Using Complex Supply Theory to Create Sustainable Public-Private Partnerships for Service Delivery: The Case of Sesame Workshop

Abstract

This paper analyzes the potential uses of complex supply theory to create more financially and institutionally sustainable partnerships in support of public-sector and nonprofit service deliveries. It considers current work in the field of operations theory on optimizing supply chain efficiency by conceptualizing such chains as complex adaptive systems, and offers a theoretical framework that transposes these ideas to the public sector. This framework is then applied to two case studies of financially and organizationally sustainable projects run by the nonprofit Sesame Workshop. This research is intended to contribute to the body of literature on the science of delivery by introducing the possibility of a new set of tools from the private sector that can aid practitioners in delivering services for as long as a project requires.