Business and development: changing discourses in the extractive industries

This paper identifies how organisational field dynamics have changed over time within the field of business and development. Using the extractive industries as the empirical setting, development agency policy documents and corporate reports are analysed in order to identify convergence and divergence of discourses and changing institutional logics. The business-development organisational field became structured around a new variant of development managerialism in the early 2000s. Business became recognised as a core partner in devising and implementing market-driven development solutions. Thus, the logic of partnership for economic growth dominated this time period. In the late 2000s a divergence in the business and development organisational field is identified. Attempts by UNDP and other international organisations to temper market-driven development have given rise to the logic of good governance whereas the logic of partnership for development continues to drive that of the extractive industries. It will be interesting to explore in the future how these organisational fields compete or self-reinforce over time. The field of business and development, dominated by development managerialism, could become more fragmented or could move towards convergence and restructuration.