From Booklist
Already this year, in Common Interest, Common Good: Creating Value through Business and Social Sector Partnerships, Shirley Sagawa and Eli Segal outlined the benefits of partnerships between businesses and nonprofit organizations. There they profiled seven successful examples of such relationships. Now Austin, author of numerous books on business and management in developing countries and a business professor at Harvard, makes his own similar case in this Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management Leaderbook. He identifies major alliances and examines how they function, looking at the various stages through which they must pass. He explains the role of top leadership and emphasizes the importance of a strategic “fit” between the two partners. Austin suggests different areas within organizations for alignment as well as ways for partners to analyze the value of their collaboration. He then considers ongoing practical management issues and concludes with guidelines for collaborations and questions that must be addressed. David Rouse
Review
“Austin has uncovered the common elements and key strategies that make for effective collaborations…. He gained unprecedented access to the decision makers who instituted and managed these alliances and who provide firsthand accounts of their successes, trials, and lessons learned…. In The Collaboration Challenge, he illuminates these key lessons for all leaders, and makes it possible for each of us to meet the collaboration challenge.” —Frances Hesselbein, , chairman of the board of governors, The Drucker Foundation, and John C. Whitehead, founder, The John C. Whitehead Fund for Not-for-Profit Management, Harvard Business School
“Austin has performed a valuable service for nonprofit organizations and their corporate partners by illuminating the dynamics of successful relationships. His useful book deserves to be widely read by leaders in both sectors concerned about increasing the effectiveness of their social action agenda.” —Rosabeth Moss Kanter, , Harvard Business School, author of World Class and Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the Frontiers of Management
“The entire nonprofit sector has been searching for the expertise and tools this book provides. Nothing else like it exists.” -Bill Shore, executive director of Share-Our-Strength and author of The Cathedral Within and Revolution of the Heart
“It’s hard to imagine managers crafting a leading partnership and not applying all this book has to offer. It does a fantastic job in offering leaders crisp principles to be applied in navigating the landscape of collaborations.” -Ken Freitas, vice president of social enterprise, Timberland Company
“Superbly provides a framework of order and understanding. I wish I had had this book to share with staff and board members during my tenure at Outward Bound. It will accelerate the coming together of the sectors.” -Allen Grossman, Bloomberg Senior Lecturer in Philanthropy, Harvard University, and former CEO of Outward Bound
“The book provides wonderful case studies, strong insights, and solid frameworks that I plan to use in my own nonprofit course next year.” -Marc Lindenberg, dean and professor, Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington, and former senior vice president of CARE
“A very timely book of landmark collaborations between nonprofits and businesses set within conceptual frameworks that provide both academics and practitioners guidance on how to make alliances better.” -Alan R. Andreasen, professor of marketing, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, and author of Marketing Social Change
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