ANALYSIS OF BASIC ASSUMPTIONS AND STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
6.3 INTERACTION OF BASIC ASSUMPTIONS WITH STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
6.3.2 Embracing business principles and commercialization as a dilemma
As explained earlier, reduction in state funding and related uncertainties have partially motivated the adoption of business principles and commercialization. In KZN, as in the other provinces in South Africa, funding is no longer sufficient to cover all aspects of protected area management and conservation (DEAT 2002). Budgets are so overstretched that they cannot sufficiently cover all the needs of conservation agencies. And yet, funding is an important determinant of what a conservation agency does, its capabilities and even the development of those capabilities. Limited state finances have led to an increasing strategic requirement for conservation to make its case compelling enough in order to justify continued state funding.
Table 6.1 Assessment of the fit between Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal's strategic objectives and basic assumptions
Environmental challenges
Increased calls for responsiveness and relevance (via contribution to the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy):
• A single co-ordinated system
• Benefits
• Poverty reduction
• Participation in decision- making
• Land reform
Conservation sector instability:
• Democratization
• New policies and legislation
• Protected Area bill and Biodiversity Bill
Land transformation in ways that threaten biodiversity conservation
Financial pressures
• Efficiency improvements
• Revenue generation
• Business development
• Inadequate state subsidy, etc.
• Growing competition
Strategic objective (& or relevant corporate thrust) & response*
Corporate thrust (s):
Risk management and diversity & change management
Responses
Strengthened community conservation innovations and partnerships
• Amalgamation, transformation, restructuring &
regional ization
• Local Boards
• Community Levy
• Community Conservation Programmeme
• Joint ventures
Managing for uncertainty and change (risk management)
Effecting management effectiveness
Strategic objectives
• To ensure exemplary conservation of the indigenous biodiversity of KwaZulu-Natal both within and beyond protected areas.
• To become a recognized centre of excellence and a leader in the conservation and sustainable use of KwaZulu-Natal's biological diversity in partnerships with people.
• Systematic conservation planning and action/
Strategic Environmental Assessment Strategic objectives:
• To strive towards being self-sufficient and more viable through the medium of income generation and external funding
• To establish appropriate functional management systems to adequately support strategic and operational management
• To develop the eco-tourism potential resulting in delighted customers and an expanding market focus and profile
Responses
Efficiency improvements across the organization
Commercial activities (annual game auctioning, joint venture, eco-tourism re-development, etc.)
Relationship with basic assumptions
=> Already committed to community conservation, partnerships &
benefit sharing
=J> Strong track record of community engagement (for both ex-DNC and ex-NPB)
• ?
=> Strong track record of working under unstable conditions
=> Framework for risk management under development while managing for diversity and change management in formative stages
=> National takeover of KZN's most valuable wildlife estates?
=> Already committed to the conservation ethos
=> Growing track record in using IT in conservation and presence of scientific expertise
= > Already a provincial authority
=> Internally recognized and reinforced by statutory
requirement for responsible use of state subsidy
?
=> Conflict with public service status;
new skills take away attention &
resources from conservation?
Table 6.1 continued next page
Table 6.1 continued
Development of new businesses
Robust business model
Mainstreaming eco-tourism
Joint ventures/ partnerships
?
=> Limited experience in new business development?
9
=> Different organizational skills base might limit performance?
• ?
=> Strong track record in eco-tourism
=> Limited experience in competitive business environment?
9
=> Conflict with public service status?
* The items in this column are all extracted from the corporate strategic plan (EKZNW 2002)
Interestingly, it appears that the problem of funding towards conservation is not being merely acknowledged, but is also serving as a motivation for embracing business principles and commercialization:
There is no doubt in my mind that the course we have set ourselves in attempting to present conservation as a multifaceted business enterprise involving wildlife and environmental management and most importantly, an industry inclusive of all our people is paying handsome dividends (Hughes in EKZNW 2001: 7).
With these kinds of views, it is not surprising that creating a sustainable business model has been a preoccupation for EKZNW for some time now (EKZNW 2002).
Opportuneness has emerged as one of the strong traits of the organization in terms of seeking financial resources or minimising costs. This has been necessary for the organization to strategically reposition itself in order to achieve greater levels of competitiveness in biodiversity conservation and eco-tourism. Identification of new business opportunities is an inherent feature of the business model. Embracing business principles and commercialization has been seen as an acceptable challenge, but as some people noted, it should not be at the total expense of what the organization has historically stood for:
/ guess the restructured Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife has identified its core business as conservation, an objective to be achieved in concert with partnership with communities and other stakeholders and the tapping of the province's eco-tourism potential to the fullest extent possible. Embracing business principles, I hope will drive us more towards financial sustainability without having to lose our historical mission ... biodiversity conservation (EKZNW interviewee # 2).
Feelings of pessimism were also evident. While the application of business principles was in theory accepted, concerns were raised on their implications, especially in the long term, of the growing commercialization of conservation. In fact, some sentiments were so strong that they bordered on being anti-commercial:
This [commercialization] is something that has been forced on us by government in response to changing realities. We seem to have accepted, not only in this organization, but the entire conservation sector in the country the delusion that commercialism will solve all of conservation's ills. My personal view is that we are not, and should not be considered as a business because we do not exist to optimise shareholder wealth (EKZNW interviewee # 9).
While it is true we are cash strapped, it is only realistic to claim that commercialization will not solve all our problems. At best, it can only make a contribution to our budget. More emphasis needs to be on efficiencies as opposed to the business argument because it can be utterly misleading (EKZNW interviewee 13).
Perceptions of custodial responsibility appeared to serve as the main motivation behind the organization's innovations in conservation over the years. Against this backdrop, one sees at EKZNW an emergent and interesting combination of the altruistic with the commercial/ business realities. However, managing the potential tensions of mixing the two is likely to remain a challenge for some time to come:
Even though we are attempting to offer destinations and accommodations equal to those in the private sector, our concentration on customer service has a very strong public responsibility being the custodians of our parks and protected areas. In short, we have to compete, but at the same time, make our resorts affordable to the general public and schools, for example (Nzimande in EKZNW 2001: 2).
This quotation demonstrates the inherent tensions that the organization is dealing with as a public sector organization, increasingly expected to go the commercialism route, and having to deal with the implications thereof in terms of affordability and revenue generation. It means that the organization has the inherent task of continuously trying to balance the budget and serving the public. This development has in recent times been a serious issue to the extent that the organization has sought to alter its expertise composition by bringing in those with private sector experience to help run some of its functions. It was nonetheless clear in the sentiments expressed during the interviews that while business principles were being acknowledged and accepted in the organization, the organization's historical
mandate of conservation which is premised on the public service ethos was by no means to be seen as being of secondary importance.