This chapter reflects on the other chapters in the book with an emphasis on turmoil and flux in both higher education and business. Major concerns include self-preservation, resource management, and transformational purposes. Separately, the academy and for-profit realms are facing complex issues. Once involved in inter-organizational partnerships, maintenance of successful relationships is promoted through organizational learning, collaborative cognition, and ethics. Again, issues and viewpoints from each direction are summarized and discussed: a business perspective and the academy's perspective. With fewer than 50 years of attention in this area and minimal organized research, the need for more and deeper exploration and inquiry are paramount and outlined.
Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.– Henry Ford (Andersen, 2013, para 5)
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.b– Harry Truman (Truman Library Institute, 2020, para 6)
Corporate involvement in addressing targeted problems is no guarantee of improvement…. We need to understand the conditions under which a corporation’s efforts benefit society. (Margolis & Walsh, 2003, pp. 296, 297)
Higher education will remain an independent player in society responsible for creation, dissemination, preservation, and application of knowledge” Balzhan Orazbayeva, University Industry Innovation Network (UIIN). (Meerman et al., 2019, p. 14) Colleges and universities are hubs, problems and opportunities flow to them from all over. Because they are sources, the knowledge and people necessary to recognize and respond to almost any sort of problem or opportunity reside in their networks. (Owen-Smith, 2018, p. 12)
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Attention to organizational research the past 50 years has led to an increase in considering inter-organizational relationships and collaborative enterprises. A possible formal research starting point between the academy and business began in August 1974 when the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) hosted a conference sponsored by the General Electric Foundation and issued proceedings titled Changing Business-Society Interrelationships addressing key issues and a status of business responsibilities (Steiner, 1975a). Steiner (1975b) outlined and prioritized a business agenda for engagement in society, with higher education being its second agenda item only following businesses’ key societal role of economic growth and efficiency. The list also included support for employment and training, promoting civil rights and equal opportunity, providing urban renewal and development, pollution abatement, conservation and recreation, advancing culture and the arts, improving and expanding medical care, and government support (Steiner, 1975b). In the same report, Grubb (1975) indicated that teaching and research in business and society was lacking theory, breadth of coverage, and focus on interrelationships. Fifty years later, the deficit in such teaching and research persists.
As with many fields, bad behavior often highlights the importance of the need for policies, processes, regulation, and attention to relationship motives. Such challenging issues can create new legislation, professional industry and association best practices, or organizational protocols. Situations—some positive and some negative—have drawn attention and promoted a myriad of words in identifying this space: commodification, collaboration, conspirators, Machiavellians, combinations, associations, unions, concerts, and companions (Bryant, 2003; Hasselmo & McKinnell, 2001). Dozens of examples are summarized in earlier chapters.
Universal education continues as a major emphasis through the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (Lakin & Scheubel, 2010, p. 17) as well as for the United States of America. “The connection between education and income is strong” (Berger & Fisher, 2013, p. 2). Additionally, businesses support ethical behavior under the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact derived from multiple areas: UN Convention Against Corruption, the International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and support of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Stohl, Stohl, & Popova, 2009; UN Global Compact, 2020; Wickert & Risi, 2019). The co-shared work of the academy and the for-profit realm emphasize autonomy, boundary spanning, common vision, and design attitude (aka the ABCDs) for successful collaboration and joint productivity (Madden, 2018). Each partner maintains its own brand and self-identity with autonomous internal operations, processes, and policies. And both higher education and businesses have their own challenging dynamics. They extend their efforts through boundary spanning to choose to join efforts with the other partnering organization to leverage complementary resources, relation-specific assets, and knowledge aimed at mutual goals and initiatives (Dyer & Singh, 1998). Success comes from careful design and creating a common vision and work plan toward goals. Design principles for contemporary thinking require leaders and project managers overseeing inter-organizational efforts to: