Abstract
This case explores a Canadian mining corporation, Barrick Gold Corporation (Barrick), and the way it engages with the local communities that surround its mining activities in the Lake Victoria Zone, Tanzania. Following recent organized tensions within several local communities and heightened criticism from those communities [examples of recent discontent from local communities and workers at Barrick Gold Corp in Tanzania: http://www.protestbarrick.net/article.php?id=214; http://www.protestbarrick.net/article.php?list=type&type=12; http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1247233520081212; http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15263; http://www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?/Tanzania_en/What_Really_Happened (accessed Feb- ruary 25, 2009)], as well as from local media, social lobbyists, and local not-for-profit organizations (NFOs), the case examines the way Barrick has responded to this situation by implementing global corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies in an attempt to strike a balance between its international business capabilities and its localization strategies. In spite of these efforts, tension between Barrick and the local communities within the company’s zone of operations has not abated. This issue has left Barrick’s senior management wondering what more the company could reasonably do to resolve the situation.
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Abbreviations
- NFO:
-
Not-for-profit organizations
- MNCs:
-
Multinational corporations
- HRM:
-
Human resource management
- NEPAD:
-
New partnership for Africa’s development
- UNECA:
-
The UN economic commission for Africa
- FFU:
-
Field force unit
- FDI:
-
Foreign direct investment
- TIC:
-
Tanzania investment centre
- CRDB:
-
Commercial rural development bank
- NMB:
-
National microfinance bank
- TPSF:
-
Tanzania private sector foundation
- AMP:
-
Africa mining partnership
- TAMICO:
-
Tanzania mines and construction workers union
- NMM:
-
North Mara mines
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Selected websites for further reading
http://www.thefoundation-tz.org/ (on the role of a civil society, a local Tanzanian NFO).
http://www.mwanzacommunity.org/ngos.html (a Tanzanian NFOs based in Mwanza that serves several Lake Victoria Zone Community interests).
http://www.transparency.org (on legal corruption index in Tanzania).
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Newenham-Kahindi, A.M. A Global Mining Corporation and Local Communities in the Lake Victoria Zone: The Case of Barrick Gold Multinational in Tanzania. J Bus Ethics 99, 253–282 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0653-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0653-4