The overall aim of this Conference is to bring together professionals and academics working in the area of or with an interest in Partnership for Business Development. Conference papers must aim at an audience looking to gain a better understanding of current issues on the working relationship between public and private sectors and also the voluntary i.e. not-for-profit organisations. Proposals for paper presentations, based on concluded or ongoing research, case studies, working-paper and/or review papers, and PhD/MPhil research progress (résumé), must focus on:

Economic growth (general aspects, also regional development); institutional capacity & building factors; business administration and management with sub-topics: entrepreneurship; management of changes, organizational culture; business competitiveness and strategy; public as well as corporate governance; social responsibility; regional and local development (focus being on small and medium sized enterprises and clusters evolving); technological change; social policy; public services (education, tourism, health, transport, defense, housing, social order as well as social capital); NGOs (e.g. not-for-profit, voluntary groups, pressure groups); international relationships (trade, investment and finance); environment economics (policy and management); strategic alliances + networking; privatisation/regulation/deregulation; Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs); international agencies and their role in partnerships (e.g. IMF, UNDP, World Bank, NATO, EU); theory and practice of PPP and their methodological issues.

NB: Submission by 15 / November / 2008
English is the main conference language;