Chris Skelcher’s research while affiliated with University of Birmingham and other places

Public-Private partnerships (PPPs) combine the resources of government with those of private agents (businesses or not-for-profit bodies) in order to deliver societal goals. The forms taken by public-private partnerships include the contracting-out of services, the business management of public utilities, and the design of hybrid organizations for risk sharing and co-production between government and private agents. PPPs give rise to a series of ideological and managerial choices. This article has four sections. The first step is to explore the political and theoretical rationales for public-private partnerships. This leads into an analysis of the five types of PPP. The third section of the article discusses the impact of PPPs in terms of cost/quality and organizational hybridity. The final section draws out the main conclusions of the analysis and identifies challenges for the future governance and the management of PPPs.