The Arm-wrestling Between Public and Private Partners: An Investigation of Critical Success Factors and Risk Allocation Preference in PPP Projects

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the public and private perspectives on both the critical success factors (CSFs) and risk factors (RFs) in large Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects. It aims at analyzing how risk allocation occurs and its implications. A case-based research approach was applied, combining qualitative and quantitative analysis strategies. This research in-depth examines four large PPP projects in the Brazilian metro-rail sector. Dyadic archival and interview data were collected from public-private parties, including 34 interviews, and archival sources, such as contracts and reports. The results identify the critical success factors and risk factors in PPP projects in the transport sector. The analysis shows that public and private sectors pursue different critical success factors but converge on the risk factors. The most stressed risk factor is “corruption and bribery,” which reveal the corrupted context spanning in the studied projects. Finally, the conflict in perceptions shows an explanation of context-dependent aspects explored in the qualitative analysis.