Finding the “Sweet Spot”

The Politics of Alignment in Cross-Sector Partnerships for Refugees

Bibliographic Data

ID23212988
AuthorsS E Henriksen (0000-0002-6822-8576, Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume63
Issue1
Pages145-184
Publication date2024-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBusiness & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-6503 • E-ISSN: 1552-4205
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00076503231191432
OpenAlexW4385951881
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited84

Cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) between nonprofits and businesses are increasingly implemented in response to humanitarian crises. These partnerships are motivated by ideals of alignment as stakeholders strive to find the “sweet spot” between humanitarian and business interests. However, this article shows that the ideals of alignment differ from the actual practices of alignment in the CSPs, and sweet spots are not merely found but constructed in and through changing relations of power. Based on an ethnographic case study of partnerships between a global humanitarian organization and five technology companies, the article deploys a theoretical lens from critical humanitarian studies to analyze how alignment in CSPs comes about in practice. This analysis demonstrates that in the construction of alignment, the companies’ interests become the priorities with which humanitarian organizations must align their and their beneficiaries’ needs. Consequently, while the discourse of sweet spots perpetuates an ideal of alignment where all partners benefit equally from the partnership, it legitimates power imbalances and asymmetrical alignment in practice.

General partnership · Ideal (ethics) · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Public relations · Refugee · Sociology · Sweet spot · Engineering · International Development and Aid · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Religion, Society, and Development

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