Business and Government in Canada

Preface

PREFACE The purpose of this short book is to engage students in a dialogue on the importance of interactions and interrelations between government and business. Although most countries in the world now embrace "good governance" as a central tenet of development and prosperity, many tensions and choices remain. Even as most countries readily accept the importanceof collaboration between the public and private sectors, many risks and diverging interests remain. In short, while the ideology of governance is less polarized than in recent decades, the conduct and design of sectoralrelations are both more strategic and more nuanced and, arguably, more interesting as a result. It is this challenge of conducting and designing governance in ways that transcend or enjoin business and government that is the centralfocus ofthisbook.Threedivergentyetcomplementary perspectives on the relational nexus between these sectors serve as a platform. The perspectives have been developed by three leading Canadian scholars in their fields, all of whom have contributed to my own learning on the topics at hand. My biases are no doubt exposed as the book progresses, due in no small measure to my good fortune in having apprenticed directly with one member of this eminent group. Indeed, this book stems from the importance and enjoyment of teaching government-business relations in management programs oriented to either business or government managers vii Business and Government in Canada or aspirants — or, in the best of all worlds, a mixing of these groups. All too often academic specialization creates a false dichotomy between the public and private realms, resulting in missed opportunities for students and diminished capacities for collaborative innovation and learning for the country as a whole. Fortunately, over the past decade, I have been blessed with the opportunity to try to bridge this cognitive gap with both undergraduate and graduate students alike. It is my hope that our classroom discussions, from which I have benefited tremendously, have also served them well by providing someof the tools necessary for sound navigation in today's environment of complexity and change; it is to them that I dedicate this book with gratitude for so many rewarding moments of shared learning. A note of thanks must also be extended to colleagues and reviewers of early drafts of this text as well as to the highly competent editing and production team at the University of Ottawa Press. Despite their best efforts, all errors and omissions are solely my responsibility. viii ...