The importance of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in global governance and value creation: an international busines
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The importance of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in global governance and value creation: an international business research agenda Hildy Teegen1, Jonathan P Doh2 and Sushil Vachani3 1
Department of International Business, School of Business, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA; 2Department of Management, College of Commerce and Finance, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA; 3Department of Strategy and Policy, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA Correspondence: Dr H Teegen, Department of International Business, School of Business, The George Washington University, 2023 G Street N.W./Lisner Hall 240, Washington, DC 20052, USA. Tel: þ 1 202 994 1758; Fax: þ 1 202 994 7422; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract The emergence of organized civil society and of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as organizational manifestations of broader social movements has dramatically altered the global political–economic landscape. The increasing global reach of NGOs challenges established international business (IB) research, and highlights opportunities for broadening and adapting extant paradigms in the field. In this article, we introduce the concept of NGOs and contrast them with their private-sector (firm) and public-sector (government) counterparts within the context of IB. We discuss factors giving rise to NGOs as important organizational entities that participate in global value creation and governance, and identify limits to their efficacy and viability. We identify important questions raised by incorporating NGOs into our conceptualization of global context, and we challenge three basic tenets of IB theory: the definition and dynamics of an institutional field, the relevance/centrality of a firm–government (i.e., two-sector) bargaining model, and the pre-eminence of the firm as the global organization of interest within the field. We conclude by offering suggested research directions that should serve as catalysts for this new and potentially rich area of future IB research. Journal of International Business Studies (2004) 35, 463–483. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400112 Keywords: NGO; nongovernmental organization; civil society
Received: 21 August 2003 Revised: 4 June 2004 Accepted: 11 June 2004 Online publication date: 4 November 2004
Introduction The study and practice of international business (IB) revolve around a central concept of value creation and distribution: how organizations transact within the global context to create value through resource transformation and exchange, and how the outputs of this activity are distributed. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) – profitseeking, private-sector organizations that create value through operations that span national boundaries – and governments, which play important roles in crafting institutional settings that govern firms, generally are considered the focal actors in IB. Recent efforts to reconceptualize the IB field have emphasized the importance of g
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