Abstract
The chapter presents Earthwatch and Rio Tinto, The Prince’s Trust and the Royal Bank of Scotland within the partnership case studies. Each relationship is introduced through a brief overview of the partnership. The organisational characteristics of each case study organisation are highlighted in order to identify the types of NPOs and BUS participating within each partnership relationship. Following from the above the evolution of the relationship is presented through the historical perspective of the interactions. Furthermore the motives of each partner organisation are analysed and compared within each case study in order to address whether the motives are shared between the partners. The discussion of the chapter compares the findings of the two in-depth case studies with 35 interviews that were conducted within 29 organisations in order to confirm or disconfirm the findings on the formation stage of partnerships.
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Notes
- 1.
Figure from Earthwatch’s Annual Report of 2001.
- 2.
This research focuses on Earthwatch Institute Europe and not on the whole network of Earthwatch organisations. Hence, the word “Earthwatch” refers to Earthwatch Institute Europe, unless otherwise stated.
- 3.
The name of this category in the annual report was: “grants, partnerships and other income”. Also organisational actors interviewed mentioned that over 50% of Earthwatch’s income derives from the profit sector.
- 4.
Conservation groups, such as Earthwatch, “advocate natural resource conservation and wise use of resources and work with a much less inclusive social and ecological identity” (Dreiling and Wolf 2001:41).
- 5.
Earthwatch as a conservation grant-making organisation is well known for its programmes, which involve volunteers from “diverse countries, cultures and organisations, inspiring them to take responsibility for the environment”. Since the focus of this research is the phenomenon of partnerships it is not possible to provide detailed information on Earthwatch’s programmes. More information can be obtained from: http://www.earthwatch.org/europe
- 6.
Earthwatch’s Corporate Environmental Responsibility Group (CERG) has 40 corporate members, each paying a subscription of £5,000 per year. Members include: BP, British American Tobacco, Diageo, GlaxoSmithKline, McDonalds, 3M UK, Novartis, Rio Tinto, Shell and Unilever.
- 7.
“Ideology is a system of meaning that couples assertions and theories about the nature of social life with values and norms relevant to promoting or resisting change” (Oliver and Johnston 2000:40). Also, political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate power and to what ends it should be used.
- 8.
“Rio Tinto is a world leader in finding, developing, extracting and processing mineral resources. Diversified by both product and geography the Group is strongly represented in Australia and North America with major assets in South America, Asia, Europe, and Southern Africa. Principal commodity goods and products are aluminium, copper, diamonds and gold, energy (coal, uranium), industrial minerals (borates, titanium dioxide, feedstock, salt, talc) and iron ore” (Rio Tinto 2002).
- 9.
Figure refers to employees in 2000.
- 10.
The main difference in the inclusion criteria between the two is that FTSE4GOOD excludes ‘companies involved in the extraction or processing of uranium’ and ‘owners or operators of nuclear power stations’. The first criterion was the one that did not allow for Rio Tinto’s inclusion in the FTSE4GOOD Index.
- 11.
The first mention of the company’s name appears in The Times archives in 1811.
- 12.
The project that is mentioned here is the controversial proposed mineral sands mining project in Madagascar.
- 13.
Partizans stands for: “People Against RTZ and its Subsidiaries”. RTZ was one of the names of the two Rio Tinto companies before their merger. Partizans are a sole issue NGO which means that the sole mission of the NGO is to focus on Rio Tinto, its practices and operations around the world.
- 14.
As opposed to the triple bottom line: economic, environmental, social (Elkington 1999).
- 15.
‘Countries’ is the preferred term that PT uses for the UK regions.
- 16.
The Team programme aims to develop confidence, motivation and skills through team work at the community for 16–25 year olds (the majority unemployed) within a 12-week personal development course. The course is delivered through partnerships with colleges and fire service departments.
- 17.
According to the International Classification of the Nonprofit Organisations ‘Group 4: Social Services’, is the category under which PT can be classified.
- 18.
According to the company’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2003 “the total amount given for charitable purposes by the company and its subsidiary undertakings during the year ended 31 December 2003 was £14.7 million (2002 – £14.7 million) (RBSG 2004b:117).
- 19.
According to Earthwatch, being a member of CERG means: “Membership of The Corporate Environmental Responsibility Group (CERG) is a public endorsement of the values that Earthwatch represents; that objective science should be the basis for understanding and managing the environment. It is also an opportunity to engage with the environmental movement, to be involved in debate and to share current best practice with our cross-sectoral body of corporate members. Earthwatch has formed a reputation as an excellent partner for business because of its non-confrontational and professional approach, and because it is active in a wide range of disciplines and overseas markets. Earthwatch currently supports 130 field research projects in 50 countries around the world. CERG has around 40 members, drawn from a wide range of industries. Through the Group, Earthwatch engages these companies on environmental issues, seeking to raise awareness within the company. Companies also have the opportunity to develop further programmes in partnership with Earthwatch”.
- 20.
The first Earthwatch CEO came from the nonprofit sector. He used to be the Head of Oxfam UK.
- 21.
- 22.
Heap (2000) also agrees that “Rio Tinto has made efforts towards genuine engagement with NGOs” as early as 2000.
- 23.
According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary one of the meanings of being compatible is “capable of forming a homogeneous mixture that neither separates nor is altered by chemical interaction” (Webster 2004). In other words when two things are compatible there can never be an alteration by interaction. This is a concept that this research explores in the discussion chapter.
- 24.
Primary risk according to Power (2004) refers to the direct material or financial risk and secondary risk refers to reputational risks.
- 25.
A&B is one of the most significant UK organisations in the Arts.
- 26.
No financial support for Greenpeace comes from NPower.
- 27.
The opposed of antagonistic relations is synagonistic relations (Miller and Stephen 1966).
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Seitanidi, M.M. (2010). Stage One: Partnership Formation. In: The Politics of Partnerships. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8547-4_3
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