A governance model founded on open strategy for multi-sector collaborations

What is it about?

Addressing society’s most intractable problems requires new forms of strategic thinking, governance, and collaboration. Increasingly, public, nonprofit, and private organizations that have been traditionally isolated from each other are collaborating in multi-sector partnerships (MSPs) to address grand societal concerns. These collaborations heighten the complexity of decision-making processes within their bounds and this manuscript provides a descriptive framework to explain how MSPs function to facilitate cooperative behavior. We suggest that the formative extra-organizational boundary dimensions of these partnerships create fertile ground for a unique governance platform of open strategy. This work explores a process model of open strategy that relies on goal interdependence, stakeholder legitimacy, participatory decision-making, transparency, and inclusiveness as core components. The proposed framework of open strategy reveals the key dimensions upon which stakeholders of an MSP participate in the strategic conversation and co-create value.

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Why is it important?

The proposed model in this paper builds upon the prevailing view that organizational leaders need to incorporate a more expanded view of stakeholder participation into their strategic-decision making process (Freeman, 1984; Korschun, 2015; Sisodia et al., 2007). By considering the complexity of societal problems, not unlike complex problems many organizations face, firms are faced with the challenge of opening their decision-making processes to review and critique. The adoption of open strategy is, therefore, more than simply creating a forum to air grievances or solve individual complaints. Rather, open strategy functions as a legitimate governance structure that encourages input of public, nonprofit, and private stakeholders bound by a strong sense of interdependence toward a common goal.

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