The Synthesis of corporate social responsibility and national development goals under the joint venture between De Beers and the government of Namibia.

Abstract

This Paper examines the question of whether there can be a synthesis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and national development goals under the joint venture (JV) partnerships between the governments of developing countries and multinational companies (MNCs). It is suggested that this synthesis indeed exists to a certain degree in the case of de Beers and the Government of Namibia where the two actors have formed a 50/50% JV partnership called Namdeb. The aim of this analysis is to illustrate that the perceived synthesis of De Beers’ strategic CSR practises and the national development goals of Namibia generally benefit the people of this country by contributing to the overall economic development of the country, but that there are also serious potential ethical issues such as the accountability of the 50/50 JV which need to be considered when analysing the merits of 50/50% JV partnerships between governments and multinational companies such as De Beers.