Browsing by Author "Tindiwensi, Catherine"
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Item Between Western hegemony and local appropriateness of CSR practices in developing countries – The process of contextualization in the agricultural industry of Uganda.(AGRI-QUEST, 2017) Feldkamp, Niko; Wickert, Christopher; Katamba, David; Tindiwensi, Catherine; Seruma, AndrewIn the past years, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been developed to be considered as a crucial tool that can significantly enhance development in southern countries. However, CSR has shortcomings, that were recently intensively discussed in research. In this regard, CSR was often associated with western hegemony. However, not only the CSR research is strongly characterized through a western perspective. Also, developed CSR practices in emerging countries are driven by western-hosted multinational enterprises (MNE) or standards as for example ISO 26000, that were developed in a western context. Previous studies have shown, that such understanding did not always lead to indented benefits in emerging countries. Even though previous research emphasized the existing tension between international standards and local appropriateness, an examination of the process of contextualization has not been established yet. Therefore, this work aims on developing a concept, that leads to positive impacts by implementing CSR practices in the developing country context. For that purpose, an explanatory study with a trip of in total three weeks to Uganda has been conducted. Thus, local voices and perspectives could be incorporated that can provide a valuable supplement to the current literature. Finally, the results show a concept of contextualization of western based CSR practices in a developing country context.Item Value Chain Upgrading in the Informal Agricultural Economy of Uganda: Networks among Small Business Owners as a Solution to Institutional Voids(AGRI-QUEST, 2017) Stahn, Sophia; Wickert, Christopher; Katamba, David; Tindiwensi, Catherine; Serum, AndrewThe purpose of this paper is to analyze how networks between small business owners (SBOs) in the informal economy of agriculture in the East African country Uganda can be a tool to overcome the barriers caused by institutional voids, in order to upgrade agricultural value chains. The analysis suggests that weak or absent institutions in the agricultural sector lead to various impediments that especially affect SBOs operating in the informal sector of agriculture. Yet, SBOs seem to have found a way to overcome those hurdles through establishing business networks to access capital, resources and markets. Moreover, those networks are based on informal, internal mechanisms like bylaws or internal guidelines that have positive impact on SBOs’ work. Subsequently, with the help of networks better quality and larger quantities can be produced, leading to an upgrade of the respective value chain. These findings demonstrate a valuable and feasible solution for SBOs operating in the informal sector of agriculture in developing countries to upgrade their value chain despite a weak institutional environment. In addition to that, the study illustrates that networks are an informal type of institution, not an organizational form that substitutes institutions, hence meaning that the very existence of networks is not sufficient to guarantee long-term success for SBOs. The paper opens paths for future research to focus on the use of networks as supplementary informal institutions as a solution to other barriers SBOs are facing in developing countries’ informal agricultural sectors.