The Value of Social Partnerships for Multinational Enterprises

Abstract

Multinational enterprises are taking a step beyond traditional CSR practices and pursue activities together with social enterprises in order to create shared value. Although cross-sector social partnerships are the modus operandi for multinationals to address social challenges, we know little about what sort of value arises from their partnerships with social enterprises. This thesis covers this knowledge gap by building on the existing literature around cross-sector social partnerships and extending the previous research on Collaborative Value Creation (CVC). We followed a qualitative multiple case-study research with data collection through semi-structured in-depth interviews and archival data of the multinationals’ annual reports in order to investigate the value and the setting of social partnerships for multinational enterprises. To produce results, we expanded on prior research, created a hybrid Skeletal Framework and used both inductive and deductive coding techniques. We found evidence that social partnerships entail transformative effects for the meso, micro and macro environments of the partnerships and MNEs obtain synergistic value. This study has important implications for future social partnership research since it serves as a stepping stone to explore and further develop a framework around partnerships with social enterprises.