ABSTRACT
From the economic performance perspective, cooperation among stakeholders can increase profitability, for example, by reducing costs through consolidated purchasing, centralised processing, or aligning communication to convey compatible messages to other sectors. Similarly, from the environmental point of view, this cooperation allows the industry, state, organisations, and communities to coordinate the necessary monitoring and interventions to mitigate industrial impacts or, in the best case, to restore ecosystem services. Moreover, in the social sphere, the organisation of workers and communities plays a crucial role in incorporating their needs into industrial decision-making processes. This, in turn, leads to improved benefits and working conditions for the workers, as well as advantages for the communities.
These examples of cooperation could not be carried out without a sound governance system. Although later in the chapter, the implications of the term are explained in detail, it refers to how organisations (regardless of their scale, corporate, sectoral, or country-level) are organised and make decisions. For this reason, governance is the foundation for helping organisations to achieve their objectives, which in many cases depends on cooperation. For this reason, the first section of the chapter focuses on governance before moving on to a review of partnerships and cooperation.
