IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/oabmxx/v11y2024i1p2323775.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strategizing for survival – enablers of South African not-for-profit organization sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Ingrid Vorwerk Marren
  • Annemarie Davis
  • Charmaine M. Williamson

Abstract

This article reports on research within multiple case studies of South African Not-for-Profit Organizations (NPO). The study modelled the enabling practices that managers and leaders of these NPOs deem necessary to sustain their service-led organizations in a changing and demanding environment. NPOs face various constraints affecting their survival, including those linked to people and talent, finances, resources, volunteering, and the ever-growing demand for social care. These constraints require managers and leaders of NPOs to identify enabling practices for survival, success, and sustainability. Daily routines in pursuit of strategies demonstrate apex fit-for-practice activities (a concept coined for this study) that include leadership, governance, organizational culture, resources and adaptivity. These activities translate into fit-for-purpose services for the ever-changing needs of beneficiaries. While corporates often focus on excellence and competitive advantage, the NPOs distinguished themselves through adaptable practices that instead met fitness criteria. This approach ensured the survival of NPOs in shrinking resource environments, and the continued service to beneficiaries. These enabling practices contribute to a conceptual model depicting the enablers for long-term survival in the NPO sector, as a novel contribution to the NPO sector, while also theorizing the nexus between fit-for-practice and organizational life cycle.

Suggested Citation

  • Ingrid Vorwerk Marren & Annemarie Davis & Charmaine M. Williamson, 2024. "Strategizing for survival – enablers of South African not-for-profit organization sustainability," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 2323775-232, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:oabmxx:v:11:y:2024:i:1:p:2323775
    DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2323775
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/23311975.2024.2323775
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/23311975.2024.2323775?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:oabmxx:v:11:y:2024:i:1:p:2323775. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://cogentoa.tandfonline.com/OABM20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.