Managing by influence for the common good: India’s SAMBANDH network

This paper reviews the institutional design of a network of NGOs in Northern India and analyzes the reasons for its success. Essentially, it is due to the remarkable ability of the network’s low-profile leadership to avoid the traditional top-down management style and instead, manage by influence. They did so by (i) ensuring that members strongly shared common purposes so as to strengthen the network’s cohesiveness, (ii)“empowering” members through provision of effective common logistical, informational, and training services, and (iii) engineering a policy coalition giving members and non-..