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Activists change tack
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Opinion:
NGOs and activists - Zealot, hypocrite or genuine article?
Brendan May takes a sideways look at the wonderful world of NGOs
So, how to pick an NGO partner? Here’s an unofficial guide to the various species of NGO and their key behaviours. Can you recognise any?
The tunnel-visioned zealot The zealot believes that there is only one way to solve social or environmental problems: theirs. Zealots struggle when other campaigners suggest an alternative. If they attack their rival brethren, they look petty and silly. If they do nothing, they risk losing share of voice (and indeed market). The zealot’s solution is to grit its teeth, smiling politely in meetings when its rival is mentioned. But underneath rage is bubbling. We have zealots to thank for waking up the business world to ethics. We have business to thank for rejecting the zealots’ single-mindedness.
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Comments:
Activists vs Business - Henk Campher, 2 Apr 2010
Hey Brendan,
Another good read from you. It made me think that I can take this piece and replace the NGO & activist groups with companies and come up with the same conclusion. NGOs and activists are just as diverse as business. Maybe one needs to break them out of their neat boxes of NGO and business. An example - take the most extreme company on the "right" of issues (I will refrain from naming one) and take an organization like Oxfam or Greenpeace on the other extreme. Now take a company like Timberland and try and place it somewhere between those two extremes. Yes, in structure and organization they might look more like the company on the other side but in mission, values, leadership and even business model they lie closer to the activist side. And certain 'ngos' will be closer to business than othes. It's too easy to make judgements on how they are organized or what they call themselves - the challenge comes in when we remove the obvious (structure and legal status) and judge it on outcomes, values, models etc.
Congratulations and Best Wishes - Santosh Earth Madugula, 9 Apr 2010
Understanding and appreciating the value-add that various NGOs and Activists do to the Business World, is something that is becoming increasingly important.
Many NGOs and Activists, in fact give away "free information and or advice", during the process of or at their campaigns. Information, Opinion, Demand or Advice that would, in it have business intelligence. Some of it, could be so valuable that Business Organizations would have otherwise have to pay hefty consulting fees to leading or renowned Business Consulting Firms or perhaps their own senior managers' crucial and costly time.
I certainly would like to Congratulate this article and wish the best for adding more possible types or kinds of NGOs/Activists to it and/or more elaborations and discussions. - Santosh, Institute of Corporate Professionals (Singapore)
Complexity, or, the devil, is in the detail - Dwayne Baraka, 29 Jun 2010
It seems to me as though there are finer nuances at play here than just the traditional left / right divide.
There are probably no less than four spectrums that need to be considered. Firstly, NGOs will range from Opposed to CSR measures to Supportive of such initiatives. Secondly, they will tend to seek to operate independently of corporations or in collaboration with them. Thirdly, some NGOs are comfortable being confrontational in their approach to business while others seek to be more engaging. And finally, NGOs have a varying appetite when it comes to the level of compliance they might want to see operate in the marketplace - from mandatory to voluntary.
The really complex bit is that those spectrums aren't the same when it comes to corporations, which consider themselves (if at all) under a different set of criteria. The supervening challenge is then to work out which types of NGOs can connect with which types of corporations.
Anyway, good though prompter!
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