THE GLOBALISATION OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS

Commercial companies and non-governmental §organisations (NGOs) are internationalising at an §increasing pace. Yet little is known about the §management of NGOs during this process. The research §was undertaken through a postal survey using results §from 52 international NGOs from Europe and the US. §The findings were later considered in relation to §four case studies of NGOs; two relatively small §NGOs, which have internationalised slowly, and two §larger and faster NGOs. The results indicate that §for driving force theories to be applicable to NGOs §they need to take into account NGOs strong internal §motivation to meet "needs", the varying influence of §drivers on different NGOs and the separate roles §drivers play for NGOs. For stage theories the §results suggest that there are similarities and §differences with companies, and that Federations may §follow a parallel route to other NGOs.The results §also suggest that NGO managers should pay critical §attention to the range of driving forces, both §internal and external. Managers should also be §prepared for problems with their overseas branches §before they reach the stage of being "truly global".