Booz Allen/WEF Study Identifies Factors that Optimize Public-Private Partnerships

Extensive research guides public, private, and nonprofit organizations in making informed decisions about engaging in PPPs.

A broad, comprehensive Booz Allen Hamilton study provides critical information to organizations that want to launch or join a public-private partnership (PPP) and identifies the common factors in successful PPPs.

The firm worked with the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Health Initiative (GHI) to research the real-world experiences of companies, governments, foundations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Booz Allen conducted 60 interviews with organization leaders around the world and researched 40 PPP practitioners, primarily in international health, to determine the conditions under which PPPs are the best form of collaboration and the factors that optimize success. The team also drew upon some of the innovative approaches to the tri-sector engagement contained in a forthcoming Booz Allen book called Megacommunities.

The team documented the research in Public-Private Partnerships in Health, a guide to developing effective PPPs. In addition, Booz Allen produced a video and mailing, which were widely distributed by the WEF and Booz Allen, and vice president Peter Parry will summarize the study’s findings at the January 2008 WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

“We helped GHI reexamine key factors for PPPs so it can better assist its constituent organizations and maximize the impact of these partnerships,” says associate Cheryl Steele.

To accomplish this, the Booz Allen study addressed three primary issues:

What questions should an organization ask itself to determine if a PPP is the right form of collaboration?
What issues should be considered in the pre-design and design stages to optimize the success and impact of the PPP?
What is GHI’s role in assisting in the success of PPPs?

“Booz Allen worked with GHI to understand what works and what doesn’t in PPPs,” says senior vice president Reggie Van Lee. “The greatest lesson is that, while PPPs are often a good thing to do, the ‘do good’ perspective is not sufficient. Organizations must go beyond the charity aspect of the initiative and ensure it fits with the organization’s business needs.”

The client sought out Booz Allen in part because the firm’s expertise in global health issues and its experience with PPPs, but also due to the substantial multi-disciplinary cross-sector expertise that the firm brought to the table.

“Booz Allen has both a global health and a PPP perspective,” says Steele. “We had the experience to help each of the three constituent parts—corporation, nonprofits, and the public sector—understand how to establish effective partnerships. We leveraged our expertise in understanding the viewpoints of each stakeholder to support the client. It was a significant advantage.”

Combining Skills and Resources to Solve Global Health Issues

Partnerships between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors have become common strategies to respond to global public health crises such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. PPPs help countries, companies, and individuals find a common line of collaboration to drive solutions. Through PPPs, various sectors can contribute the skills, expertise, and resources to implement large programs that would ordinarily be beyond the reach of each individual entity.

“There are some issues in the world that are so complicated that no single entity can solve them alone,” says Van Lee. “A PPP takes the best of the public, private, and nonprofit sectors and their different perspectives, needs, and responsibilities, and combines them in a holistic way to best serve all stakeholders.”

With such important issues on the line, it can be discouraging when PPPs not only fail to make an appreciable impact, but do so at significant financial costs. To increase the potential for success, the Booz Allen study cites three crucial considerations that private corporations must address before launching a PPP:

Determine the business case, including quantitative and qualitative factors
Determine the level of commitment they must deliver to the PPP, and be prepared to commit the resources to make the effort successful
Identify how the PPP will benefit the organization and ensure there is an ongoing incentive to drive the success of the PPP

An example of a clear business case is a corporation that operates in a HIV-prevalent country, which may co-found a PPP because it relies on a healthy workforce and customer base.

Van Lee adds, “There must be a motivation behind these partnerships that aligns the needs of all stakeholders so that you have a common set of good that all stakeholders are pursuing. In addition, the number and needs of all stakeholders must be considered to ensure they are engaged in the right way.”

Another key finding of the Booz Allen study was that PPPs are most successful when there is a “driver” that not only helps to start the partnership, but also remains involved throughout the duration to ensure partners stay engaged and meet their commitments. In addition, pre-design and design elements that optimize success include comprehensive planning and analysis, and designing quick wins to demonstrate results.

Benefits of PPPs Can Extend Beyond Philanthropy

Advantages of engaging in PPPs often extend beyond initial philanthropic efforts to improving public health and health conditions worldwide. The private sector can also support public health through efforts that do not involve partnerships, such as underwriting public health campaigns.

But PPPs can be highly successful in advancing corporate interests while also achieving significant benefits in international public health. PPPs can provide increased market access, a stronger brand, or other business advantages to participating corporations. Private companies can also provide program management, R&D, and other expertise to the initiatives that are not readily available elsewhere.

“For the GHI effort, Booz Allen’s research identified critical capability gaps for health-related PPPs and key opportunities for GHI,” says Steele. “The brochure helps GHI expand the discussion as to whether PPPs are right for an organization and how to optimize the odds of success with their current partner organization as well as those interested in getting involved.”

GHI was launched in 2002 at the WEF Annual Meeting to catalyze new PPPs in public health and drive existing health initiatives on regional, national, and international levels. GHI identifies needs, develops ideas, launches partnerships, and identifies appropriate partners, among other activities.

Key contributors to the Booz Allen study include Van Lee, Steele, vice president Susan Penfield, vice president Charley Beever, senior associate Margaret Lidstone, senior associate John Larkin, and senior consultant Tonya Houston.

story posted January 16, 2008