Success Factors, Barriers, and Strategies in Experimental Development in Public-Private Partnerships

Abstract

Public-private
partnerships (PPP) that focus on innovation are excellent methods to improve
the innovative capabilities of both partners, however, within the complex dynamics
of this cooperation, literature and management would benefit from an analysis
of barriers, success factors, and strategies employed within the PPP. This
research can be used as a springboard for further research by analyzing a novel
research setting: Defense Ministries and Defense Industries. This novelty was
compounded by taking a qualitative, explorative approach. A focus on
experimental development was taken to limit the large amount of innovative
activity present in the sector. Focus was kept on the effects on individual
projects, as opposed to innovation systems or networks. This leads to the
following research question:

What are the barriers and success factors in
public-private partnerships that focus on experimental development, and how do
the participants cope with the barriers, and utilize the success factors?

From the literature a
theoretical framework was set up based on four categories of factors
influencing the innovation process. The categories are organizational,
contextual, interaction-specific, and innovation-characteristic. Literature
suggested that interaction-specific barriers were the main source of barriers. The
main strategies in literature revolve around interaction-specific solutions to
these interaction-specific barriers. A contextual model was set up.

Dutch Ministry of
Defence (MoD) and the Dutch Defense industry provided a novel research setting with
hard-to-define innovation goals. Individuals from both sides of the PPP with
practical experience in PPPs that focus on experimental development were
interviewed. Within the Dutch MoD these were innovation coordinators within
sub-organizations and within the Defense Industry these were leaders of small
to medium-sized companies. The data was gathered through 13 interviews, of
which 11 were used as sources of data. The data was first deductively coded
through the four categories and then inductively coded based using the
terminology of the interviewees.

This coding strategy
led to three organizational factors: ‘process rules’, ‘culture, vision &
implementation’ and ‘scale-up’, five contextual factors: ‘procurement: general’
‘procurement: prior knowledge’, ‘procurement: perception’, ‘privacy’ and
‘technology-related’, one innovation-characteristic factor: ‘uncertainty’ and
three interaction-specific factors: ‘contact with end-user’, ‘shared
understanding’ and ‘expectation management’. The factors were described as
‘barrier’, ‘success factor’, ‘strategy’, and ‘not a barrier’. Organizational
and contextual factors were the main factors influencing the success of the
innovation process. ‘Process rules’ was named the most influencing factor for
the innovation process. ‘Procurement law’ was the most prominent contextual
factor. Innovation-characteristic factors were often considered to not be
relevant to the cooperative innovation process. Lastly, the
interaction-specific factors were occasionally cited as a barrier and often
named as a success factor, specifically ‘contact with end-user’. Interaction
was key to most strategies employed to overcome barriers.

In conclusion, this
study has provided a unique insight into a collaborative phenomenon in a scarcely
researched setting. The findings can be used in comparison with other research
on PPPs with innovative goals, especially those that have taken place in the
Netherlands. Compared to literature, the appearance of interaction-specific strategies
is not unique, but in their broad application to overcome a plethora of barriers
is. Further research focusing on communication dynamics within PPPs is
recommended to enhance collaborative efforts and drive impactful innovations in
the Defense sector. In a practical sense, reviewing process and contextual rules
and reviewing the accessibility of the PPP to newcomers in the sector would enhance
innovation programs, fostering effective collaboration between public and
private entities.