In recent years we have witnessed an increase in the number of two unrelated phenomena in Canada collaborative partnerships and First Nations casino development. This thesis focuses on the integration of these two phenomena by examining the gaming partnership that the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) and the Province of Saskatchewan established in 1995. The thesis explores the factors that produced the partnership, the issues of negotiations that influenced the partnership arrangement, and the general nature of the partnerships framework from 1995 to 2002. In analyzing these aspects of the partnership, the thesis will address its fundamental question what is the precise nature of the regulatory framework and its implications for the gaming partnership in Saskatchewan? This study reveals that there were deficiencies in the nature of the partnerships framework, particularly with respect to the accountability provisions of the partnering arrangement. Those deficiencies created an accountability crisis in the year 2000, which caused problems both for and between the partners. Eventually, however, the partners decided to move forward in a relatively positive and constructive manner towards a sustainable and successful partnering arrangement.

This investigation examined the impact on student achievement of teachers who participated in a professional development program using industry partnerships. One treatment and one non-treatment school in a large urban school district served as the sites for this inquiry with teacher participation in a professional development program and the achievement data of their science students being collected during the 2001-2002 school period. The impact of a teacher professional development program with industry partnerships such as Education for the Energy Industry (EEI) on student achievement in science was determined. National and state standardized tests were analyzed using extant data obtained from administering the fourth through the eighth grade Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) test and the eighth grade Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test. The differential influence of a professional development program for teachers on the achievement of students of diversity was determined by the TAAS scores and ITBS scores, which were partitioned by treatment condition and student ethnicity. Findings from this quantitative investigation suggest enhanced student achievement in science if teachers participated in a professional development program involving industry partnerships.

International development has become an increasingly fragmented and complex undertaking, with private wealth assuming an increasingly important role. At the forefront of this group sits the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has put significant resources behind Public-Private Partnerships such as the Global Alliance for Vaccinations and Immunizations (GAVI). Utilizing Foucault’s concept of governmentality, this thesis argues that foundations are key catalysts in the formation of such globally oriented partnerships, a trend not indicative of a shift in power from multilateral organizations to non-state actors, but representative of changing rationalities and practices of the government of populations at a global scale. This position is contextualized through a case study of the GAVI Alliance, which demonstrates that in the process of governing specific populations, such conglomerations of public and private actors seek to modify the governmental practices of states, in what Dean (1999) refers to as the “government of government”.

Partnerships have evolved during the last decade from being the 'nice to have' to becoming the 'must have' to survive in all industries across the world. There are many different definitions of 'partnerships' and 'alliances' but most researchers, authors and experts in this field agree that at the core of true partnering or alliance agreements lies shared: benefits, risks and approaches. To avoid market share and profitability deterioration, solutions providers must initiate programs to improve their strategic position in a focused set of partner programs. Microsoft Corporation is the worlds leading software company with 96% of all revenue earned being billed through their partners. The company currently faces poor partner satisfaction ratings and has come to the realisation in that they have to a large extent, ignored the needs of their strategic and 'managed' partners. A blueprint for successful partnering is key to any company looking to differentiate itself, create a competitive advantage and become the industry leader in the offering the 'best of breed' partner experience. This is why the identification and implementation of a defined, successful partnering agreement blueprint is required in order to drive the Microsoft business strategy around the 'Partner' experience forward. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the current Microsoft engagement models in driving partner satisfaction in the managed partner space, to determine what the barriers and best practices are, pertaining to successful partnering in the corporate arena and to establish if it is feasible to identify and implement a blueprint that can be used in the corporate arena that promotes successful alliances/partnerships. Recommendations to implement the said blueprint are also be made in order to guide readers through the process. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

In a world that is becoming increasingly globalized, a change in the nature of higher education is leading to increased collaboration across borders. In a sector once dominated by developed countries, developing countries are becoming larger players in providing education to their countries and expanding into the field of providing education for others. This partnership began in 1992 when Manitoba was experiencing reduced government funding, frozen tuition rates and declining student numbers while Malaysia was building the capacity of their higher education system. An inter-institutional partnership was established to create a mutually beneficial relationship between the Faculty of Engineering, University of Manitoba, and University College Sedaya International (UCSI) in Malaysia. This partnership was established with clear cut benefits to both parties and developed over time with close personal ties between the institutions. However, the partnership has been declining since 2003 when UCSI was permitted to grant degrees. The lifecycle of the partnership is examined in light of this structural change. Organization models of episodic change and punctuated equilibrium, and transformative learning theory are used to explain the status of the partnership and the options for its sustainability.

