Administrative Science Quarterly
2020, Vol. 65(1)NP7–NP9
Ó The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0001839219883121
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Barbara Gray and Jill Purdy: Collaborating for Our Future: Multistakeholder
Partnerships for Solving Complex Problems. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2018. 251 pp. $65.00, cloth.
Gray and Purdy offer us a short book on multistakeholder partnerships and their
role in alleviating complex problems, building on and extending Gray’s classic
1989 book on the topic. Academics and expert practitioners will enjoy the
authors’ review of current research on the topic because of its comprehensive-
ness and disregard for disciplinary bounds. Readers will also appreciate its
novel articulation because of how it links concepts from the collaboration and
institutional change literatures. As in its previous incarnation, the book includes
a rich array of case studies—three in detail—covering the spectrum of the com-
plex problems facing us today. The cases bring to life the opportunities, chal-
lenges, processes, steps, outputs, outcomes, and impact of multistakeholder
partnerships.
As in the prior book, this one follows Eric Trist’s conceptualization of com-
plex social problems as problem domains. The concept is useful because it sug-
gests that tackling these problems will be facilitated by partnerships that link
organizations from different sectors: the state, businesses, nonprofits, etc.
Gray and Purdy point to the strong parallels between the concept of problem
domain and the concept of issue fields offered in institutional theory. This con-
ceptual linking is valuable for at least three reasons. Most directly, it provides a
platform useful to tie scholarship on multistakeholder partnerships to the pro-
cesses of institutional change. It also offers a productive interdisciplinary space
to advance our understanding of processes tackling complex social problems.
Finally, it yields a novel conceptual venue to explore how field change is trig-
gered, motivated, or advanced by multistakeholder partnerships.
The book has 11 chapters, and chapters 1 through 3 provide a three-part
introduction. Chapter 1 discusses the growth of multistakeholder partnerships.
It introduces the reader to the range of partnerships discussed in the book,
including global partnerships such as the Global Reporting Initiative and the
Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, national ones such as Honey
Care Kenya, and bilateral partnerships involving nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) and businesses. The chapter also provides a sort of glossary of the ter-
minology used in the book and establishes the book’s motivation ‘‘to concep-
tualize partnerships as forms of organizing that hold promise for transforming
institutional fields.’’
In chapter 2, the authors introduce the plurality of problem domains in which
we have observed multistakeholder partners operating: income inequality,
health, environmental degradation, identity conflicts, and violent weather
events. They also discuss the book’s main three profiles of partners—
NP8 Administrative Science Quarterly 65 (2020)
government, businesses, and NGOs—with a particular focus on their motiva-
tion to pursue and participate in multistakeholder partnerships. The chapter
ends with a brief typology of partnerships considering the motivation of the par-
ties involved and the purposes they seek to advance.
Finally, chapter 3 provides the theoretical framework for the book. It intro-
duces the concept of institutional field and links the effectiveness of partner-
ships in the tackling of complex problems to their ability to bring about field
change. The authors highlight the potential for partnerships to bring change to
societal norms, practices, and relational networks that frame how stakeholders
see their roles in relation to specific complex problems.
The three cases used to illustrate concepts in the remainder of the book are
described at length in chapter 4. The first case describes two partnerships
involving Rabobank (a Dutch bank) and two NGOs, the World Wildlife Fund for
Nature (WWF) and Friends of the Earth. The partnership with WWF brought
about Rabobank’s launching of a climate-neutral credit card, while the partner-
ship with Friends of the Earth involved strategizing to create ‘‘climate friendly’’
banking products and policies. The second case describes a participatory pro-
cess lasting over 15 years that guided the redefinition of hydroelectric dam reg-
ulations in the United States. The process was remarkably inclusive of parties,
most notably indigenous groups, with conflicting interests and disparate under-
standings of the natural environment. The third case describes the conflicts
and processes that yielded the formation of Mesá de Diálogo y Consenso, a
partnership involving a mining company and the community in the area of Peru
where it operated. This last case points to the specific challenges for partner-
ships among parties with lopsided power differentials, conflicting interests, and
a history of failed promises.
Chapters 5 through 9 provide a thorough survey of research on multistake-
holder partnerships. Chapter 5 discusses their design and evolution. The
authors provide a particularly interesting discussion of interveners: individuals
or organizations that can play a critical role in convening and designing partner-
ships, as well as acting as facilitators, mediators, recorders, educators, and
advocates.
Chapter 6 is devoted to the topic of conflict, a central concern in all partner-
ships. The discussion comprehensively considers factors such as the presence
or absence of trust; the potential for differing frames, i.e., categories used
when making sense of an ambiguous reality; the likelihood of conflict; its
sources; and the potential for conflict to have a positive role. The authors also
discuss what we have learned about how to avoid and tackle conflict in
partnerships.
The concept of power is the focus of chapter 7. The concept is central as
power dynamics define the structure, processes, and relationships in partner-
ships. The authors point to the multiple meanings of the concept of power and
discuss power as authority, which implies that it is socially validated. They also
grapple with the power differentials that emerge as products of resource
dependencies, as well as the power that emerges from parties’ discursive abil-
ities to frame issues in ways that serve their interests.
Chapters 8 and 9 review recent developments in the research on multistake-
holder partnerships. The focus of chapter 8 is partnerships in the context of
environmental sustainability, with discussion centered around the question
‘‘What are the best practices for firms to collaborate with other organizations to
Book Review NP9
advance sustainable businesses?’’ In chapter 9 the authors review the concept
of collaborative governance—a relatively novel way to describe a specific type
of multistakeholder partnership involving or assuming responsibilities previously
associated with government. Examples include the Montreal and Kyoto
protocols.
In chapters 10 and 11, Gray and Purdy return to the main question of the
book and provide an appealing theoretical framework to consider the role of
multistakeholder partnerships in efforts to alleviate complex social problems.
Chapter 10 explores cross-level dynamics with the help of empirical illustrations
of how local efforts can bring change to challenges on a global scale. Chapter
11 examines how multistakeholder partnerships can transform institutional
fields, with the focus on articulating an understanding of the connection
between partnership dynamics and field change. Scholars have approached
these two topics separately, building on discipline-bounded and paradigmati-
cally diverse ways of understanding the social world. Gray and Purdy elegantly
braid the two. They build on Strauss’s concept of negotiated order as shared
conceptual ancestry, and the link is productive as it provides a solid theoretical
framework to guide future research on the topic.
This book is packed with information and may be particularly useful for doc-
toral students. Curiously, the longest section is the reference list, which
includes sources from a plurality of fields, both classic pieces and recent work;
its length showcases the extensive legwork that Gray and Purdy have done for
our benefit. The book is well written with powerful language, and I only wish it
could have been longer. At times it felt that the authors were compacting infor-
mation out of concern for a required page limit. Gray’s 1989 book was 300
pages long. This book should have been at least that length.
Silvia Dorado-Banacloche
College of Business
The University of Rhode Island
[email protected]
REFERENCE
Gray, B.
1989 Collaborating: Finding Common Ground for Multiparty Problems. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
