Doctoral researcher Choudhury Ranajoy

Hybrid logics in the BoP: Resolving multidimensional tensions to create sustainable impact

Tieteellinen tutkimus / siihen pohjautuva työ | Yksivuotinen

With over 1.5 bn people living without access to energy, and a staggering 1.6 mn people dying every year due to the effects of indoor pollution caused by traditional biomass fuelled cooking stoves, clean, affordable and accessible energy is one of the most pressing imperatives of our time. International grant-funding organizations have responded by funding projects in the global south. For-profit and non-profit organizations, both local and international, are competing as well as collaborating to access this funding. The resulting partnership blends multiple, and often conflicting, institutional logics at both the inter-organizational level, as well as within the management. Using a set-theoretic configurational approach, I study 110 rural electrification projects in Eastern and Southern Africa funded by the EEP (Energy & Environment Partnership) program, for which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland is the lead donor. I study these organizations as configurations of hybrid logics – commercial and social welfare, as well as local and international logics. The research uses project proposals, monitoring and evaluation reports, surveys and interviews to uncover the specific combinations and hierarchies of stakeholder orientations that lead to favourable environmental and social outcomes, while creating a financially sustainable venture. At the macro level, my research studies the market distortion effects of large-scale, donor-led grant funding interventions.