Partners in Time? Business, NGOs and Sustainable Development (UNRISD, 1999, 85 p.): Part 1: The changing nature of business-ngo relations: Conclusions: The Characteristics of Collaboration: (introduction...)

Partners in Time? Business, NGOs and Sustainable Development (UNRISD, 1999, 85 p.)

(introduction...)

Summary/Résumé/Resumen

Abbreviations and acronyms

Introduction

Part 1: The changing nature of business-ngo relations

Conflict and Collaboration

Business Responses to Sustainable Development

NGO Responses to Sustainable Development

(introduction...)

Defining NGOs

Three or Four Waves of Environmental NGOs?

Four Generations of Development NGOs

Southern NGOs

NGO Diversity and Tension

Case Studies of Business-NGO Relations

Toward an Understanding of Business-NGO Relations

(introduction...)

Theoretical Perspectives on Business-NGO Relations

Conclusions: The Characteristics of Collaboration

(introduction...)

Preconditions

Interactive Processes

Outcomes and Consequences

Part 2: Toward civil regulation

Introduction

The Political Dimensions of Corporate Environmentalism

NGOs and the Politics of Pressure in a Globalizing Economy

From Producer Politics to Consumer Politics

Beyond Legal Versus Self-Compliance

The Case for Civil Regulation

(introduction...)

The Corporate Rationale for Civil Regulation

The NGO Rationale for Civil Regulation

The Potential of Civil Regulation for the South

Governmental Policy Frameworks for Civil Regulation

(introduction...)

Government as Facilitator

Toward Global Private Regulation

Other Policy Options and Obstacles

Conclusion

Bibliography

Personal communications

(introduction...)

Researchers such as Donna Wood and Barbara Gray (1991) argue for a comprehensive theory of collaboration. However, it should be remembered that “partnerships are highly contextually specific... [and] must be developed within the political and organizational culture of specific localities” (Stewart and Snape, 1996:5). The more specific area of business-NGO partnerships for sustainable development embodies a wide range of industrial sectors, NGO types, geographical contexts, political cultures and organizational forms. Given this diversity, it seems unlikely that any one model of collaboration would be an adequate, let alone appropriate, analytical tool. Instead we offer some general characteristics of business-NGO collaboration, which, for the most part, appear to be shared by all three case studies. These characteristics are presented as preconditions for interactive processes and outcomes.