Ngo-Business Partnerships

The rapidly changing external environment is having major implications for the role of NGOs, their sources of funding, the nature of their relationships and their activities Globalization, the Increasingly multinational nature of business and electronic communication, has caused a parallel reduction in the powers of the nation state to affect development and a rise in the powers of the business community NGOs need to engage with the private sector in new ways. INTRAC's own ongoing monitoring of the NGO sector suggests that an analysis of these issues would be of great value to NGOs and the private sector as they grapple with possible new modes of engagement in their quest to have a positive impact on justice, peace and poverty alleviation.

Relations have moved beyond the purely philanthropic, with corporations giving money to good causes, and the highly antagonistic, with organizations protesting a company's operations, to a situation where the two sectors often work in partnership to address core business issues such as environmental management, product development and ethical sourcing.There has been an explosion in these forms of partnership between business and NGOs. This raises many issues for strategies and tactics to be followed by NGO management. As such this research is of key strategic importance to NGOs and the private sector.     

Environmental Business–NGO Partnerships in Nigeria: Issues and Prospects

A number of insightful efforts have explored the nature of business–NGO partnerships and their associated outcomes for sustainable development. While some of these works have helped to clarify the benefits of such partnerships, and the different strategies NGOs can adopt in their interaction with business, others have identified the conditions necessary for a successful partnership. However, the question of how the different strategies adopted by NGOs in their engagement with business interact has remained relatively unexamined. Drawing on an environmental business–NGO partnership for sustainable development in Nigeria, this paper confirms the existence of a creative tension between the different NGOs’ strategies. This creative tension affects the nature of the environmental partnership and performs three main functions. These are an enabling function, a discipline function and a critical distance function. The article concludes by considering the theoretical and practical implications for business–NGO partnerships as a vehicle for sustainable development in developing countries. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Strategies for local and regional NGO development: combining sustainable outcomes with sustainable organizations

This paper addresses the issue of the development of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the problem of how to combine sustainable outcomes from activities with sustainable organizations. It seeks to blend concept with practice via the development and application of a model of the NGO as an entrepreneurial organization. The context is that of the experience of (and work undertaken with) the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) funded Competency-based Economies through the Formation of Enterprise (CEFE) Network of NGOs in South Africa. The paper argues that viewing NGOs as entrepreneurial small organizations with a focus upon dynamic stakeholder network development, entrepreneurial management, strategic business development, and strategic alliance building is the key to the much sought after combination of sustainable outcomes and organization. After briefly reviewing some of the advantages and disadvantages associated with the role of NGOs in small enterprise development and the context of the operation of the CEFE Network of NGOs in South Africa, a model of entrepreneurial NGOs is proposed and then applied to South African CEFE Networks. In the conclusion a final outline of NGO sustainability criteria is offered and implications for donor approaches are briefly explored.     

Inefficient NGO labels: Strategic proliferation and fragmentation in the market for certification

Nongovernmental organization (NGO) certification is a prerequisite for corporate engagement in enhanced social behaviors in many settings. Labels with broad scope (like “sustainability”) coexist with niche competitors much narrower in scope (like “bird‐friendliness”). When NGOs compete for adoptions, the wrong suite of schemes emerges, providing a rationale for regulation. An incumbent NGO may strategically narrow the breadth of its label to deter entry of competing schemes, reducing welfare. Even when entry is accommodated, welfare is compromised. Modeling multi‐issue competition between NGOs allows us to be the first to analyze label fragmentation and provide a novel perspective on proliferation that has frustrated practitioners.     

When an NGO Takes on Public Participation: Preparing a Plan for a Neighborhood in East Jerusalem

It is often non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) that promote empowered participation processes, and assume active roles in leading them. However, the ability of NGOs to take on such processes is under‐theorized. In many cases empowered participation involving NGOs takes place without political support from above (or with limited or conditional support). Our goal in this article is to use a case study of participatory planning in East Jerusalem to theorize processes of empowerment in an oppositional political environment. We argue that it is useful to analyze such processes of empowered participation through the concept of power. We describe the process of empowerment as a speculative process in which the NGO has to hedge two mediums of power: it has to build the power of the community to discuss its own goals; and it has to simultaneously manage the transfer of decision‐making power from government bodies to the community.     

