Strategic Positioning: An Authorized Friend or Foe

Abstract

In the last couple of decades a new platform for addressing wicked sustainable problems came into being: Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs). In these initiatives, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) started to work alongside industrial companies to make the world a more sustainable place by encouraging companies towards better behaviour. Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives have been welcomed by some organizations as a promising new solution to influence corporate business, while others rejected the platform on grounds of improper practices such as green washing. The division between perspectives on MSIs makes one wonder how participating NGOs are looked upon. Is their decision to employ the MSI-method perceived as legitimate by their stakeholders? This question is essentially the central motif within this research that wonders which tactical choices participating NGOs make, how these choices are perceived by their authorizing environment, and what all of this means for their legitimacy.