In helping to understand the choice of case study as the main approach in this research, I employ Yin’s (2003) three criteria that he proposes as a possible benchmark when choosing an appropriate method of research.3 The way a question is phrased, coupled with the kind of output a researcher intends, may determine such choices. Hence the first factor to consider when deciding on a method is the nature of the research question. Questions that require explanatory results and which involve ‘how’ or ‘why’ tend to suit the case study and/or histo- riography as the method. Quantitative methods, in fact, may also be put to work for explanatory questions. Inductive statistics that connects behavioural phenom- ena, for instance tree choices for growers, to explanatory factors such as prices and soil suitability, may be a case in point. Such studies can interconnect phenomena that are well known and isolatable. In contexts such as this present study, where concepts and phenomena are ambiguous, complex and overlapping, explanation requires a conceptually much more careful qualitative approach.
Secondly, Yin intimates that the choice of method should also be guided by the amount of control a researcher has “over actual behavioural events” (2003: 7). Where there is little or no control over events because they are in the past, a historical method may be appropriate. This may include reliance on secondary historical material in order to access past information, hence contemporary events can also be studied as grounded in their historical contexts.
The third point, which overlaps with the second, indicates that case studies are relevant when an investigation involves contemporary events, but where the
3 Although Yin (2003) discusses the case study as a method, other methodologists (see Hamel, Dufour
& Fortin 1993 ) prefer to view it as an approach since it has the capacity to apply several methods within a single study.
researcher is not in a position to influence or manipulate behaviours. Yin ob- serves that the two main points of difference or advantage that the case method has over history is the option to engage in participant observation, as well as gain access to individuals and/or groups for in-depth interviewing. The problem of subjectivity and manipulation in participant observation as a method is high- lighted as a possible weakness.
In designing this research, a case study approach was selected as the most appropriate based on factors similar to the ones above, and also on certain unique contextual circumstances. The research aimed to gauge the challenges that emanated during the forest restructuring process through the perceptions of individual actors across diverse interest groups. Questions around perceptions are explanatory, and are best captured through in-depth interviewing using open- ended questions, either with individual actors or small groups of actors. The intention of the research was to add knowledge to certain theoretical concepts rather than to provide statistical generalization. Yin (2003: 10) refutes critiques of case studies as inadequate for scientific generalization, stating that like experiments, case studies “are generalizable to theoretical propositions and not to population or universes”, thus the final intention when employing a case study should be “to expand and generalize theories (analytic generalization) and not to generalize frequencies (statistical generalization)”. Also, because forestry is only a minor economic sector in South Africa, analyzing the events through the general lens of BEE, NRM and policy implementation - concepts that are not unique to forestry but also relevant to large sections of South Africa’s society - makes all the more sense for an analytical generalization.
The policy phenomenon studied in this research is a current, on-going process that began at the end of Apartheid in 1994, and exists within a broader context of societal transformation. Individual actors and institutions that continue to shape the process were accessible for information. Because the process is current, there were numerous other available sources of information, including frequent debates in print and electronic media, in contemporary government policy papers, as well as current organizational policies of participating private companies. Such varied wealth of information involving multiple interests is best captured by employing a mix of research techniques in the confines of a case study.
The case method was also necessary in helping to limit the operational scope of the research. The questions posed in this research could be applicable to several economic resource sectors, as transformation traversed each economic fabric in South Africa. The forest sector was chosen as a case for two main reasons: it presented a rural angle that has been identified, within the context of South Africa, as weak or marginalized when concepts such as empowerment through alliances are debated and practiced. The researcher also had prior re-
search knowledge and work experience in the forest industry thus making it a logical choice.
