Laura Kreiling and Adriana Valentina Andronache (2014)

3. Ayrshire Juniper Recovery• A family-owned distillery and an

environmental organisation set out to preserve juniper

• A two-year programme between 2012-2014 to prevent to the decline of juniper

4. Social basketball partnership• A basketball team and a social enterprise

created sport events for the disabled

• Since 2013, informal cooperation to encourage contact between professional basketball players and disabled children and adults

1. Planting good deeds• A multinational IT corporation and an

environmental civil-society initiative planted trees

• Employees were involved in two planting activities, in spring and in autumn 2013

2. Fair Opera project• A Swedish bank and a cultural organisation

created art events for children

• Between 2010-2015 music and stories were created by children and transformed by professionals into an opera

The researchers are graduates of the Erasmus Mundus Master of Science in Strategic Project Management.

During their master studies– in Scotland, Italy and Sweden– (2012-2014) they found to share a passion for

issues around the intersection of society and business.

Currently, Laura is improving resource demand forecasting with expert knowledge at a bus

manufacturer in Scotland and Adriana is setting up a Project Management Office in

Camso, a tyres & tracks company, in Luxembourg.

Project Management in cross-sector social-oriented partnerships

A comparative study on the formation of partnerships in Romania, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Germany

Cross-sector social-oriented partnerships (CSSPs) are increasing in practice and in the literature but management responsibilities have been largely unclear.Project management was found to be a relevant area for investigation because cross-sector collaborations and projects have similar characteristics and projects are mentioned separately in the two literature fields. Consequently, this research has explored, described and analysed the context and use of project management in the formation phase of CSSPs in Europe.

Motivation & Background

The integration of project management as parameter in the collaboration continuum by Austin (2000):

The formality of project management in a CSSP is connected to the stage in the continuum:• Transactional stage: mainly

informally • Integrative stage: rather formal

This gives rise to further research and suggests a more deliberate application of managerial techniques

for which project management provides great potential.

The way how project management is deployed depends on the individual circumstances of the CSSP – the contextual elements and the intention with which the CSSP is formed:• Service provision: the third sector organisation is

fully in charge of the project and the interactions of partners in the partnership as such are mainly at its beginning and its end (Unity Enterprise);

• Event-based: interaction is mainly at the beginning and project management is deployed by the respective organisation for the individual events (cases 1, 2, 4).

• Joint problem solving: both partners have more intersections than in the previous two cases as well as formal deployment of project management (case 3)

Project management is expedient because its use bolsters not only the project but also the partnership as such and allows addressing today's challenges by means of CSSPs.

Findings & Contribution