Cross-Sector Partnership Research from a Civil Society Perspective: Two Current Trends

It is conspicuous that research on cross-sector collaboration is increasingly dedicating attention to assessing the perspective of civil society. Examining this body of literature has indicated two salient research trends: the effect of cross-sector partnership on civil society organizations performance and the impact of civil society organisations on the effectiveness of cross-sector partnerships

Nonprofit-business collaboration: an empirical-based framework for value creation

While interest in nonprofit-business collaboration (NBC) has grown rapidly in the past decades, literature has underexposed the peculiarities of nonprofit organizations (NPOs), compared to the ample attention on the perspective of the firm and the implications for society. In specific, we lack clarity on how NPOs can deliberately seek collaboration with the business sector to foster their organizational viability and economic interests, in addition to their traditional focus on delivering social value and meaningfulness. This active approach has become imperative given the growing uncertainty of government funding and budgetary constraints. However, the proactive involvement in NBC is complex and risky. In this study, we address this dilemma by investigating several NPOs that are active in NBC. Based on the analysis and findings, we developed an empirical-based framework that explains the essence of NPOs' proactive engagement with the business sector. More specifically, we offer subtle theoretical and empirical investigations of various internal and external contingencies that explain the effectiveness of NPOs in establishing collaboration with firms for value creation. Moreover, we advance the current debate concerning the need to establish a clear distinction between value creation for society (conceived as the sum of benevolent benefits obtained from the collaboration) and for the partners. As such, we showed that the active-in-collaboration NPOs distinguish between different NBC values that include economic benefits (for survival), institutional development (for organizational effectiveness), and transformational for changing business practice (for the fulfillment of mission). Therefore, we shift the focus from the predominating perspectives of society and business, to consider NPOs as an active component of this relationship. Together, these findings offer a robust nonprofit-centric foundation that is necessary for NBC practice and theory development

Effects of sewage sludge on heavy metal accumulation in soil and plants and on crop productivity in Aleppo governorate

Sewage sludgeHeavy metalsCrop productionCropsOrganic matterSoil

Alliance Management Capabilities and Internationalization Performance of SMEs: The Mediating Role of Strategic Activity

How to use the collaboration for innovation and internationalization benefits of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has become one of the most important topic in the strategy literature. However, the alliance management capabilities (AMC) as a key resource to enable the collaboration relationship have not been at the core of research in this area. Thus, we hypothesized that AMC enhance the strategic activity (radical and incremental co-innovation), which ultimately result in SMEs’ internationalization performance. Furthermore, we posited that alliance portfolio diversity moderates the link between AMC and strategic activity. We empirically test our model in the context of a sample of SMEs to the UK manufacturing industry. Our findings supported these hypotheses

Heterogeneous inter-organizational social capital: the case of Faraday Partnerships for technology transfer

Given its tripartite impact on society, industry, and university, the phenomenon of university-industry partnership (UIP) has become a valuable research endeavor. However, examining UIP-related literature shows limited understanding from a social capital (SC) perspective, albeit its relevance (as UIP comprises extensive social interaction) and capacity (being an important resource latent in networks system). Likewise, it is noticeable that research on inter-organizational SC has been predominantly conducted from the perspective of homogenous organizations (i.e., have consistent expectation, mission, and culture). However, the perspective of social interaction between heterogeneous organizations (i.e., belong to different sectors thus inherently different) is limited. We address these two gaps by investigating the idiosyncrasy of SC development in the setting of UIP, as a unique context for heterogeneous inter-organizational SC. We contribute to the literature by exposing the various facets of SC dynamics as evolve in this uncommon domain. Also, we identify four factors as moderating the interaction between the three dimensions of SC that eventually influence the dual processes of technology translation and transfer

Positive Design: Using Design Thinking as a Creative Process for Enhancing Project Outcomes

This PDW brings together scholars and practitioners working on creativity, design thinking and strategy to explore, debate, and illustrate the ways in which design thinking is being used as a creative process to positively impact people as the beneficiaries and stakeholders of projects. The PDW is the first of a series of PDWs to be proposed at AOM over the next three years seeking to bring the design thinking and positive organizational scholarship communities together to advance knowledge, theorizing and research on how design thinking can impact projects to improve society and have a positive and sustainable impact on people, planet and profit. The workshop will be an interactive, design thinking led session and will produce micro-projects to advance the ‘positive design’ cause within the academy. This session will also be supported by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and will seek to broaden and build networks across AOM, SMS and PMI to advance creative approaches to project design with a focus on beneficiaries and stakeholders

Nonprofit Entrepreneurial Orientation in the Context of Cross‐Sector Collaboration

Triggered by budgetary challenges and growing awareness of social needs, recent years have seen increasing entrepreneurial behaviour in the nonprofit sector, of which collaboration with for-profit organizations is a case in point. Yet, while extant research has extensively studied the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of for-profit organizations, scant attention has been paid to its manifestations in the cross-sector collaboration context and from the nonprofit perspective, even though numerous nonprofit organizations’ idiosyncrasies point at the need for a reconceptualization of the EO dimensions in that domain. Thus, taking the nonprofit perspective, our research aims to explore the dynamics and nature of EO in the context of nonprofit-business collaboration (NBC), examining how the EO core dimensions manifest themselves when nonprofit organizations (NPOs) proactively engage in NBC. We unpack the meaning of EO through two complementary empirical studies. Our work nuances the rather overlooked entrepreneurial posture of so-called ‘active-in-collaboration’ NPOs, exposes new meanings of collaborative EO dimensions (relational proactiveness, relational innovativeness, and relational risk management), discusses their underpinning mechanisms, and suggests promising areas for further research and implications for practice

Examining alliance management capabilities in cross-sector collaborative partnerships

While there is a significant amount of research on cross-sector collaboration, we still lack an adequate understanding of the nature and dynamics of Alliance Management Capabilities (AMC) that organizations demand when stretching their inter-organizational relationships beyond the boundaries of their sector. We address this gap by investigating the role of AMC in establishing and maintaining cross-sector collaborations, focusing on the perspective of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Using qualitative data obtained from a diverse group of NPOs that are actively in collaboration with the business sector, we identified a unique set of AMC that are deployed at the pre- and post-formation stages of collaboration, and concomitantly at both stages (or cross-cutting AMC). Moreover, we provide an integrative framework that explains how these capabilities are leveraged and developed within the context of cross-sector collaboration which takes a circular path that comprises strategic actions and learning routines. We draw implications for theory and practice

An Economic and Social Evaluation of the UK Sub-sea Cables Industry

This research report seeks to estimate the value of the UK subsea cables industry, considering its value to 1) the digital economy, and 2) the electricity industry. An initial estimate of the economic value of the UK telecommunications subsea cables industry to the digital economy values it at £62.8 billion per annum. The impact of the UK electricity subsea cables industry is smaller but still significant at £2.8 billion per annum. The economic value of the UK subsea cables industry both for the telecommunications and energy sectors is then measured in more detail using the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modelling approach that has increasingly overtaken the more traditional Cost Benefit Analysis approach to computing economic values. This analysis also provides estimates of the impact of changes in the industry on various sectors of the economy, as well as on the macro economy. Yet first a qualitative research methodology, namely a Comprehensive Impact Evaluation Framework is applied to identify benefits of the UK subsea cables industry to multiple stakeholders in the telecommunications and energy sectors. By identifying the relevant direct and indirect stakeholders, this ensures that the CGE models developed are as accurate as possible. The stakeholder analysis also allows us to going beyond a monetary analysis of the potential benefits of the subsea cables industry, by identifying the range of stakeholders positively impacted by the presence of the UK subsea cables industry. In the telecommunications sector there are benefits to businesses and households from better quality and speed of digital communication, as well as improved reliability of Internet connectivity. These benefits translate into improved business efficiency, improved ability to manage people and processes, as well as improved opportunities for the international communication of product and process innovations. In the electricity sector, the use of subsea cables is vital for the import and export of electricity, as well as to connect offshore electricity production to the mainland electricity grid system. Hence, subsea cables ensure improved reliability and security of electricity supplies, as well as access to international markets. Given that offshore electricity production is a vital part of renewables electricity production in the UK, this production has environmental benefits and contributes to reduced pollution and the UK’s better ability to meet pollution reduction targets. The qualitative and quantitative analyses combine to highlight the positive value of the UK subsea cables industry both on the telecommunications and electricity market sectors. The impact on the telecommunications sector is larger as was to be expected given the importance of this sector on the UK economy as a whole, while subsea cables are of importance in the electricity market predominantly in terms of electricity imports and exports, and the production of electricity from off-shore wind farms. Not only is the UK subsea cables market important in terms of its impact on the telecommunications and electricity sectors, but the quantitative analysis has highlighted the benefits of future growth in the UK subsea cables industry on UK macroeconomic variables including GDP; consumer income; capital formation; exports and imports and government revenues. Growth in the UK telecommunications subsea cables industry is likely positively to impact the UK financial and insurance sector the most, while growth in the UK electricity subsea cables industry is expected to have its greatest positive impact on the UK manufacturing industry

Positive Design: Using Design Thinking as a Creative Process for Enhancing Project Outcomes

This PDW brings together scholars and practitioners working on creativity, design thinking and strategy to explore, debate, and illustrate the ways in which design thinking is being used as a creative process to positively impact people as the beneficiaries and stakeholders of projects. The PDW is the first of a series of PDWs to be proposed at AOM over the next three years seeking to bring the design thinking and positive organizational scholarship communities together to advance knowledge, theorizing and research on how design thinking can impact projects to improve society and have a positive and sustainable impact on people, planet and profit. The workshop will be an interactive, design thinking led session and will produce micro-projects to advance the ‘positive design’ cause within the academy. This session will also be supported by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and will seek to broaden and build networks across AOM, SMS and PMI to advance creative approaches to project design with a focus on beneficiaries and stakeholders