Concession period of public private partnership projects: industry-academia gap analysis

With increasing global adoption, various critical aspects of public-private partnership (PPP) concessions are highlighted. One such aspect is the way academia and industry perceive and weigh different critical success factors (CSFs) of PPP concession. Due to difference of perception, considerable temporal as well as opinion gap exists between the two knowledge streams, leading to improper resource allocation and inadequate decision-making. This study identifies CSFs and quantifies the gap between the two streams using a detailed methodology of identifying CSFs from extensive literature review published during period 2005-2015, and ranking those CSFs separately through questionnaire surveys from 60 industrial and 56 academic experts having thorough experience of various types of PPP. Based upon responses, 8-9 years' gap between both streams is found. For 18% CSFs, opinion difference is greater than 50% pointing to a weaker collaboration. Decision-makers can understand the gap between both streams and develop policy framework for their collaboration. Better resource management can be ensured leading to improved chances of project success. Academia can expand upon the identified CSFs and explore their interactions on individual and cumulative levels. This will bridge gap and induce the ever desired mutualism between the two streams.