Abstract
In his book Partners for Good, Tom Levitt draws on his political experience and his work with charities to make the case for the untapped benefit of cross-sector partnerships. Though the premise of the book is partnerships among the sectors, or the “fourth sector” as Levitt labels these relationships, the book is primarily about the greater role the private sector could play in the Big Society. Overall, Levitt is optimistic about the mutual benefit that can be gained from cross-sector partnerships even though the book ends on a rather pessimistic note given the relatively few exemplars of companies engaging in this activity. According to Levitt, the future role of the corporate sector in social responsibility is different from the old Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) concept. To paraphrase Levitt’s quoting of the chairman of Nestle, the old concept of CSR was defensive and framed around what corporations owed back to society. The new concept is about shared value, the creation of value for company shareholders, third sector partners, and local communities. The triple bottom line approach based on people, planet, and profit is what Levitt is advocating: that corporations can actually do “good” for people and the planet at the same time that they do well for their shareholders.
To make his case, Levitt first begins the book with clarifications of terminology in Chapter 1. He distinguishes between the multiple terms used to describe the nonprofit sector. This is an important exercise because of the slightly different connotations of civil society, charity, and voluntary. In the end, Levitt opts to use the term third sector. Another important distinction Levitt draws is between hybrid organizations and partnerships. He offers a nice diagram featuring a triangle, with the points of the triangle labeled with each sector. The triangle’s edges represent hybrid organizations, whereas he calls the space within the triangle the “fourth sector,” representing the relationships between the three sectors. One clarification lacking in this chapter for readers not familiar with U.K. politics, however, is an explanation of what the Big Society is. The term is used throughout the book but the discussion of the Big Society does not occur until the end of the book. Basically, the Big Society consists of three pillars: public sector reform, community involvement, and social action.
Levitt gets to the heart of his argument in Chapters 3 and 4. In Chapter 3, Levitt critiques superficial corporate engagement in social responsibility. He offers examples of ways companies can enhance their engagement, including a table with the various stages through which corporations move from ad hoc giving to strategic giving, with increasing benefits to both the company and the charity partner. Levitt then reflects on the “fourth sector” in Chapter 4 by drawing on the analogy of the dating game. He makes the case that for partnerships to work, meaningful partnerships must be forged. However, rather than elaborating on how meaningful partnerships can be forged, the chapter offers examples of partnerships that have worked without offering more background on the steps involved in forging a meaningful partnership. Levitt then concludes the chapter by stating that “cross-sector partnerships are good for everybody” (p. 132), even though he states a few paragraphs later that the jury is still out on whether these partnerships have an impact on local communities.
In Chapter 5, Levitt moves on to discuss the regulation of partnerships and partnerships in the developing world. Levitt provides an overview of the various efforts to regulate government and third sector partnerships and the failures and weaknesses of these efforts. This discussion is steeped in the U.K. context making it difficult to follow for any reader not familiar with U.K. policies and politics. Levitt then moves on to discuss regulation of corporate involvement in international development in Chapter 6 and the difficulties of regulating claims of corporate social responsibility. For instance, he describes the abuses of socially responsible labels like the commitment to the Global Compact and the concerns that without some sort of accreditation system, there is no means to regulate the ability of companies to reap the benefit from a reputation of being socially responsible without conforming with the agreed on standards behind the commitment. Chapter 6 offers a solution to the conundrum. The chapter provides cases of successful partnerships doing “good” in international development, including the International Business Leaders Forum and Partnering (IBLFP). An IBLFP officer notes that without enforcement, global social responsibility standards are meaningless, but with enforcement comes resentment by the business sector. The alternative way forward is through the triple bottom line and demonstrating to companies the shared value that is created through partnerships. Levitt then concludes the chapter by noting the untested potential for business to bring about change in international development and that “development is good for business and business is good for development” (p. 187).
The concluding chapter brings the discussion to the Big Society. The Big Society calls for action by all community members and, thus, the importance of mobilizing corporate engagement in addressing community needs. Specifically, the importance of the Big Society and the mobilization of corporate engagement stems from the funding cuts in the public sector, which reduces the level of support for services provided by the third sector. Levitt’s argument is that there is little choice under current funding conditions; one of the few options available for addressing community needs is for more partnerships to tap into the wealth of the corporate sector to meet those needs. In the end, Levitt uses a Venn diagram to depict the Big Society as the area of overlap between the three sectors. Previously society has relied on the partnerships between each sector: service commissioning (state/third sector), social responsibility (corporate/third sector), and the ‘Third Way’ (state/corporate). The Big Society that Levitt is calling for, though, is where the state, with the obligation to act, the third sector, with the expertise to act, and the market (corporate), with the forces or resources to act, intertwine to address community needs.
Levitt’s book offers many provocative ideas and interesting cases of doing “good” while doing well. In addition, rather than base his arguments in political ideology, Levitt offers practical solutions. However, the book disappoints if the reader expects it to deliver on the meaning one can read into the title. Levitt only refers in passing to the issue of sustaining partnerships. He does not refer to the research on the nonprofit sector, CSR, international development, or the research on collaboration and partnerships, but a quick scan of the literature on partnerships and collaboration would quickly explain why readers might mistake the title to have a different meaning. Building partnerships that do “good” is one thing, but sustaining those relationships is quite another. Levitt returns to his courtship analogy to make the point that “a succession of one-night stands with corporate altruism can leave a community feeling cheap, unfulfilled, lacking confidence” (p. 134). However, the need for cross-sector learning (Silverman & Taliento, 2006) and the effort that is involved in nourishing long-lasting cross-sector partnerships (Bryson, Crosby, & Stone, 2006), or marriages for that matter, is not acknowledged. While the book opens with a quote by a businessman experienced in cross-sector partnership work, highlighting the importance of common understanding of risk as essential to successful cross-sector partnerships, this intriguing point is never further developed.
The contribution of Partners for Good to scholarship and practice is limited, especially since Levitt does not waiver in his assumption that cross-sector partnerships will ultimately lead to good for all involved. He does not consider potential negative implications on either partners or communities and fails to address the challenges faced by both parties in building and sustaining these partnerships. In spite of the shortcomings, Levitt does offer some provocative ideas and some interesting anecdotes that offer creative ways for corporations and the third sector to partner and do “good” while doing well.