Abstract:
The government of Ghana, in partnership with various Multinational Oil Companies (MNCs), implemented an
enterprise development project for the oil and gas industry. The government framed the project within a context
of Local Content Policy (LCP) while MNCs approached it as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Both LCP
and CSR initiatives have become essential strategies deployed by stakeholders to mitigate, among other things,
the enclavity that characterises natural resource extraction across Africa. A disjunction between LCPs and CSRs
undermines the success of projects deployed to enhance linkages in the extractive industries. This paper examines
the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) project and argues that the divergence in conceptualisation
and processes informed by LCP and CSR perspectives affected the content, strategies and impacts, and led
to/contributed to the collapse of the EDC. There was a lack of understanding between stakeholders on interests
and strategy, coupled with limited alliance-building based on value co-creation, which led to the failure
of the EDC project. Better engagement between stakeholders is needed for such projects to engender value cocreation
which is central to their successful implementation to promote positive development outcomes from the
oil and gas industry.