The first step in executing a PPP is understanding your partner(s) and key stakeholders-who they are, what they want, and how you can help them achieve their goals. While private- and public-sector partners may have similar goals, their motivations are usually quite different. Understanding your partners' incentives will help you to craft effective, sustainable partnerships.
Stakeholder analysis is a powerful tool for discerning the motivations and incentives that dictate a given situation. Stanford professor and political scientist Francis Fukuyama defines stakeholder analysis as the "mapping of actors who are concerned with the particular policy problem, either as supporters of a solution, or opponents who want to maintain the status quo."33
Stakeholder analysis is not merely the act of establishing a numerical representation of a partner's motivations-rather, it is a qualitative process of defining who has a stake in a given paradigm, what that stake is, and how they can be incentivized to act on behalf of a common set of goals. Stakeholder analysis is a crucial element in selecting partners, but also in designing the PPP itself.
"The Economic Cost of Disease," Global Initiative on Health and the Economy-U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2018, https://www.uschamber.com/
As Fukuyama writes, "From an analysis of the power and interests of the different stakeholders, one can begin to build coalitions of proponents, and think about strategies for expanding the coalition and neutralizing those who are opposed." While often linked to legitimacy and support, stakeholder analysis can be a powerful tool for mapping financial outcomes as well. It is generally considered a part of political management, a skill which we will discuss in more detail later on.
Stakeholders can come in many forms, but generally, PPPs are composed of some combination of public-sector partners, private-sector partners, and-sometimes-non-govemmental and multilateral partners. PPPs can have more than two partners; often, successful PPPs will rely on partnerships between two or more governmental agencies.
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33Fukuyama, Francis. "What's Wrong with Public Policy Education," The American Interest, August 1, 2018, https://www.the-american-interest.com/