On May 29-30, 2014, Sawyer Business School’s Center for Innovation and Change Leadership is hosting the fourth international symposium on cross-sector social interactions.

The meeting, called “Innovative Collaboration for a Complex World: Reaching Across institutional Divides,” will discuss how today’s businesses, NGOs, and government agencies form partnerships to reach new markets, develop corporate social responsibility initiatives, provide public services, and develop innovative solutions.

While collaboration offers many benefits, there are also unique challenges to consider. In many cases, institutions from the developed world interact with low-income communities in developing countries. In these communities, a complex and unstable blend of institutions—local, national, and supranational—coexist side by side.

How do you manage and communicate with diverse teams? How should organizations approach and structure their partnerships? How do specific innovations stemming from cross-sector social interactions tackle complex problems?

These are just some of the questions that will be addressed at the symposium, which is being organized by Sawyer Business School Associate Professor Carlos Rufin and EMLYON Business School Associate Professor Miguel Rivera-Santos, with the support of an Organizing Committee formed by recognized experts on cross-sector partnerships: Professor James Austin of Harvard Business School, Professor Andrew Crane of York University, Professor May Seitanidi of the University of Kent, Professor Rob van Tulder of Erasmus University, and Professor Sandra Waddock of Boston College.

Call for Papers

Despite the rapidly growing literature, many of the dimensions and implications of partnering across sectors still remain to be explored. In particular, we are only beginning to understand the specificities of innovation through cross-sector collaboration. For this Symposium, we would like to offer an innovation perspective to the study of of these partnerships.

Academic researchers and practitioners are invited to submit extended abstracts (600-1,000 words) or poster proposals (600 words). We particularly welcome proposals from doctoral and early-career researchers.

Accepted abstracts will be presented in 15-minute workshop sessions at the symposium. Accepted posters will be exhibited with opportunities for scholars to interact and discuss their research with participants.

As in previous years, the best papers will be candidates for inclusion in a special issue of a major journal.

Submissions will also be eligible for the Routledge Best Paper Award in Social Partnership, which includes a certificate, a voucher for £100 books by Taylor & Francis Group, and a one-year subscription to Academy of Management Annals.

Submissions should be sent as Microsoft Word documents or PDF files to cssi2014@gmail.com by February 28, 2014. Once papers and posters are selected, authors will be asked to submit their full papers by late June 2014.

For more information, contact Sawyer Business School Associate Professor Carlos Rufin or EMLYON Business School Associate Professor Miguel Rivera-Santos.

Itinerary

May 28, 2014: Doctoral Consortium

May 29, 2014: Day 1

  • Opening plenary
  • Introduction to symposium theme, and presentation of the Center for Innovation and Change Leadership,
  • Sawyer Business School, and Suffolk University
  • Keynote Address
  • Lunch
  • Afternoon Panel with academics and practitioners
  • Awards Reception and Dinner

May 30, 2014: Day 2

  • Morning Paper Sessions I (2 sessions in parallel)
  • Coffee Break
  • Morning Paper Sessions II (2 sessions in parallel)
  • Lunch
  • Afternoon Paper Sessions (2 sessions in parallel)
  • Coffee break
  • Closing Plenary: key themes and introduction of next symposium