The elements of partnership success

The objective of this research was to provide a framework with success indicators for partnerships between cultural and business organizations. Cultural and management literature are analyzed on success indicators for partnerships, and key success indicators were formulated. Next, the key success indicators are compared. After an inter-rater reliability analysis of the key success indicators selected, a final framework with key success indicators in the literature is presented. The following fourteen key success indicators are described in the literature and were selected for the research: Structure and Management, Trust, Resources, Differences an Similarities, Learning and Evaluation, Commitment, Communication, Involvement of Stakeholders, Democratic Practice, Clear Purpose, Leadership, Flexibility, External Influences, and Capacity. The framework with fourteen key success indicators selected from literature, is tested on applicability and importance for partnerships between cultural and business organizations, through interviews with eight respondents. From the quantitative part of the research can be concluded that all key success indicators are enough applicable and important for partnerships between cultural and business organizations, because on average they are all scored above three. On base of the scores the order in terms of importance and applicability is as following: From the interviews can be concluded that all indicators are supported in the literature as well by the respondents. Some extra key success indicators came up during the interviews, which are not mentioned in the literature: personality and the match or click between partners is important and determines partnership success according the respondents. The respondents mentioned also relations between key success indicators. These are included in the final framework: (image) This framework is a first step in creating consensus on the determinants of partnership success, because it includes indicators from various studies. The key success indicators are controlled through an interview with experts, and the study is carried out by an independent researcher, this is a unique for research on this subject. The research delivered fifteen key success indicators for partnerships between cultural and business organizations. Of course it will be hard to implement all indicators at the same time, but the information provided in the conclusion can be used by the organizations, and others, to plan future partnerships. In this research becomes clear that the key success indicators of business studies show overlap with key success indicators of cultural studies. And the conclusions of this research indicate that the key success indicators of business studies and cultural studies are applicable on partnerships between cultural and business organisations. Combinations of fields of study lead to surprising results, applicable for Cultural Economics. This research is an eye-opener for Cultural Economics, because it shows that business theories can be applied on cultural subjects. The framework gives an impulse to stimulate passing on knowledge between the two sectors, to benefit both sectors.