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Environmental Business–NGO Partnerships in Nigeria: Issues and Prospects
Author(s) -
Idemudia Uwafiokun
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
business strategy and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.123
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1099-0836
pISSN - 0964-4733
DOI - 10.1002/bse.1915
Subject(s) - general partnership , function (biology) , sustainable development , sustainable business , business , business environment , sustainability , public relations , process management , sociology , political science , business administration , finance , ecology , evolutionary biology , law , biology
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