Decreasing the number of people that die from preventable illnesses and reducing poverty and inequality are major public goods that are being addressed from a variety of angles. One way that policy makers and scholars are trying to improve global health is by developing new health technologies that will decrease poverty and inequality. This dissertation investigates whether nanotechnologies for medical applications (nanomedicine) are used to address diseases of poverty (DoP) and the role that public partnerships (PPP) play in nanomedicine research. If scientists are developing nanotechnology based vaccines and medicines for DoP, then I can conclude that the technology is helping to decrease poverty and inequality. There are two parts to my analysis. The first part of my dissertation analyses the landscape of nanomedicine DoP research and then I test how USA medicine sales, disease burden and diseases of poverty correlate with number of nanomedicine publications and patents. I find that there is some nanomedicine research on diseases of poverty, especially for high profile DoP like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, but overall there is less R&D on DoPs than non-DoPs. However, I cannot determine if USA medicine sales and disease burden have any relationship to research output. In the second part of my dissertation I examine the role of formal public-private partnerships (PPPs) for developing DoP medicines. Many think the formal health PPPs can overcome the various market failures associated with developing medicines for DoP. I analyze PPP websites and interview PPP managers/scientists about their research portfolios, relationship with nanotechnology, and how PPPs are addressing inequality in health R&D. I find that managers/scientists at PPPs have a variety of opinions about nanotechnology, but the general consensus is that nanotechnology will not be used in the near-term for DoP medicines. PPP managers/scientists believe that the technology is too expensive for DoP medicines and it will take too long to approve nanomedicines. Instead of using nanotechnology most PPPs are in favor of using traditional technologies.

In a world that is becoming increasingly globalized, a change in the nature of higher education is leading to increased collaboration across borders. In a sector once dominated by developed countries, developing countries are becoming larger players in providing education to their countries and expanding into the field of providing education for others. This partnership began in 1992 when Manitoba was experiencing reduced government funding, frozen tuition rates and declining student numbers while Malaysia was building the capacity of their higher education system. An inter-institutional partnership was established to create a mutually beneficial relationship between the Faculty of Engineering, University of Manitoba, and University College Sedaya International (UCSI) in Malaysia. This partnership was established with clear cut benefits to both parties and developed over time with close personal ties between the institutions. However, the partnership has been declining since 2003 when UCSI was permitted to grant degrees. The lifecycle of the partnership is examined in light of this structural change. Organization models of episodic change and punctuated equilibrium, and transformative learning theory are used to explain the status of the partnership and the options for its sustainability.

With the increasing growth of cultural events both in Australia and internationally, there has also been an increase in event management studies; in theory and in practice. Although a series of related knowledge and skills required specifically by event managers has already been identified by many researchers (Perry et al., 1996; Getz, 2002 & Silvers et al., 2006) and generic event management models proposed, including ‘project management’ strategies in an event context (Getz, 2007), knowledge gaps still exist in relation to identifying specific types of events, especially for not-for-profit arts events. For events of a largely voluntary nature, insufficient resources are recognised as the most challenging; including finance, human resources and infrastructure. Therefore, the concepts and principles which are adopted by large scale commercial events may not be suitable for not-for-profit arts events aiming at providing professional network opportunities for artists. Building partnerships are identified as a key strategy in developing an effective event management model for this type of event. Using the 2008 World Dance Alliance Global Summit (WDAGS) in Brisbane 13-18 July, as a case study, the level, nature and relationship of key partners are investigated. Data is triangulated from interviews with organisers of the 2008 WDAGS, on-line and email surveys of delegates, participant observation and analysis of formal and informal documents, to produce a management model suited to this kind of event.

The Local Government in Scotland Act (2003) introduced Community Planning as a statutory responsibility in Scotland. The main aims of community planning are described as “making sure people and communities are genuinely engaged in the decisions made on public services which affect them; allied to a commitment from organisations to work together, not apart, in providing better public services” (Scottish Executive, 2003a). For the police, this implied the need to create ‘local solutions to locally identified concerns’ (Strathclyde Police, 2004, p2) and to adopt a holistic approach to community safety which is problem oriented rather than organisation led (Crawford, 1998, p10). The specific and often local nature of problems put forward by communities, is therefore allocated a dominant role in determining the nature of the solution (Goldstein, 1990). This thesis has explored the implementation of community planning and associated community safety policies within a case study area of the former Strathclyde Police. The processes of partnership working and community engagement were found to be central to this approach. Meta- bureaucracy has been used to describe the partnerships activities and linkage to national outcomes presented in this thesis. That is to say, partnership working in this research does not represent a clear growth of ‘autonomous’ networks and governance arrangements as set out by Rhodes (2000) but rather an extension of bureaucratic controls. State actors such as the police service remain pre-eminent within increasingly formalised systems of partnership. Issues of voice, leadership and pragmatic culture were all important findings for the implementation of community planning in practice. However, an implementation gap was identified between the rhetoric and lived experience of those entrusted to deliver these policy goals. Compared to more recent developments of a national police service, issues of professionalisation, operational autonomy and reduction of effective local accountability – all supported police focus on enforcement led policing as opposed to partnership working and community safety more broadly.

