Abstract
Throughout the nine chapters of Expanding the Pie: Fostering Effective Non-Profit and Corporate Partnerships, author Susan Ross gives practitioners a framework from which to think about partnerships prior to engagement and tools to improve results while engaged. In the first chapter, Ross provides a cursory review of the historical stage in which sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR) trace their roots, and the reader is impressed by this succinct and informative background check that he will resort to in the future. For those new to the world of CSR and partnerships, she clarifies institutional definitions, defining such terms as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), sustainability, stakeholder engagement, and the various types of partnerships used throughout the text.
In the following three chapters, Ross prefaces the decision of engaging in partnerships by discussing trends in global development, NGOs, and business. Key discussions are dedicated to globalization, advances in information and communication technology, the widening income gap between rich and poor, complex or so-called “wicked” problems, and the changing roles of governments, businesses, and NGOs. Ross also weighs in on the growth and increased professionalization of the third sector, trends in CSR today, consumer expectations of corporate policy, and greater corporate accountability.
Next, the author poses questions to the reader about whether a partnership should be considered at all, followed by chapters dedicated to the discussion of the descriptions and benefits of different strategic arrangements: bilateral NGO–corporate partnerships, tri-party partnerships, and multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs). Ross presents here a succinct historical review of alliances within the third sector. While nonprofits have a long history of forming partnerships with government, she explains how alliances with corporations were unthinkable until recent decades.
For example, in 1990, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) announced an agreement with the fast food chain McDonald’s, resulting in 42 initiatives to reduce waste in the operations and supply chain of McDonald’s. At the time, the agreement was met with dismay by activists and businesses alike. EDF was accused of selling out, and McDonald’s was reproved for allowing tree huggers into the boardroom. The Boston Globe quoted a toxic chemicals specialist, “It’s like saying I’m going to join a task force with the Mafia to discuss how to cope with the drug situation” (Ruta, 2010). Over the next decade, however, McDonald’s eliminated 300 million pounds of packaging, recycled one million tons of corrugated boxes and reduced restaurant waste by 30%. Now, more than 20 years later, EDF Vice President Gwen Ruta observes, “What was heresy has now become dogma as more companies see the business benefits of environmental innovation” (Ross, 2012, p. 150).
In Chapter 5, the author lays out key benefits and challenges to NGOs and businesses considering an alliance, including ethical issues that arise. Given that alliances are “time-consuming, messy, and often don’t produce the desired results” (p. 2), Ross relies on the Long and Arnold’s (1995) Framework of nine points for her Decision-Making Framework. The Long-Arnold is a matrix: Column headings are the three phases of the partnership engagement (initiation, execution, and closure/renewal) and row titles are people, goals, and capacity building. Where each of these intersects in the matrix, the grid provides steps to insure success.
Having presented the global backdrop and decision-making framework, Ross then provides in Chapter 6, twenty-five case studies of bilateral NGO–corporate partnerships. These are strategic alliances where information and resources are exchanged between NGOs and corporations toward an abundant end that expands the benefit pie for all parties. Chapter 7 is a meta-analysis of 10 cases of tri-party partnerships. Tri-party partnerships are similar to bilateral NGO–corporate partnerships except that a government department joins as well. In Chapter 8, yet another layer of partnership engagement is added with MSIs. MSIs bring together partners with diverse interests and skills toward common goals, such as NGOs, corporations, government, academia, trade unions, and other civil society entities.
Some practical lessons emerge out of the author’s collective case studies: get your house in order first; focus on the content, not the cash; spend time getting to know each other; designate a relationship manager; communicate regularly; and performance measurement is key. Still, despite the directive to anticipate a partnership carefully, the merits of serendipity and personal agenda were not lost on the author. For example, the partnership between cookware firm Calphalon and the NGO Share Our Strength (SOS) began when a SOS chef sat next to the Calphalon executive on a plane ride. In another case, the wife of a Kimberly-Clark managing director visited a hospital in Latin America and was appalled at the conditions. This led to the Kimberly-Clark and Medshare partnership that provided US$6.2 million in products to hospitals in the Americas while saving more than 1 million cubic feet of space in U.S. landfills.
In the ninth and final chapter, Ross draws on her experience as a consultant, and delineates eight steps for practitioners to follow in designing, implementing, and evaluating partnerships. The partnership portfolio map provides clarity into the nature and level of agreements (resource exchange, transactional, joint programming, and integrative), frequently misunderstood by practitioners today.
The book flows well until one arrives at the case studies throughout Chapters 6 to 9. Unfortunately, although the author employs the Long-Arnold Framework in all three chapters of bilateral, tri-party, and MSIs, there is extensive redundancy describing the success factors mentioned in each phase. Anecdotes are repeated as well. The chapters may have been designed to stand alone, but a streamlined approach would have been more readable. Rather, the reader is left with a sense of déjà vu and confusion about placement. In addition, Figure 2.1 in Chapter 2 shows the three sectors—government, business, and nonprofit—all within the circle of civil society, which is counter to accepted definitions. Annoyingly, some of the footnotes were incorrect and at least two studies are mentioned but not cited.
While reading this book, one is reminded of James Austin’s (2000) seminal work The Collaboration Challenge: How Nonprofits and Business Succeed Through Strategic Alliances. Like Austin, Ross presents a framework for alliances and supports theory with case studies, except that Austin developed his own Collaboration Continuum and Ross utilizes Long-Arnold. Ross may have borrowed the notion of serendipity from Austin’s employment of the term in his book, including Austin’s example of the chance partnership between the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) and Starbucks. Her decision-making framework steps are original and solid and she benefits from drawing upon an additional decade of cross-sector partnership cases. Ross states the purpose of the book is to provide a user-friendly reference to managers considering a partnership. The book lives up to its purpose, and will be agreeable to NGO and business managers alike. It does not, however, replace James Austin’s book—and it lacks academic rigor in both format and accuracy. It is not recommended for business or nonprofit management courses.