Accountability and Extra-Role Behavior

Accountability is a foundational element of every organization, and it exists at multiple of levels. Every organization, regardless of size, has accountability mechanisms. However, the formal accountability mechanisms adopted by an organization are subject to the interpretations of individual organizational actors. As such, individuals facing ostensibly similar formal organizational accountability systems may feel or experience different levels of accountability. This distinction is critical because it is the perception of reality (i.e., as opposed to reality itself) that drives individual behavior. In this paper, we examined the relationship between accountability and a key organizational outcome—extra-role behaviors. Our results partially support the notion that some level of accountability is essential, but that the relationship between accountability and extra-role behaviors is non linear in nature, assuming a U-shaped form. Implications of these results are discussed.     

NGOS VS CIVIL SOCIETY: REFLECTIONS ON THE ILLIBERAL,THE ILLEGITIMATE AND THE UNACCOUNTABLE

This essay evaluates the nature of non‐governmental organisations and their relation to civil society, and examines appropriate criteria of legitimacy and accountability for NGOs. Unfortunately, many common understandings of NGOs embody fundamental confusions, and obscure the ways in which NGOs are inimical to individual liberty.     

Social media,an emerging platform for relationship building: A study of engagement with nongovernment organizations in India

The purpose of this study is to explore the major determinants of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) engagement and relationship building on social media in India. Netnography with a metaphoric grounded analysis is used for the data analysis to identify these determinants, and a conceptual framework is proposed to inform the strategic direction of NGOs. The findings suggest that supporters engage with NGOs largely for personal and organizational reasons. Emotions, trust, and information needs emerge as the primary personal drivers for engagement, whereas organizational accountability, performance, brand image, and transparency emerge as organizational drivers. Behavioural intention mediates the relationship between the drivers of engagement and supporter contributions. The study suggests that as the number of supporters on social media platforms is rapidly increasing, NGOs should recognize the importance of the supporter experience while designing their marketing strategies. Given the peculiarity of supporter behaviour in relationship building by NGOs, the inclusion of more supporters may improve the welfare of society.     

Calibrating Public Sector Accountability: Translating experimental findings to public sector accountability

Accountability mechanisms are among the most important means with which governments guard and improve the performance of public sector organizations. However, research documents a plethora of accountability-failures. A key issue is: how can public sector accountability become more effective? This paper seeks to answer this question by connecting two largely separated strands of research: public administration research on real-world organizations and experimental research on the effects of different forms of accountability on decision-making. The paper develops the Calibrated Public Accountability-model (CPA-model) from experimental research findings which can be used to investigate how accountability can be calibrated to task requirements of organizations.     

The Effects of Negative Incidents in Sustainability Reporting on Investors’ Judgments–an Experimental Study of Third‐party Versus Self‐disclosure in the Realm of Sustainable Development

This study examines how the disclosure of negative sustainability‐related incidents affects the investment‐related judgments of decision‐makers. Participants in a sequential 2 × 2 between‐subjects experiment first received a company's financial information before viewing additional sustainability information (by the company and by a non‐governmental organization (NGO); with and without negative disclosure). Results indicate that self‐reporting of negative incidents does not affect decision‐makers’ stock price estimates and investment decisions compared with judgments based on financial information only. However, third‐party disclosure of these incidents by a NGO has a negative affect on these investment‐related judgments. Furthermore, the magnitude of the NGO reporting effect depends on whether the company itself simultaneously reports these incidents. Thus, disclosing negative incidents in sustainability reporting could lose some of its apparent stigma. Instead of avoiding negative reporting altogether, managers might use it as a risk mitigation tool in their reporting strategy. The results also emphasize the power of the often‐mentioned ‘watchdog’ function of NGOs acting as stakeholder advocates. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

