Beyond partnerism: toward a more expansive research agenda on multi‐stakeholder collaboration for responsible business

Abstract

The paper sets the o te t for the spe ial issue o Colla orati e e gage e t for sustainability in the Asia-Pa ifi regio . The rele a e a d risks of ross-sectoral strategic alliances for sustainable development vary greatly across the region. Potential alliances face unique hurdles given different public challenges, political systems, types of development, forms of civil society and cultural traditions. The four papers in the special issue highlight some key issues that have not been well explored in the current literature, such as the role of collaboration in state-centric societies, the applicability of a tri-sectoral model (of state, business and civil society) in places where ownership and accountability are more complex, and the business rationale for partnering when there is limited consumer, media or civil society demand for voluntary action. In this special edition the papers bring further light to some of these debates.

Environmental Business–NGO Partnerships in Nigeria: Issues and Prospects

“…A key aspect of the non‐market strategy devised by TNCs in response to societal pressure is the turn to business–NGO partnerships to meet their social obligations (Utting, ; Shah, ; Bendell et al , ). Indeed, Jamali et al () have noted that business–NGO partnerships have evolved in this new climate to become a popular mechanism among businesses for coping with complex collective action problems and addressing social challenges.…”

“…This is because business–NGO partnership can be viewed as partly a stakeholder management strategy and partly a corporate social responsibility strategy (Shah, ). Consequently, in a weak institutional context, partnerships are now often a core part of business strategy to manage social risks, secure competitive advantage and create shared value for stakeholders (Bendell et al , ; Lafrance and Lehmann, ; Hartman et al , ).…”

“…In the context of Africa, the research on the scope, peculiarities and impact of business–NGO partnerships has been limited and at best only just emerging (Kolk and Lenfant, ; Idemudia, ). In fact, Bendell et al () have argued that the literature on business–NGO partnership has so far been dominated by Western experiences, such that there are limited insights from other regions. Nevertheless, Idemudia () and Kolk and Lenfant () have explored business–NGO partnerships in both Nigeria and Central Africa respectively.…”

Editorial: Cross-Sector Social Interactions

“…In a practical sense, the special issue also recognizes the new reality of convergence (Austin et al, 2007;Seitanidi, 2010), particularly that between ''what your shareholders want and what is best for millions of people the world over'' (Annan, 2001), which requires interdisciplinary understanding (Bendell et al, 2010), new skills (Waddock, 2009;Williams, 2010), and new organizational capacities (Seitanidi, 2008). New fields of enquiry thus might include studies of shifting boundaries of social sectors; the emergence of new organizational forms as a result of intense interactions; the development of constellations of entities that address pressing social problems; the legal and governance implications of intensified interactions; the intensity and consequences of social interactions in value creation processes; the consequences of such intense interactions on the socio-political environment; the effects of organizational and collective identities; the development of multilevel models that can be applied in different contexts; and change as a result of interactions between context and action.…”

Brokering Development: Enabling Factors for Public-Private-Producer Partnerships in Agricultural Value Chains

“…Significant concerns have been expressed that the top-down and businessdriven nature of many partnerships privileges business interests, while poor farmers and marginalised communities are either excluded or included on unfavourable terms (Bendell et al 2010;Blowfield 2007;Heinrich 2013 (Willoughby 2014;Abdulsamad et al 2015). The risk is not only the exclusion or unfavourable inclusion in value chains, but also that the public sector will withdraw its activities from communities that are not part of the value chain, on either the belief or the pretence that the market is providing solutions.…”