Sharing Concerns

This book draws together case analyses of public-private partnerships in four different countries: Australia, France, Romania and Spain. It represents research efforts conducted from December 2007 to November 2012, and it covers a wide range of experiences in planning and implementing public-private partnerships in countries that belong to two very different socio-economic regions: Europe and Australia. The study on Australia deals with key concepts and types of public-partnerships, as well as performance and evaluation issues. While the analysis on France focuses on water sanitation and public transport services, the research on Romania highlights water and infrastructure projects. Finally, the discussion of Spain emphasizes healthcare and network services. The study illustrates that public-private partnerships are very adaptable and can take an unexpected variety of forms in different industries, types of service, regions or legal frameworks. By suggesting new directions for future comparative research in this area, we hope that this collection of country case studies will stimulate useful and enlightened discussion of the field and encourage a greater focus on the importance of context in future discussions of public-private partnerships.