Abstract

Despite the rising popularity and hailed promise of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) for development, to date little research has been done on the internal dynamics of these often complex forms of inter-organizational collaboration. With parties involved ranging from purely public sector based to private, commercially driven organizations, often answering to drastically different constituencies, both strategic and operational realities and the goals pursued through partnership diverge. Little prior research has been undertaken into the nature of the goals that are being pursued, and how these goals are being aligned for the purpose of the initiative. This paper presents a qualitative case study of the Amsterdam Initiative against Malnutrition (AIM), a prominent Dutch PPP for development involving government, academia, and various non-governmental organizations and private sector parties. An iterative coding procedure of data in the form of various documents and semi-structured interviews with key individuals was carried out. Goal alignment was shown not to occur at one moment in time, but instead to be an ongoing and dynamic process.  The analysis revealed however, that at least in the PPP for development under investigation no explicit goal alignment process occurred. Instead, goal alignment appears to happen implicitly, influenced by various factors. This research fills a knowledge gap and contributes to the literature on public-private partnerships for development and inter-organizational collaboration, facilitating the practice of goal analysis and alignment in collaborative ventures.

Key words: Public-Private Partnerships, PPPs, development, goal alignment, inter-organizational collaboration, intersectoral collaboration, nutrition security, malnutrition

Goal Alignment in public private partnerships – Working Paper Van den Bos – Ruel