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Background and Motivation of the Special Issue
This special issue (SI) aims to advance scholarly knowledge on how MNEs’ international partnerships to social value creation. Research in Multinational Business Review scholarship has examined the international activities of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in addressing the broader sustainability agenda (c.f. Sinkovics et al., 2021). However, there remains limited understanding of the specific challenges, tensions, and opportunities MNEs face when engaging in multi-stakeholder international partnerships for social value creation. Given the increasing centrality of such partnerships in global sustainability efforts, addressing this gap is both timely and important. Against this backdrop, the motivation for this special issue is to advance new theoretical and empirical knowledge into how MNEs’ internationals partnerships enable social value creation.
Current standing of the literature and gaps
MNEs often form partnerships to expand into foreign markets; however, their roles in creating social value for multiple stakeholders remains largely underexplored. Multi-stakeholder partnerships are complex phenomenon due to varying stakeholder expectations, underlying institutional complexities and differences. Such partnerships can serve as catalysts for social value creation, given the complex nature of social problems (Zahoor et al., 2023b), which are often too protracted to be addressed through unilateral organisational actions and capabilities (Al-Tabbaa et al., 2019). Hence, it is important to develop knowledge on how MNEs navigate the complexities of partnerships and institutional differences in the pursuit of social value creation.
MNEs’ role in inter-organisational partnerships have been noted as important for creating value for multiple stakeholders (Merchant, 2002). However, different types of partnerships (e.g., equity vs non-equity) may provide different pathways for generating social value. Such partnerships are well recognised for enabling access to partners’ valuable knowledge and capabilities, thereby supporting innovation development (Adomako et al., 2021, Zahoor et al., 2022, De Silva et al., 2022, Ambos and Tatarinov, 2022, Powell et al., 1996, Sivakumar et al., 2011). Specifically, prior studies have mainly considered the role of inter-organisational partnerships in cross-border supplier development process (Khan and Nicholson, 2014), technological knowledge transfer (Khan et al., 2015), organizational learning and firm growth (Puthusserry et al., 2020, Matanda and Freeman, 2009), and achieving strategic goals within partnership arrangements (Schreiner et al., 2009), among other areas. Whilst recent studies have begun to highlight firms’ potential to create social value through relationships within communities and cooperatives (Hadjielias et al., 2022), much less is known about how different forms of inter-organisational partnerships, and the multiple stakeholders involved across diverse institutional environments—contribute to social value creation.
MNEs also commonly form non-market partnership in international markets (An et al., 2024, Khan et al., 2023b, Rodgers et al., 2022, Rodgers et al., 2019, Khan et al., 2023c) for purposes such as gaining legitimacy (Rodgers et al., 2019). However, what remains largely overlooked in the international business literature are the comparative opportunities and challenges associated with non-market versus market-based international partnerships in MNEs’ social value creation processes.
According to Kern et al. (2022), multinationals must learn to cooperate in order to address global societal problems. In the context of grand societal challenges (e.g., health inequality), MNEs can engage in international social alliances (c.f. Nielsen et al., 2023, George et al., 2016, Ferraro et al., 2015, Khan et al., 2023a). Building on this line of inquiry, studies can generate new knowledge on what, where, and how MNEs’ international cooperation and partnerships contribute to societal well-being and value creation for multiple stakeholders.
Social problems are increasingly complex, potentially creating new dynamics in cross-border partnerships and tensions in achieving social value creation objectives. These complexities open several promising avenues for contributing to the international business literature. For example, studies could examine the role of international alliance management capabilities (Robson et al., 2019, Zahoor et al., 2023a) as well as the structures and configurations of international partnerships (Merchant, 2005, Aib et al., 2023), given that prior literature has primarily examined these aspects in the context of economic value creation for businesses or stakeholders. Furthermore, scholars can advance theoretical understanding by exploring the strategic attributes of different types of international partnerships (e.g., equity vs non-equity) in understanding how partner resource scope and alliance portfolio size (Wassmer et al., 2017), and social network power (Dufays and Huybrechts, 2014) facilitate social value creation. In addition, research could examine when and how contractual clauses in international partnerships create complexities or, alternatively, support the achievement of social value creation goals (Tong and Li, 2013).