对SA8000的正确认识与积极应对

社会责任认证标准SA8000是SocialAccountabiIity8000的英文简称,是由西方国家制订的以劳动者权益为核心的标准。SA8000具有两面性,一方面它是最具影响力的企业社会责任标准,致力于保护劳工的合法权益和人权,促进企业和社会的协调发展;另一方面它又容易被利用,成为限制发展中国家出口的新型贸易壁垒。SA8000对我国产生了较大的影响,面对挑战,我国应从政府和企业两个层面积极应对。     

国家审计推动完善国家治理的路径研究——基于国家审计信息属性的分析

国家审计进行权力制衡、推动民主政治、发挥“免疫系统”功能的基础是问责,审计机关在问责中具有强大的信息权力。以此为突破点,进一步挖掘国家审计的本质。依靠强大的信息权力和审计专业性,审计机关能够在信息供应链中为利益相关者提供高质量的信息,这也是国家审计发挥作用的根本所在。国家审计通过其信息属性,降低经济、政治和社会层面的信息风险,有效地推动完善国家治理。     

Safeguarding public accountability in horizontal government

Abstract

The trend towards horizontalization in government prompts a debate on safeguarding public accountability. This article contributes to the debate by presenting categories of horizontalization in government, types of horizontal accountability and criteria for judging the appropriateness of arrangements for public accountability. Accountability arrangements must meet the requirements of the democratic constitutional state to provide adequate checks and balances. This implies, among other things, that responsibilities must be clear and the information supply, debate and sanctioning options must all be established. A discussion of existing mechanisms for horizontal accountability indicates that the requirements of a democratic constitutional state are generally not sufficiently met. This makes it imperative to establish more balanced arrangements for public accountability that fit more horizontal forms of government.     

民间组织在区域协调发展中的功能——以天津市滨海新区为例

经济新区正在成为我国新的经济增长点,但在经济迅速发展的同时,也将产生新的问题.在经济新区建设过程中,实现科学发展、社会和谐需要创新经济社会管理服务体制.以天津滨海新区建设为例,从新区自身需要以及民间组织特点两方面论述了民间组织在区域协调发展中的功能,并在此基础上,对民间组织、政府提出了相应的对策组合,以此促进经济新区经济社会持续、健康、和谐发展.     

Waste management and recycling in Romania: a case study of technology transfer in an economy in transition

This paper describes a project which attempted to play some role in enabling the process of transferring knowledge between the UK and Romania. In partnership with a Romanian environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO), Powerful Information (an environmental information charity in the UK) worked towards searching out and evaluating the options available to local authorities wanting to develop more environmentally benign approaches to solid waste management, and in particular through recycling schemes. One key issue here is the role of standards as shaping technological trajectories, and the way inappropriate standards from another context can constrain local technological development. There has been a tendency for central and eastern European (CEE) countries to adopt laws and standards, resulting from an unquestioning adoption of standards from high income countries that may not be sustainable. The project described here was designed instead to identify choices and explore the process of evaluating and choosing appropriate technological systems for the particular situation that different Romanian municipalities were facing. It also examines emerging informal networks among waste management professionals and NGOs as a way of challenging this standards adopting approach to driving change in this area.     

