Swimming with sharks: creating strategic change through multi-sector collaboration

Multi-sector collaboration is an important means of achieving strategic, cross-sectoral change. However, it also presents significant managerial challenges. In this paper, we examine these challenges in the case of a multi-sector collaboration formed to address treatment issues in the Canadian HIV/AIDS domain. Based on this case, we develop a framework for understanding multi-sector collaboration as a series of conversations in which participants must successfully juggle their dual roles of collaborative partner and organisational representatives.