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When Meta-organizations Enhance Their Capacity for Action: The Role of Hybrid Regulation and Multinational Corporations in Plastic Waste Management
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Researchers studied big companies in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Thailand, and Vietnam that joined forces in groups to help manage plastic waste. The study found these company groups used rules combining government and industry regulation to gain official recognition, which helped them grow membership, gain more resources, and operate with more independence.
Hybrid forms of regulation involving both public and private actors require collective action at the inter-organizational level to address sustainability issues. Research on regulation and governance emphasizes the role of intermediaries in designing and implementing such arrangements, while scholars increasingly draw on the concept of meta-organizations – defined as organizations of organizations – to study collective action. Although the literature highlights the weakness of meta-organizations, this paper examines how they enhance their capacity for action through hybrid regulation. Focusing on plastic pollution, we analyze how multinational corporations (MNCs) engage in collective action and contribute to hybrid regulation. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Thailand, and Vietnam, we examine four cases of meta-organizations led by major MNCs in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. Our findings show that MNCs use meta-organizations to promote extended producer responsibility (EPR), a hybrid regulatory instrument, with the objective of obtaining official recognition as Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs). Such recognition enables meta-organizations to act as regulatory intermediaries. We develop a process model showing how hybrid regulation introduces new organizational elements, including mandatory rules, monitoring, and sanctioning mechanisms, thereby reshaping structural organizationality and actorhood of meta-organizations. As a result, membership expands, resources increase as members are bound by their commitments, and secretariats gain greater autonomy. The paper contributes to meta-organization theory by highlighting (1) how corporations combine activities within meta-organizations to assume intermediary roles; (2) how hybrid regulation enhances their capacity for action; and (3) how these dynamics affect membership, resourcing, and secretariat autonomy.
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Combining CSR and Political Activities of MNCs Through Meta-Organizations: The Case of Plastic Pollution in Emerging Countries
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Researchers analyzed five case studies from West Africa and Southeast Asia showing how multinational corporations use collective meta-organizations to simultaneously pursue CSR goals and shape Extended Producer Responsibility regulation, finding that the success of these hybrid corporate-political strategies depends heavily on national governance quality and the involvement of international organizations.
Meta-Organizations for Transformative Change
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This book brings together eleven studies on "meta-organizations," groups made up of other organizations, examining how they address issues like plastic pollution, tobacco regulation, and social inequality. It explores how these groups can either support or block large-scale changes toward sustainability and fairness in society.
Reconceptualizing Plastic Pollution Regulation in Nigeria, the U.S., and the U.K. from a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Perspective [Article]
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This article reconceptualizes plastic pollution regulation in Nigeria, the United States, and the United Kingdom through a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) framework. The analysis examines how CSR principles can be applied to advance corporate accountability for plastic pollution across different regulatory contexts.
Recent Advances and Technological Integration in Plastic Waste Management Rules in India
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Researchers analyzed India's evolving plastic waste management regulations and proposed a machine learning and federated governance framework to monitor compliance with single-use plastic bans and Extended Producer Responsibility mandates across a geographically diverse nation.
The Trojan Horse of Hybrid Governance: Corporate Power and Global Plastics Governance
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This article argues that the emergence of hybrid institutional governance in global plastics policy—centered on voluntary, industry-led multistakeholder initiatives orchestrated through UNEP—risks entrenching corporate-friendly arrangements that undermine meaningful regulation. The authors contend this hybrid governance model legitimizes weak rules and sustains corporate dominance rather than driving systemic transformation toward sustainable plastics management.
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