Sharing the Knowledge: New CD-ROM Explores the Power of Partnering
Viewers of the new CD-ROM Strategic Alliances: The Power of Partnering Between Nonprofits and Businesses are taken right inside an executive education classroom as HBS professor James E. Austin looks at myriad potential benefits that exist in relationships between nonprofits and businesses. As part of its Faculty Seminar Series, the School's Executive Education Program produced the CD-ROM, in which Professor Austin explores the many facets of such relationships.
One of our core goals in the Social Enterprise Initiative is to contribute to the strengthening of management practice by disseminating the new knowledge we produce, says Austin. This CD enables that by helping managers of nonprofits and businesses to gain insights and practical guidance on how to build powerful and mutually beneficial alliances.
The foundation for the presentation is Austin's Collaboration Continuum, the stages of collaboration through which partnerships evolve: philanthropic, transactional, and integrative. He speaks in detail about topics such as the process of partnering, the value of collaboration, sources of value creation, and managing the relationship. Viewers develop an understanding not just of how such partnerships are formed, but how they are maintained and cultivated.
Austin builds the presentation around the example of the strong partnership between City Year and Timberland. In a relationship that began with a simple cold call from City Year to request 50 pairs of boots, the two organizations gradually came to realize the incredible potential of a relationship through assets they could offer each other to their mutual benefit. Key to recognizing this potential is understanding Austin's 7 Cs—a set of guidelines essential to building strong alliances. He balances this with another list of 7 Cs, which demonstrate potential barriers to productive alliances.
Austin's engaging style makes for a clear and valuable learning experience. It's my hope that managers of nonprofits and businesses will gain insights and practical guidance on how to build powerful and mutually beneficial alliances, he says.
7 Cs |
Collaboration Guidelines
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Initial Barriers
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Strategic Alliances: The Power of Partnering Between Nonprofits and Businesses is part of the HBS Executive Education Program's Faculty Seminar Series, and is available through Harvard Business School Publishing at www.hbsp.harvard.edu.
