Emerging issues of stakeholder management in PPP projects and improvement measures: An Australian study

Many countries around the world are in search of new means to engage the private sector in managing and financing infrastructure through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). However, most of the PPPs have faced issues during design and concession period. When considering Australian context Stakeholder Management (SM) related issues have been reported as one of the main reasons for failure in several instances. PPPs involve many stakeholders whose interests might not be in agreement leading to conflicting objectives. In such situations SM has a high level of importance to avoid the conflicts and to achieve the success of projects. Therefore, this research aims to determine the current emerging issues related to SM in Australian PPPs and to investigate the strategies to cope with those issues. Mixed methods of research were adopted in this research. Initially critical review of literature was undertaken followed by 19 semi structured interviews and a questionnaire survey. The findings revealed twelve critical issues related to SM. A variety of SM strategies to cope with the critical issues were also established. The proposition that the Government sector is better equipped to manage the general public involving in economic decision making was further confirmed via the findings. Also the findings insisted the necessity of a strong Government in managing the stakeholders of a PPP project. Nonetheless in reality the Government tries to transfer the entire SM risk to the private sector.