User needs in sustainability reporting: Perspectives of stakeholders in Ireland

Abstract

By means of a questionnaire survey, this paper ascertains and analyses the views of a number of Irish stakeholders regarding the adequacy and potential of corporate sustainability reporting to meet their information needs and help them hold corporations to account. The study focuses on ascertaining the views of a sample of Irish social and environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs), who we argue constitute an important group of non-financial stakeholders. This emphasis on examining NGO perceptions represents an attempt to fill a gap in the academic sustainability reporting research literature whereby the views of non-managerial stakeholders are largely absent. The paper represents the second phase of a determined effort to examine the adequacy of sustainability reporting from the perspective of less economically powerful stakeholders in Ireland and responds specifically to O'Dwyer's (2002) call for research to examine the nature of stakeholder demand for sustainability reporting in Ireland in order to inform the future development of Irish sustainability reporting practices. The results present evidence of a widespread demand for mandated, externally verified sustainability reporting in either the annual report or a separate stand-alone report. This demand is primarily driven by a desire to gain knowledge of companies' commitment to responsible business practices but is also, albeit to a lesser extent, influenced by the perceived ability of sustainability reporting to facilitate increased NGO pressure on companies. Current sustainability reporting practice is viewed negatively with regard to its credibility and sufficiency, as well as the opportunities it provides for engagement with companies, particularly among environmental NGO respondents. While respondents tended to be suspicious of corporate motives for sustainability reporting, many were optimistic about the potential for NGO engagement with companies aimed at tackling social and environmental issues and improving current sustainability reporting practice. Drawing on the survey results, the paper makes some recommendations for future research aimed at improving sustainability reporting practices in Ireland and more broadly.     

Cross-cultural competence in the context of NGOs: bridging the gap between ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’

Abstract

International human resource management research in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is scarce and it predominantly focuses on the recruitment and retention of volunteers. The context of NGOs is different from conventional for-profit international business settings with different kinds of challenges, especially in terms of providing appropriate training on managing multi-cultural teams and working with local project partners and communities. The literature also tends to focus on expatriate perspective and not on a host country perspective. We address this gap by examining how project managers and hosts experience cross-cultural issues on overseas assignments. We study volunteer project managers leading international and local youth volunteers during the Raleigh International programme in Malaysia. We use a qualitative methodology and data collected at 3 case locations via participant observation during 120 days contact with the respondents as well as interviews and surveys. We propose the CPACE (Curiosity, Passion, Adaptability, Communication and Empathy) framework describing competences needed in cross-cultural encounters and based on respondents’ actions as well as their words and it is relevant to a NGO context. The framework is intended to lay the foundation for future research and in particular to demonstrate the need for cross-cultural competence to be more grounded in particular contexts.     

The effect of the Rana Plaza disaster on shareholder wealth of retailers: Implications for sourcing strategies and supply chain governance

Supply chain and reputational risks are often assumed to motivate firms to source production in developed, high-cost countries rather than developing, low-cost countries. To examine this assumption, we provide evidence from the collapse of the Rana Plaza building on April 24, 2013, which with its 1133 fatalities and 2438 injuries is seen as one of the worst industrial accidents in history. Do markets reactive negatively enough to such events to motivate firms to shift their sourcing strategy? We analyze the stock market reaction to the Rana Plaza disaster in the Bangladeshi ready-made garment industry to address this question. Our analysis is based on a sample of 39 publicly traded global apparel retailers with significant garment sourcing in Bangladesh. Stock market reaction to retailers on the day of the Rana Plaza disaster is negative, but its magnitude and significance dissipate by the following day. We find no evidence of significant stock market reaction during the 11 trading days (approximately two weeks in calendar time) following the disaster. Retailers responded to the disaster by developing two different agreements to improve factory and worker safety in Bangladesh – the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (AFBSB), and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (ABWS). We find no evidence of significant stock market reaction to the announcements of the AFBSB and the ABWS. The insignificant negative economic impact from the Rana Plaza disaster suggests that retailers have little economic incentive to move sourcing out of Bangladesh or other low-cost countries so as to reduce the risk of being involved in such events. We discuss the implications of our results for retailers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), garment factory owners in Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi government, and academic researchers.     

A critical assessment of how non‐governmental organizations use the capital markets to achieve their aims: a UK study

Non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly attempt to use the capital markets to further their aims. This paper proposes a taxonomy for such intervention that is based on two distinct strategies: a macro capital redistribution strategy and a micro investor influence strategy, both of which can be undertaken either directly or indirectly. The paper reviews empirical evidence of the success of each strategy through four case studies. It concludes by suggesting that there is some empirical evidence that the typology can be successfully applied and that there is some initial evidence that NGO capital market engagement strategies have, in certain circumstances, successfully changed business strategy. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.