What is Enterprise Partnership?

Abstract

This paper develops analytical arguments to highlight three distinctive attributes of enterprise partnership. First of all, the literature on the theory of the firm is used to suggest that enterprise partnership represents a credible alternative to the dominant ‘leadership model’ of organizational change. Second, it highlights the organizational features of enterprise partnerships that transcend particular national or economic settings and suggests that these allow partnerships to be interpreted as a procedural consensus between management and employees to develop pathways to advance fairness and performance at work. Third, it suggests that the diffusion of enterprise partnership requires the support of extra-firm institutional frameworks. The paper is both a literature review and theory-building exercise.