partnerships though, critical voices point to the limited success of various initiatives in delivering genuine social change and in providing for real citizen participation. This collection critically examines the motivations for, processes within, and expected and actual outcomes of cross-sector partnerships. In opening up new theoretical, methodological, and practical perspectives on cross-sector social interactions, this book reimagines partnerships in order to explore the potential to contribute to the social good. A multi-disciplinary perspective on partnerships adds serious value to the debate in a range of fields including management, politics, public management, sociology, development studies, and international relations. Contributors to the volume reflect many of these diverse perspectives, enabling the book to provide an account of partnerships that is theoretically rich and methodologically varied. With critical contributions from leading academics such as Barbara Gray, Ans Kolk, John Selsky, and Sandra Waddock, this book is a comprehensive resource which will increase understanding of this vital issue.

M. May Seitanidi is Senior Lecturer in Strategy at Kent Business School at the University of Kent and a Visiting Fellow at the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ICCSR) at Nottingham University Business School Andrew Crane is George R. Gardiner Professor of Business Ethics and Director of the Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada

1. Social Partnerships and Responsible Business: What, why, and how? Part I: Partnership for the Social Good? Local, national and global perspectives 2. Partnerships as Panacea for Addressing Global Problems? On rationale, context, actors, impact and limitations 3. International Business and Social Partnerships: How institutional and MNE capabilities affect collective-goods provisioning in emerging markets 4. Cross-Sector Social Partnership in Areas of Limited Statehood 5. Designing social partnerships for local sustainability strategy implementation Part II: Management and Governance Challenges 6. Creating Partnering Space: Exploring the right fit for sustainable development partnerships 7. Cross-Sector Governance: From institutions to partnerships, and back to institutions 8.Evolution of an Alliance Portfolio to Develop an Inclusive Business Chapter 9: NGO-Initiated Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Social Partnerships: Greenpeace's "Solutions" campaign for natural refrigerants in North America 10. How Social Partnerships Build Brands 11. Conflict in Cross-Sectoral Partnerships Part III: Reimagining Social Partnerships: Theory and methods 12. Theory-Method Interfaces in Cross-Sector Partnership Research 13. Using Futures Methods in Cross-Sector Partnership Projects: Engaging wicked problems responsibly 14. Responsibilization and Governmentality in Brand-Led Social Partnerships 15. An Institutional Perspective on Cross-Sector Partnerships 16. Towards a New Theory of the Firm: The collaborative enterprise Part IV: Reimagining Social Partnerships: Perspectives on practice 17. Cross-Sector/Cross-Boundary Collaboration: Making a difference through practice 18. The Need for a New Approach to Sustainability 19. How to Co-Create Opportunities Together: CREAMOS in Guatemala 20. Cross Sector Collaborations: Challenges in aligning perspectives in partnership committees and co-developing funding proposals 21. The Role Partnership Brokers Play in Creating Effective Social Partnerships 22. Social Partnerships: A new social contract to deliver value-focused collaboration 23. Social Partnerships' Development Challenge: Comprehensive self-development 24. Cross-Sector Partnerships: Prototyping 21st century governance 25. Conclusion: Re-imagining the future of social partnerships and responsible business