Cross-Sector Collaboration, Institutional Gaps, and Fragility: The Role of Social Innovation Partnerships in a Conflict-Affected Region

The authors aim to contribute to the literature on subsistence marketplaces and the marketing field in general by exploring social innovation partnerships in a fragile country characterized by institutional gaps—specifically, by considering the role of cross-sector collaboration in conflict-affected areas. The empirical setting consists of coffee partnerships in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the authors collected data from and about companies, nongovernmental organizations, and cooperatives using both primary and secondary sources, including a field trip, interviews, and group discussions with farmers and their families. They show results at the organizational level (i.e., buildup of managerial capacities, transfer of financial-administrative skills, and improved functioning of cooperatives), the farmer level (i.e., better prices, livelihoods, and access to markets as well as increased revenues), and the community level (i.e., reduced tensions and collaboration between previously hostile groups as well as the creation of new governance modalities). The study suggests that partnerships may offer a systemic approach to addressing institutional gaps, which is necessary in such “extreme” contexts. The authors close with a discussion of further implications for research and public policy.