Social innovators as sponsors of institutional change: the case of intermediary organizations and SMEs in Pakistan's textile manufacturing sector

This chapter reports on the activities of social innovators in Pakistan's textile manufacturing sector. It examines the role played by intermediary organizations in promoting more environmentally friendly practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and in helping to reduce negative impacts, with a particular focus on air pollution, water pollution, and carbon emissions. The intermediary organizations are theoretically framed as “proto-institutional sponsors” whose actions are helping to address longstanding weaknesses in local institutional structures (i.e., “institutional voids”). The sponsors have driven institutional change that aligns with SDGs 12 and 13, manifested as a “proto-institution” of resource efficiency and cleaner production. The chapter provides a detailed account of the processes, including the various roles that the sponsors have adopted in achieving these SDGs. It concludes with a brief section on policy options to further strengthen the roles of formal institutions, proto-institutional sponsors, and collaboration between formal institutions to address environmental challenges.