Within the forest sector, the restructuring has been a national exercise with several forest businesses competing for state forest assets, making it necessary to select only cases that most suited the research questions. To a great extent, the pace of the policy process also limited these choices, as only restructured forest assets were delineated for research. This gave way to two case studies SQF and SFP (see chapter 4 for details on cases) within the forestry sector. The two cases differed in terms of the creation of alliances between private companies and empowerment entities. While SQF partnered with a black business outfit to advance its empowerment credentials, SFP got into agreement with a large group of communities neighbouring its forest assets. Based on this difference, the research not only feeds into available knowledge on concepts of empowerment and natural resource management but to some extent, also presents this knowl- edge through a comparative perspective.
In summary, the case study method was the appropriate design for this re- search due to its flexibility in the use of several methods necessitated by the multi-layered nature of actors in the policy process. A strict approach to data collection that treats respondents on the same level through a uniform question- naire would not have been justified in a case with multiple and often subjective perspectives on the phenomenon under study. The nature of the inquiry also demanded a deeper understanding of the challenges posed by restructuring forestry, and called for an in-depth study in addition to the varied secondary materials available from diverse sources. The restructuring exercise unfolded in real time and the research ran simultaneously, ensuring a continuous amount of information and twists in public debates particularly around the key concepts of empowerment and natural resource management. Yin (2003: 13) defines a case study as “an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident”.
Pre-existing knowledge and preparation for research
The primary data collection was conducted from July 2003 to November 2004. This task was preceded by a theoretical study that explored the concepts upon which the guiding questions are formulated. Research interest in commercial forestry and communities began earlier 1998, when I was enrolled for a Master of Arts degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. The research output was an analysis of the impacts of contract forestry and their bearing on gender relations in participating households. This previous study was conducted at forests managed by Mondi and Sappi forests; located in northern KwaZulu-
Natal, an area that once again makes up one of the two case studies in this research. In 2000, I undertook a second related desk study for the Centre for Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR-Pretoria) in which I analyzed trends in community-company partnerships across several sectors in South Africa, including mining, agriculture, wildlife conservation and forestry. Ideas for the current study emerged from these two projects. This particular study differs somewhat from the previous ones in the sense that it is limited to new forestry cases that have come up since the state has devolved its forest assets to the private sector, and it is guided by development concepts that have become rele- vant within the new political dispensation of South Africa.
The groundwork for this research therefore relied to a great extent on existing contacts at the CSIR and DWAF: the latter helped in approaching the two private companies SFP and SQF. Yet acquiring approval to study the two cases took several months and even with the go-ahead in hand, it was still difficult to agree on a schedule convenient for the companies. In case study research, the re- searcher has no control over the behaviour of respondents, or of the environment where data collection occurs (Yin 2003). It is the researcher who gets into the territory of the interviewee hence the one who needs to fit into the lifestyle and schedule that is made available to her/him.
Nature of respondents and problems of identification
The research, being policy-oriented, demanded a multi-level approach in identi- fying respondents. The targeted participants included the public sector as policy administrators across different government departments, particularly those responsible for forestry (DWAF), restructuring of state assets (DPE), land affairs (DLA), and local government. The primary focus was on two private forest companies SFP and SQF who make up the case studies, but information was also sought from Forestry South Africa (FSA), an association representing large private entities and smaller individual interests within the forest industry.
Due to the relational nature of the research aims, black representation in private forestry was considered an important focus, and these included partici- pating groups of communities as well as small emerging black-led companies. In their localities, groups of communities interested in forestry activities were diverse, as they consisted of ordinary people, those in authority under local government or traditional structures, and groups with similar associational net- works, such as teachers, taxi owners (local transport), and workers unions, particularly those with memberships in the forest sector.
Both cases, Singisi (SFP) and Siyaqhubeka (SQF) approached the issue of community representation in their businesses differently, and their categorization and definitions of community, although often problematic, also had a bearing on
the identification of the respondents. SFP had a whole group of communities as a business partner which was brought together under the auspices of a community trust called Singilanga, and which is fed by two sub-trusts Singisi and Langeni; this meant that regardless of diversity of interests or association in the locality, these interests would have to be consolidated through one channel, Singilanga Trust. This kind of representation makes sense for business, but at the same time it attempts to create a sense of community of interest where there may be little or none. As discussed in chapters 5 and 6, the haphazard definition of a community to lay the foundation for a business partnership, in itself, was problematic and slowed down these processes. The identification of respondents relied on this broad membership and Singilanga was used as an organizational unit of analysis where community issues were concerned.
