Strategy for Collaboration: An Operational Framework for Local Strategic Partnerships

Within the field of strategy for organisations, local strategic partnerships (LSPs) have emerged as important forms of collaborative arrangement that enables strategic decisions to be taken and implemented. The principal aim of this paper is to contribute to this subject area through the framework of collaborative strategy. The framework is used as an interpretative concept for understanding the operation of local strategic partnerships in urban regeneration, in particular their organisational structure. The research on this paper draws on information from empirical investigation on LSPs in Leicester, East Midlands. Using a mixture of interviews, observation, and documentary data, the research shows that the concept of collaborative strategy provides a useful tool for understanding partnership working. In this respect it constitutes an example of management research education and – why not – organisational success despite evidence of some dysfunctional aspects that were identified through the research.