Hallo zusammen,
ich hab ein großes Problem.
Aus dem folgenden englischen Text benötige ich eine deutsche Zusammenfassung mit Ausgangsproblem und theoretischer Hintergrund des Inhaltes. Das Problem ich kann kein englisch. Ich würde mich sehr freuen wenn mir jemand diese Frage beantworten könnte. danke schon mal
Der text lautet:
University Press, 2009. 192 pp. $39.99, paper.
If we increasingly live in a society of organizations, as some
have argued (Zald and McCarthy, 1987; Perrow, 1991), then
this trend is perhaps nowhere as striking as among nonprofi t
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). As Michael Yaziji and
Jonathan Doh argue in NGOs and Corporations , NGOs have
multiplied in numbers over the past 20 years and have taken
on advocacy and service roles in a wide range of domains,
from improving healthcare to protesting human rights abuses.
If we want to understand the relationship between businesses
and civil society—the premise of the book—we need
to understand the interaction between businesses and their
organizational counterparts in the civil sphere, NGOs. This
compact, well-organized, and highly readable book offers a
welcome and timely map to this emerging terrain.
The book is structured in three main parts, each of which
closes with short case illustrations of the material covered.
These two to four page mini-cases range from the simple—
how the relationship between animal rights organization PETA
and KFC evolved from cooperative to confrontational—to the
more complex—how Coca Cola dealt with multiparty confl icts
over water use in India. Each chapter outlines an analytic
framework for an orienting question and closes with a summary.
The fi rst part, comprising chapters 1 to 3, seeks to
provide a systematic understanding of the world of NGOs.
The book opens with one of its strongest chapters, classifying
NGOs according to their primary activity (service provision or
advocacy) and their benefi ciary (self or others). We come to
appreciate, for example, why Greenpeace as an advocacy
organization employs different tactics than Doctors Without
Borders as a service organization. Yaziji and Doh also present
a model of how these different types of NGOs relate to each
other and to the social movements that often fuel them.
Chapter 2 addresses the question of why NGOs arise. It
sketches out a theory of how NGOs emerge as a result of
market and regulatory failures. Chapter 3 discusses the part
NGOs play in the context of other stakeholders of the fi rm.
The focus is on legitimacy and on the challenges that arise for
corporations from ideological differences between stakeholder
groups.
Chapters 4 to 6 turn to the interaction between NGOs and
corporations, with a focus on confrontational relationships.
Chapter 4 examines factors that increase a corporation’s
“social risk” of becoming the target of activist campaigns that
threaten its legitimacy and performance. Here, the authors
offer a useful checklist for anticipating NGOs’ advocacy
campaigns based on risk factors at the level of the fi rm (e.g.,
brand name recognition increases vulnerability), the institutional
fi eld (e.g., operating in contexts with fl uid rules of the
game makes mistakes more likely), and the movement (e.g.,
existing activist networks facilitate campaign mobilization).
Chapter 5 turns to differences in tactics and channels of
infl uence between radical and more mainstream advocacy
NGOs. Chapter 6 takes a closer look at different types of campaigns
and corporate response strategies.The authors point out the dilemma for corporations: ignoring NGOs’
attacks when they occur is costly, but predicting them ahead
of time is rather diffi cult. Yaiji and Doh conclude that “the
best response seems to be deterring relationships laden with
animosity, and instead refocusing on some level of collaboration
between the fi rm and NGO” (p. 110). This statement
perhaps best captures the overarching message of the book:
that fi rms should proactively engage NGOs in collaborative
relationships to reduce the risk of costly confrontations and
reap the benefi ts of working together.
Chapters 7 and 8, in part 3, describe collaborative relationships
between corporations and NGOs. This part of the book
contains the most novel and thought-provoking material.
Chapter 7 analyzes the pros and cons of engaging in collaborations,
from the perspective of both businesses and NGOs.
It suggests, for example, that partnering with NGOs not only
prevents confl ict but can help corporations anticipate shifts in
demand and stimulate innovation. Chapter 8 examines the
specifi c challenges and opportunities for multinational enterprises
and international NGOs, returning to the thesis from
chapter 2 that NGOs can fi ll voids left by ineffective states in
developing countries. Chapter 9, set apart from the others as
predictions of future trends, suggests a progression in the
relations between NGOs and corporations. The contemporary
emphasis on dyadic partnerships and voluntary industry
standards has replaced the predominance of confl ictual
campaigns in the past and paves the way for future multiparty
collaborations aimed at shaping state regulations. The authors
imply that this last stage, effectively a collaborative triad of
NGOs, corporations, and states, is likely to be most effective
in providing social goods.
NGOs and Corporations is a successful contribution to a
fast-growing area of research and teaching. The book is
suitable for introductory graduate level or advanced undergraduate
courses in business and society or non-market
strategy. It is of equal relevance to practicing managers who
need to navigate complex and contested social environments.
Yaziji and Doh strike a good balance in supplying frameworks,
data, and case illustrations and convey a realistic view of the
extent of scholarly knowledge. They review a mix of institutional,
organizational, and behavioral strategy research and
integrate aspects of social movement studies, business
ethics, and stakeholder theories. The unique value of this
book lies in its useful frameworks for understanding the
variety of NGOs and their relations to corporations and for
choosing appropriate corporate engagement strategies.
Bringing such clarity is no small feat for an empirical phenomenon
that is relatively new, fast changing, and dazzlingly
complex.
Despite the book’s impressive scope, its limitations are more
often omissions than commissions. For example, I would
have welcomed greater analysis of the interplay between
collaborative and confl ict approaches. There is a clear underlying
message that collaboration is ultimately more desirable
than confl ict in the relation between civil society actors and
corporations.