Building organizational resilience in public–private partnerships through adaptive risk sharing and governance under uncertainty
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Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between risk sharing and organizational resilience in public–private partnerships (PPPs). Long-term PPP arrangements operate under substantial financial, operational, regulatory, political and demand uncertainty, making the distribution and management of risks a central condition of partnership sustainability. The paper argues that resilience cannot be achieved through contractual risk transfer alone. Instead, it depends on the alignment between risk responsibilities and the actual capacities of public and private partners, as well as on their ability to adapt when project conditions change. The analysis is structured around three dimensions: contractual architecture and risk-sharing mechanisms, governance and relational arrangements, and organizational and institutional adaptive capacities. The findings indicate that resilient PPPs combine appropriate risk allocation with flexible contracts, effective coordination, trust, institutional support, operational preparedness and access to complementary resources. Excessive or poorly calibrated risk transfer may increase financial pressure, conflict and renegotiation, whereas capability-based and adaptive risk sharing can strengthen project continuity. The paper therefore proposes an integrated understanding of PPP resilience in which contractual, organizational, relational and institutional mechanisms interact to preserve service delivery and partnership stability under uncertainty.
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