Best Practices in Business-Social Partnerships: A Practical Framework to Social Co-Creation

The subject of this explorative and descriptive thesis concerns cross-sector social partnerships (CSSPs), i.e. strategic social alliances between corporates and social entities (social enterprises or non-profit organizations), more recently known as co-creation. The research framework is multidimensional, performing an analysis on what co-creation is, why it is a relevant approach to social change, and why social and business entities choose it as a social impact strategy. The main research focus aims to answer the following questions: What are the various possible types of cross-sector social partnership models?; What are the main best practices and management take-aways to forming and running these partnerships? (i.e. ‘how-to co-create”); and What is the role and contribution of third party organizations with regard to these partnerships? The thesis body is divided in a literature study and an empirical research section. The theoretical framework first consists of an illustration of all the main concepts developed in this research, and then explains why co-creation is a relevant subject of research in social development. A thorough mapping of all the affiliated parties is consequently provided, with a focus on each partner’s strengths and weaknesses in social activities. The core incentives of each of those parties to engage in cross-sector affiliation is also developed. Finally, a synthesis of the various published partnering challenges and best-practices is provided, and presented as a whole. The empirical part of this research is divided in two (interconnected) sections. The first part concerns an in-depth case study of an exemplary cross-sector social partnership in Belgium, i.e. the partnership between BNP Paribas Fortis and social cooperative microStart. The case study focused on a thorough examination of the co-creation model, the contributions of each partner to the partnership, the partnership specifics, the partnering history and evolution, and finally the main lessons to be taken from this case study. The second section of the empirical research is the result of an analysis of several interviews with co-creation experts, mediator organization representatives and cross sector partnership participants, as well as the participation to a co-creation workshop. This part of the research was aimed at extracting additional management learnings for cross-sector partnerships, the presentation of alternative partnership models than the one presented in the case study, and finally an examination of the role of third party organizations in the social co-creative landscape. The focus of this thesis research was on best-practices to CSSPs, and more broadly a deep understanding of “how to co-create”. A multiple angle approach through a case study, document analysis, expert interviews, and on the field observation provided a large range of research input to aid with the exact understanding of different types of CSSP models, of why different entities should be interested in forming these partnerships for social change, of what the main structural characteristics and management take-aways are for forming and running a successful co-creation, and what challenges impede CSSPs in reaching their full potential. The large heterogeneity of CSSPs was illustrated, and it is clear that there are many possible forms of cooperation between CEs, SEs and NFPs aside from co-creation. Even the co-creation sub-typology was shown to have many possible varieties, and the importance of taking a stepwise approach to the intensification of CSSPs was proven. It was shown how the drivers for forming CSSPs generally differ between the sectorial parties, and the main drivers per sector were hence presented. The arguments in favor of co-creation of the literature study were confirmed through interviews with partnership participants and mediator organizations, and it was shown how complementarity in strengths, resources and approach is the main catalyst to the economic and social potential of co-creation. On the contrary, it was found that general knowledge on what co-creation really implies, its potential, and its main driving forces, is still fairly limited in society. This is illustrated by the fact that Belgium still has a relatively low amount of publically known cases of real co-creation, and the fact that most outsiders still automatically stereotype CSSPs to classical role distributions such as sponsoring relationships. The case study however raised the issue that there might be many more examples of co-creation in Belgium which are not communicated to the general public because of image and stakeholder issues. This thesis presents an elaborate discussion of the main challenges and best-practices in cross-sector social partnerships. As has been noted however, each specific CSSP is different, and there is no one-fit-all recipe or checklist to be followed for a successful partnership. The presented arguments display agreed upon guidelines, but cannot assure success. Therefore, each of the points developed in this research should be individually examined and carefully weighed by partnership managers, with the realization that not every point will be of relevance to each specific partnership. Additionally, the value of broker entities to CSSPs was examined in this research, a typology of different mediator functions provided, and a critical regard on their contribution documented. CSSPs have a large potential for intervention and help, and it was found that there are generally two roles that the broker organizations can play in the field of co-creation, and that some organizations chose to take on both of these. In certain cases, confusion exists around the true positioning of the broker, and it can be concluded that the brokers definitely need to focus on certain core functions in which to specialize. This is to assure that expectations from partnership participants of the contribution of the broker entity can be clear, and so that the brokers can develop a true competence around their key selling proposition. Additionally, it was found that these entities need to work on the efficiency of their activities, cut down on useless services, and reduce the input – mostly time – required from partnership participants in order to benefit from their operations. The main contribution and practical relevance of this research lies in the presentation of a comprehensive practical framework on how to co-create most efficiently, and what the main attention points to be taken into consideration are. These points present a vital documentation to be used by different stakeholders belonging to existing partnerships, to individual parties with plans to form a partnership, to partnership network organizations or consultants, and to academics. The detailed case study presentation allows for benchmarking a successful example and for following a partnership timeline from start to finish. Additional Micro-Cases pinpoint other possible forms of partnership structuration. Finally, the presentation of co-creation brokers allows partnership participants to be aware of the support they can receive in the CSSP process, and what types of actors to target for which type of support. The critical review of these roles can also allow the broker entities to introspect on their contribution and unique selling points. Also the literature study presents a well-documented theoretical framework on co-creation that can be used as a tool to raise awareness on the concept and its social and business potential, to assist interest parties in assessing their core strengths in a CSSP, and to help interested parties identify if their social or business objectives are in line with the usual driving forces to form a CSSP.