IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v191y2025ics0305750x25000452.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Contracts and effective Inter-Organizational Collaboration: The case of the Galápagos Wind partnership

Author

Listed:
  • Piselli, Dario
  • Andonova, Liliana B.

Abstract

Over the past three decades, the establishment of partnerships between public and non-state actors has become a leading mechanism of inter-organizational collaboration for sustainable development. The presence of productive collaboration inside a partnership, as well as a partnership’s ability to influence collaboration and institutions outside the immediate partners, are usually considered important pathways to partnership effectiveness. The conditions which facilitate or undermine such collaboration, however, are still widely debated. In this article, we draw on the literature on institutional and partnerships effectiveness to explore how the institutional design of a partnership, and more specifically the quality of its contractual arrangements, may influence the ability of the partners to come together, articulate partnership goals, gain access to additional sources of financing, and manage reputational risks and gains. We do so through a case study of the Galápagos San Cristóbal Wind Project partnership, which was established in 2003 to reduce the Galápagos Islands’ dependence on imported fossil fuels, while simultaneously protecting the region’s fragile marine ecosystem from the risk of oil spills and contributing toward the transition to cleaner energy sources. Overall, we find that the high quality of contracting used in the partnership, including the supporting role of domestic legislation,was instrumental in shaping the effectiveness of the project activities and also served as a catalyst to facilitate adaptability and the credible commitment of resources by the partners. While we note the importance of considering contextual factors and conditions before applying our findings to other types of more informal collaborative relationships, we argue that the theoretical focus on contractual arrangements emphasized in our article is likely to remain important for understanding the effectiveness of global partnerships for sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Piselli, Dario & Andonova, Liliana B., 2025. "Contracts and effective Inter-Organizational Collaboration: The case of the Galápagos Wind partnership," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:191:y:2025:i:c:s0305750x25000452
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.106960
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X25000452
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.106960?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martins, Ana Cravinho & Marques, Rui Cunha & Cruz, Carlos Oliveira, 2011. "Public-private partnerships for wind power generation: The Portuguese case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 94-104, January.
    2. Williamson, Oliver E, 1979. "Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractural Relations," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 233-261, October.
    3. Gutner, Tamar & Heltberg, Rasmus, 2025. "Conceptualizing and evaluating how international organizations collaborate," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    4. Moira V. Faul, 2016. "Networks and Power: Why Networks are Hierarchical Not Flat and What Can Be Done About It," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 7(2), pages 185-197, May.
    5. Oscar Widerberg & Cornelia Fast & Montserrat Koloffon Rosas & Philipp Pattberg, 2023. "Multi-stakeholder partnerships for the SDGs: is the “next generation” fit for purpose?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 165-171, June.
    6. Srinivasan Sunderasan, 2015. "Cleaner-Energy Investments," Springer Books, Springer, edition 127, number 978-81-322-2062-6, July.
    7. Stadtler, Lea & Probst, Gilbert, 2012. "How broker organizations can facilitate public–private partnerships for development," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 32-46.
    8. Percoco, Marco, 2014. "Quality of institutions and private participation in transport infrastructure investment: Evidence from developing countries," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 50-58.
    9. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    10. Sander Chan & Robert Falkner & Matthew Goldberg & Harro van Asselt, 2018. "Effective and geographically balanced? An output-based assessment of non-state climate actions," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 24-35, January.
    11. Koremenos, Barbara & Lipson, Charles & Snidal, Duncan, 2001. "The Rational Design of International Institutions," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(4), pages 761-799, October.
    12. Thomas Hale & Charles Roger, 2014. "Orchestration and transnational climate governance," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 59-82, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jorge Fleta‐Asín & Fernando Muñoz, 2021. "Renewable energy public–private partnerships in developing countries: Determinants of private investment," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 653-670, July.
    2. David Horan, 2021. "The SDGs as an Integrative Framework to Assess Coherence of Transnational Multistakeholder Partnerships for SIDS," Working Papers 202110, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    3. Oliver Westerwinter, 2021. "Transnational public-private governance initiatives in world politics: Introducing a new dataset," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 137-174, January.
    4. Sander Chan & Wanja Amling, 2019. "Does orchestration in the Global Climate Action Agenda effectively prioritize and mobilize transnational climate adaptation action?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 429-446, October.
    5. Coen, David & Kreienkamp, Julia & Tokhi, Alexandros & Pegram, Tom, 2022. "Making global public policy work: A survey of international organization effectiveness," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 13(5), pages 656-668.
    6. Sander Chan & Paula Ellinger & Oscar Widerberg, 2018. "Exploring national and regional orchestration of non-state action for a," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 135-152, February.
    7. David Horan, 2022. "Towards a Portfolio Approach: Partnerships for Sustainable Transformations," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(1), pages 160-170, February.
    8. David Coen & Julia Kreienkamp & Alexandros Tokhi & Tom Pegram, 2022. "Making global public policy work: A survey of international organization effectiveness," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(5), pages 656-668, November.
    9. Ingrid J Visseren-Hamakers, 2018. "A framework for analyzing and practicing Integrative Governance: The case of global animal and conservation governance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(8), pages 1391-1414, December.
    10. Enthoven, Laura & Van den Broeck, Goedele, 2021. "Local food systems: Reviewing two decades of research," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    11. Sander Chan & Thomas Hale & Andrew Deneault & Manish Shrivastava & Kennedy Mbeva & Victoria Chengo & Joanes Atela, 2022. "Assessing the effectiveness of orchestrated climate action from five years of summits," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(7), pages 628-633, July.
    12. Mahavadi Dhanshyam & Samir K. Srivastava, 2021. "Governance structures for public infrastructure projects: Public–private management regimes, contractual forms and innovation," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(8), pages 652-668, August.
    13. Bernhard Reinsberg & Oliver Westerwinter, 2021. "The global governance of international development: Documenting the rise of multi-stakeholder partnerships and identifying underlying theoretical explanations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 59-94, January.
    14. Pestana Barros, Carlos & Sequeira Antunes, Olinda, 2011. "Performance assessment of Portuguese wind farms: Ownership and managerial efficiency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3055-3063, June.
    15. Fleta-Asín, Jorge & Muñoz, Fernando, 2020. "How does risk transference to private partner impact on public-private partnerships’ success? Empirical evidence from developing economies," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    16. María Alexandra Ortiz Cabrera, 2019. "Colección Enrique Low Murtra, Tomo XII. Derecho Económico," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1114, May.
    17. Marianne Beisheim & Felicitas Fritzsche, 2022. "The UN High‐Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development: An orchestrator, more or less?," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(5), pages 683-693, November.
    18. Paulina Schiappacasse & Bernhard Müller & Le Thuy Linh, 2019. "Towards Responsible Aggregate Mining in Vietnam," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-15, August.
    19. Pina Puntillo, 2023. "Circular economy business models: Towards achieving sustainable development goals in the waste management sector—Empirical evidence and theoretical implications," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 941-954, March.
    20. R. Ebrahimi & S. Choobchian & H. Farhadian & I. Goli & E. Farmandeh & H. Azadi, 2022. "Investigating the effect of vocational education and training on rural women’s empowerment," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:191:y:2025:i:c:s0305750x25000452. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.