A
partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.
Since humans are
social beings, partnerships between individuals,
businesses,
interest-based
organizations,
schools,
governments,
and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain
commonplace. In the most frequently associated instance of the term, a
partnership is formed between one or more businesses in which partners
(owners) co-labor to achieve and share profits and losses (see
business partners). Partnerships exist within, and across, sectors.
Non-profit,
religious, and
political organizations
may partner together to increase the likelihood of each achieving their
mission and to amplify their reach. In what is usually called an
alliance,
governments may partner to achieve their national interests, sometimes
against allied governments who hold contrary interests, such as occurred
during
World War II and the
Cold War. In
education,
accrediting agencies
increasingly evaluate schools by the level and quality of their
partnerships with other schools and a variety of other entities across
societal sectors. Partnerships also occur at
personal levels,
such as when two or more individuals agree to domicile together, while
other partnerships are not only personal but private, known only to the
involved parties.
Partnerships present the involved parties with special challenges
that must be navigated unto agreement. Overarching goals, levels of
give-and-take, areas of responsibility, lines of authority and
succession,
how success is evaluated and distributed, and often a variety of other
factors must all be negotiated. Once agreement is reached, the
partnership is typically enforceable by
civil law,
especially if well documented. Partners who wish to make their
agreement affirmatively explicit and enforceable typically draw up
Articles of Partnership.
It is common for information about formally partnered entities to be
made public, such as through a press release, a newspaper ad, or public
records laws.
While partnerships stand to amplify mutual interests and success,
some are considered ethically problematic. When a politician, for
example, partners with a corporation to advance the corporation's
interest in exchange for some benefit, a
conflict of interest results. Outcomes for the
public good may suffer. While technically legal in some jurisdictions, such practice is broadly viewed negatively or as
corruption.
Governmentally recognized partnerships may enjoy special benefits in
tax policies. Among developed countries, for example, business partnerships are often favored over
corporations in taxation policy, since
dividend taxes only occur on profits before they are distributed to the partners. However, depending on the partnership structure and the
jurisdiction in which it operates, owners of a partnership may be exposed to greater
personal liability than they would as
shareholders of a corporation. In such countries, partnerships are often regulated via
anti-trust laws, so as to inhibit
monopolistic practices and foster
free market competition.
Enforcement of the laws, however, is often widely variable. Domestic
partnerships recognized by governments typically enjoy tax benefits, as
well.
Sources by : Wikipedia
