ABSTRACT
Although this is a chapter about partnerships, no one defi nition or model of this well-used term is supported over another. As Ballach and Taylor (2001:6) propose, this concept is “variously identifi ed as interagency, inter-professional, collaborative or joined-up working, joined-up thinking or a whole systems or holistic approach”. In the interest of clarity, this chapter will analyse strategic partnerships and alliances where two or more organisations collaborate: sharing resources and activities to pursue a strategy (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2008:353). Organisations involved in sport development may also form strategic alliances internally, for example, cross-departmental working within a local authority, and informally, for example, communities of practice (Wenger and Snyder 2000). Ultimately, however, the view taken in this chapter is that partnerships are about people, regardless of how many individuals are involved and whom they represent. This is justifi ed by Gilchrist (2003:35) who comments that policy needs partnerships and partnerships require people. Inevitably, relationships between those SDPs responsible for managing partnerships is crucial, and therefore the people aspect of the 4Ps model is particularly relevant to this chapter as we consider the importance and variety of stakeholders in the sport development process. We argue that the practice of partnership can be as important as the product that emanates from said partnership. The nature of partnership in sport development is complex and multi-faceted and can be linked to Checkland’s (1999) notion of layered thinking, identifi ed within the Introduction. Due to a paucity of
existing material, this chapter applies academic frameworks from the strategic management body of knowledge to relevant sport development examples. Amongst other theoretical frameworks, the Power/Interest matrix (Scholes 2001) will be used to help understand the complex relationships evident in sport development, and the PiiSA framework proposed by I&DeA (2009) will be considered in relation to a case study example. But fi rst it is necessary to consider why and how partnership working has become so embedded in sport development practice.
