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To Promise a Promise: When Contractors Desire a Life-long Partnership

In: Hybrid Forms of Governance

Author

Listed:
  • Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen

    (Copenhagen Business School)

Abstract

The idea of partnerships has united the right and left of the political spectrum, the public sector with voluntary organizations, voluntary organizations with private companies, and private companies with the public sector. In general, partnership is construed in opposition to contracts. Contracts are often criticized for being short-sighted, inflexible and control-oriented, making them inimical to fostering trust in society. As the multinational service firm ISS put it, ‘Partnerships are based on mutual trust and shared responsibility rather than contract and control as in traditional outsourcing’ (Søndergard 2003: 407). Partnership is articulated as everything that contracts are not. ISS and Hørsholm Hospital even compare partnerships to true love: Often a picture is worth a thousand words, and even though the comparison only goes so far, the difference between outsourcing and partnership is comparable to the difference between paying for sex on one hand and love on the other hand. Paying for sex is a ‘commodity’ where the interest of the buyer and the supplier are entirely different and where one supplier can be exchanged for another without difficulty. Love on the other hand refers to a relationship in which two people enrich each other in shared development. And as in love, a partnership requires openness and trust in order to succeed. (Hørsholm Hospital 2002)

Suggested Citation

  • Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen, 2012. "To Promise a Promise: When Contractors Desire a Life-long Partnership," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen & Inger-Johanne Sand (ed.), Hybrid Forms of Governance, chapter 11, pages 205-231, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-36300-7_12
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230363007_12
    as

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