How might partner selection be improved by corporates to address material sustainability issues? A case study of Northumbrian Water Ltd.

El Mouallem, Lara and Singh, Nadia (2021) How might partner selection be improved by corporates to address material sustainability issues? A case study of Northumbrian Water Ltd. Cleaner Production Letters, 1. p. 100001. ISSN 2666-7916

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clpl.2021.100001

Abstract

Appropriate partner selection is a crucial concern for businesses who want to address material sustainability issues through cross-sector partnerships. However, the current research on materiality analysis and partner selection is still in the nascent stage of development. This paper contributes to understanding partner selection by corporates through an in-depth exploration of the business's selection of nonprofit organisation (NPO) partners, based on case study research of Northumbrian Water Ltd. (NWL), a UK private sector organisation providing water supply and sewerage services. Using the evidence from this study, we propose a framework for the selection of partners based on the prospective impact of cross-sector partnerships on material sustainability issues. Our paper also provides a useful toolkit for businesses to evaluate these prospective impacts. The framework demonstrates how materiality with respect to sustainability issues can be assessed both reactively and proactively, and how this assessment can better inform the partner selection process by corporates. This understanding of how materiality is assessed and partners are selected in practice is supported by a context specific exemplar and contributes to knowledge and practice of materiality analysis as well as cross-sector partnerships.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding information: This work was partially supported by Northumbrian Water Ltd through a grant that helped recover part of the research costs.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Cross-sector partnerships, NPO, Partner selection, Materiality analysis, Material sustainability issues, Impact evaluation, Value creation
Subjects: N900 Others in Business and Administrative studies
Department: Faculties > Business and Law > Newcastle Business School > Accounting and Finance
Depositing User: Rachel Branson
Date Deposited: 08 Nov 2021 11:56
Last Modified: 08 Nov 2021 12:00
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/47660

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