Inconsistencies and Limitations of the Social License to Operate: The Case of Mexican Mining

Abstract

SLO refers to the level of social acceptance granted by communities and other stakeholders on a certain enterprise. The SLO is important in order to maintain local economic development; therefore, companies have to implement community-based development and maintain good relationships with communities in order to achieve their goals. Some experiences show how communities force companies to stop operations due to their negative impacts, but in a country characterized by corruption, as Mexico, these collective actions are not completely effective. Based on secondary sources, this paper exposes the inconsistencies and limitations that SLO has in the Mexican mining context, where companies that do not have SLO have different results according with the proximity to the political and economic groups. This work contributes to the study of SLO in countries with high levels of corruption, and socioeconomic system characterized by the collusion between public and private sector practices.