In the SQF case, as opposed to SFP, the structural issues were much less complex as there was a clear distinction of the business partner, being a black operational business entity, and the neighbouring local community, who were not business partners, but were engaged within broader social corporate outreach activities. The interviews therefore involved both partners in the business as well as selected local respondents as interested parties, regardless of their non-direct participation in the enterprise.
In both cases, the research technique involved direct in-depth interviews using a semi-structured question guide with key participants in the processes that have created the companies and alliances, as well as group discussions especially where local interested residents were concerned.
In-depth interviews
In each case study, I employed a multi-level approach to interviewing given the diverse nature of actors. At SFP case, I conducted 18 direct interviews. Out of these, five were managerial staff members at SFP, five were officials represent- ing the community trust, two black contractors and six ordinary members of the community.
In the second case study, SQF, I conducted a total of 15 interviews. six of them were staff, two contractors on training and seven members of the local community. In both instances, the questioning was flexible, depending on the interviewee. Although the overall inquiry was guided by two key conceptual issues in the research design - empowerment and natural resource management - questions that were posed to actors at each private entity differed in content on certain issues that were specific to the company, and not necessarily relevant for the community trust. This also applied to community issues that were not suited for the private actors.
It is important to mention that in conducting the research, none of these groups was considered homogenous entities. Diversity in perspectives exists not only within community members represented by the community Trust, but across the different managerial lines within each private company as well.
At the government departments mentioned above, the combined direct inter- views amounted to seven. Each government side was involved in the restructur- ing process differently, while others like the DLA influenced the pace and direction of the exercise. In certain departments, I was allowed to talk only to the relevant head of department and even then, getting permission to conduct the single interview often encountered strict bureaucratic requirements such as demanding to see the questions upfront before considering an interview.
In total, in-depth interviews undertaken were 40, across a wide spectrum of actors.
Group discussions
Between the two cases, six group discussions were conducted (two with SFP affiliates and four at SQF). In both cases, the discussants were local community members. The results of the group interviews were aimed at complementing the direct interviews, as well as to gain knowledge of issues that were relevant for the community as a collective. All the groups comprised both men and women but few younger people attended.
At the SFP case, the low availability of the younger people was attributed to out-migration to the cities to seek employment and a better life. The few who attended were only interested in issues that had a bearing on job creation. In the later chapters, I will deal with the view of the youth towards alliances and the concept of empowerment that are driven by what they can get out of the venture in the short term, and not in the future.
Each group interview was scheduled for between eight and twelve people, but at times the number expanded rapidly as other people in the vicinity got inter- ested and joined in.
In addition, I collected information and took notes where relevant at commu- nity meetings. Such meetings were scheduled for other purposes i.e. those called by the traditional authority or community development meetings convened by area councillors or the development wing of the private companies.
In the group discussions at both cases, a combined total of 120 individuals participated although not everyone always contributed to the discussions.
Print media as a source of information
The print media acted as a significant source of information that has been used to support analyses in the later chapters. The issues upon which this research is based are contemporary, and elements of empowerment and partnering between
established white and new black business have realized enormous media cover- age since 1994. Over a period of one and a half years between July 2003 and December 2004, I monitored the trends, as well as views and perceptions of different writers and key personalities as presented in debates around empower- ment and partnerships. The newspapers whose articles were reviewed include the Financial Mail, Business Day, the Mail and Guardian, the Sunday Times, the Star and City Press. Archival material particularly on the process of forestry privati- zation that is available on Business Day website has also assisted in the analyses. Secondary sources
The research also relied on secondary material sources. These included relevant government reports and policy documents. Also reviewed were policy documents and annual reports of SFP and SQF. Forestry South Africa (FSA) provided information and statistical data specific to the forest industry.