BE887-7-SP-CO:
Building Sustainable Business Partnerships

The details
2025/26
Essex Business School
Colchester Campus
Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Monday 12 January 2026
Friday 20 March 2026
10
18 March 2025

 

Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)

 

(none)

Key module for

(none)

Module description

The module provides a comprehensive introduction to the management of business partnerships.


The module draws on an extensive body of research, impact and organizational analysis of partnership working in a wide variety of settings including environmental management, IT contracting, healthcare integration projects, partnership working in data analytics projects, and partnerships in the tech recycling sector. The module draws on this work, emphasising the particular need for organizational learning and collaborative leadership approaches that can support partnership working in complex multi-agency environments

Module aims

The aims of this module are:



  • Provide students with conceptual and practical foundations that will allow them to understand and manage sustainable business partnerships

  • Provide students with implementation tools that can be used to initiate and sustain business partnerships

  • Provide students with the analytic and communications skills that allow organizations to pursue collaborative leadership strategies that support business partnerships.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be expected to:



  1. Demonstrate a conceptual and practical grasp of partnership working in a variety of business sectors

  2. Develop analytic and leadership skills that can facilitate the initiation, implementation and consolidation of effective partnerships

  3. Develop advocacy and team building skills that can support the development of collaborative partnerships

Module information

Indicative syllabus



  • Key concepts for sustainable partnership working

  • Managing sustainable businesses partnerships

  • Effective partnership working: Discovery or organizational design?

  • Managing public private sector partnerships

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be delivered via:

  • 9 lectures
  • 3 workshops
  • 12 practicals

The module will adopt a highly participative approach that will encourage high levels of student engagement over the course of 24 contact hours and 76 hours of independent study

Teaching and learning will be delivered through a mix of lectures, practical exercises, workshops and group discussions

Collective analysis of case study examples will be used to support team working, logical argumentation and communication skills

Bibliography*

This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam Description Deadline Coursework weighting

Exam format definitions

  • Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
  • In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Martin Harris, email: martinh@essex.ac.uk.

 

Availability
No
No
No

External examiner

No external examiner information available for this module.
Resources
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.

 

Further information
Essex Business School

* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.

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