Enterprise development? Local content, corporate social responsibility and disjunctive linkages in Ghana’s oil and gas industry

Abstract

The government of Ghana, in partnership with various Multinational Oil Companies (MNCs), implemented an enterprise development project for the oil and gas industry. The government framed the project within a context of Local Content Policy (LCP) while MNCs approached it as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Both LCP and CSR initiatives have become essential strategies deployed by stakeholders to mitigate, among other things, the enclavity that characterises natural resource extraction across Africa. A disjunction between LCPs and CSRs undermines the success of projects deployed to enhance linkages in the extractive industries. This paper examines the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) project and argues that the divergence in conceptualisation and processes informed by LCP and CSR perspectives affected the content, strategies and impacts, and led to/contributed to the collapse of the EDC. There was a lack of understanding between stakeholders on interests and strategy, coupled with limited alliance-building based on value co-creation, which led to the failure of the EDC project. Better engagement between stakeholders is needed for such projects to engender value co-creation which is central to their successful implementation to promote positive development outcomes from the oil and gas industry.