Drivers of Collaborative Advantage: On the Operational Dynamics and Social Dimensions of Public-Private Partnerships

Drawing upon extant alliance literature, this article substantiates the argument that we need to look beyond mere structural and formative aspects of cooperation in order to fully understand the performance antecedents of public-private partnerships. Currently, scholarly work on operational processes and behavioural dimensions is practically non-existent. This article tries to remedy the current gap in the literature by reviewing research findings on interfirm collaboration (alliances). On that basis a conceptual framework for analyzing partnership processes is developed. Finally, the antecedents of collaborative advantage are theoretically examined, and the organizational competences contributing to collaborative success are identified. The conclusion is that operational processes and social dynamics are vital drivers of collaborative advantage. Another significant conclusion is that public management research can benefit from drawing upon existing alliance research. Alliance scholars have during the past couple of decades accumulated an impressive amount of knowledge on different aspects of inter-firm cooperation, and therefore the learning potential for public management scholars seems to be quite enormous.