Organisations are increasingly delivering their business through multiple complex programs and facing the challenge of building project management capability. An organisational Project Management Maturity Assessment is an effective method for establishing a baseline and provides an impetus for organisational change. The methodology allows for the setting of organisationally specific maturity goals, with the ability to implement improvements in a staged approach at a pace which is logical to that company. Over the past decade Project Management Maturity Models have become effective tools for benchmarking and driving improvements in organisational performance. This paper presents a case study in applying a project management maturity model to review, assess, and analyze the degree of organisational project management maturity of one of the national departments of the South African Government. This reflects the project management practices and capabilities of a national department of government. This model was a critical guide to setting targets for project management maturity and providing a clear path for organisational improvement. The focus of this paper is to not only to demonstrate the methodology and results of the assessment, but to also aim to report on the outcome of the study and make necessary recommendations for improvement. The attention of the research was focused on those departments which are involved in Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects. For reasons of confidentiality this strategic department in this dissertation is referred to as “The Agency”. There is currently one similar study that was carried out by Rwelamila (2007), in one of the large infrastructure departments in South Africa. Rwelamila (2007) found that the department’s programme management system was very poor and at the lowest level of maturity (level 1 out of 5). However, since Rwelamila’s (2007) findings the researcher’s underlying proposition of this research is that the levels of maturity of these organisations have improved and climbed to level 2 of the Project Management maturity ladder, based on the reasons indicated in the following two paragraphs. The fact of the modern business landscape is that organisations are changing in fundamental ways within a short space of time and at a fast pace — structurally, operationally, culturally — in response to globalization, new technology, competition, and the world economy that is at a historic turning point. The researcher further considered the fact that organisations are under pressure to improve performance in order to continue to be successful in the global marketplace and therefore they strive on daily basis to improve on their projects or program delivery in order to attain competitive advantage and sustained growth. Therefore, in light of these factual considerations, the researcher deemed it appropriate to evaluate without delay the current levels of maturity in similar organisations to those evaluated by Rwelamila (2007). Effective organisational project management is a source of competitive advantage and as such places the levels of organisational project maturity at the nexus of the indicated fundamental shifts. Today, effective Organisational Project Management is top of mind as a competitive weapon and the most successful firms are innovating not only their offerings and business models, but changing their project management processes. To achieve dramatic performance gains, companies find that they must rethink, or transform, the way they manage their projects or programs. In order to achieve the study objectives two models were used, the first model being called “Organisational Project Management Maturity (OPM3)” and second being “Project Management Maturity Matrix Model” were used as a tools to assess the degree of The Agency’s project management maturity/competence and highlighted a recommended path for improvement of its overall effectiveness.OPM3 is an acronym for the Organisational Portfolio, Program, and Project Management Maturity Model- a standard developed under the stewardship of Project Management Institute. The purpose of the OPM3 model is to provide a way for organisations to understand organisational project management and to measure their maturity against a comprehensive and broad–based set of organisational project management Best Practices. OPM3 also helps organisations wishing to increase their organisational project management maturity to plan for improvement. An evaluation of the performance of The Agency and its projects/programs was carried out in relation to its scope of mandate in order to assess its PM competence and maturity. The assessment of the degree of organisational project management maturity of The Agency provided the basis to evaluate its success in achieving the best-in-class project management practices. The results of the assessment provided the opportunity to make recommendations designed to channel The Agency to a path that will continually improve and develop its competitive position and promote its business by projects. The researcher therefore considered it imperative to examine the degree of maturity of project management in the national department of a public sector based on the OPM3 and Project Management Maturity Matrix maturity models. The project management maturity model is a widely accepted concept in business. It shows different stages of the project management development in a corporation. It is worth mentioning that these systems and process do not guarantee success, they just increase the probability of success. The findings of this study indicate that The Agency is at Ad Hoc/Standardize phase (level 1) of maturity. The study is concluded with recommendations which could assist The Agency to plan for improvement and increase its degree of maturity against the Best Practices and capabilities identified in the OPM3 Standard.