Specifically, in creating value for a particular society, partnerships may require certain dynamic capabilities, such as sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring in finding novel solutions to complex social problems (Teece, 2014, Teece et al., 1997). In this context, research could examine partners’ possession of dynamic capabilities (e.g., distinctive resources), capability deployment (e.g., resource allocation), and capability upgrading (e.g., dynamic learning) (Luo, 2000). International cooperative alliances and joint ventures may also serve as mechanisms for developing organizational agility in addressing social problems, enabling timely and effective responses (c.f. Zahoor et al., 2023b, Khan, 2020, Tarba et al., 2023). Accordingly, these aspects provide valuable avenues for advancing knowledge on how MNEs leverage dynamic capabilities within international partnerships to create social value.
According to Gartenberg and Zenger (2022), any concrete organisational form can be understood as an adaptive social structure, in which the purpose of a cooperation must be clearly defined. MNEs’ international partnerships align with this perspective, as economic motives are often embedded within these relationships. However, the social purpose of MNEs in the context of multi-stakeholder international partnerships remains understudied. MNEs face institutional pressure in fulfilling their social responsibilities (Husted and Allen, 2006); consequently, there is a need to explore how institutional-level factors, MNE-level dynamics, and multi-stakeholder-specific challenges and opportunities influence social value creation.
Resources, capabilities and strategies can be aligned with and directed towards a corporate purpose (Gartenberg and Yiu, 2023, De Silva et al., 2021). While research has recently focused on social purpose organisations (De Silva et al., 2020, De Silva et al., 2021), there remains limited understanding on how social (re)purpose in international partnerships facilitates social value creation. According to HBR (2017), social purpose must be clearly understood and effectively communicated to stakeholders. From this perspective, there is a valuable opportunity to investigate how social purpose can be integrated across upstream (e.g., production processes) and downstream (e.g., marketing processes) activities and partners within the global value chain.
Given the international partnership focus of this special issue, another central area for scholarly attention is partnerships across different markets and institutional settings. While existing literature has examined the opportunities and challenges in multi-partner alliances (Medcof, 1997, Hoffmann, 2005, Beamish and Kachra, 2004), there remains limited understanding of how alliances and ventures originating from different countries—compared to domestic alliances—facilitate or complicate social value creation in particular markets. The special issue also provides an opportunity to explore the role of prevailing institutions in international markets in supporting social value creation through partnerships. In this context, scholars can investigate the nature and consequences of institutional frictions—such as ignorance, sensemaking challenges, and lack of responsiveness—that may arise in social value creation via partnerships and how these challenges can be addressed (Orr and Scott, 2008). Furthermore, the efficacy of home and host institutional support Veronica et al. (2020), institutional configuration and voids (Stephan et al., 2015), and political connections (Cui et al., 2018) can be examined in facilitating and hindering the social value creation processes in the context of MNEs’ international partnerships.
Scope of the Special Issue
In line with the aim and scope of the Multinational Business Review, we invite submissions that presents new or counterintuitive findings on MNEs’ international partnerships in creating social value—particularly insights that have not yet been addressed, examined, or resolved in the existing literature. We welcome empirical studies that provides new perspectives, advance, or challenges existing theories and their underlying assumptions, and demonstrate methodologically rigor. Submissions that adopt a multidisciplinary approach are particularly encouraged.
List of Topic Areas
- Which types of societal problems (e.g., poverty, food insecurity, public health) are best addressed through MNEs’ international partnerships, and which forms of partnerships are most effective in tackling these problems and generating social value?
- How do MNEs’ international and domestic partnerships create value for multiple stakeholders and communities?
- Under what circumstances do MNEs’ international partnerships produce unequal social outcomes, and what social benefits—such as enhanced legitimacy—do they provide to participating firms?
- Are there limits to the types of social challenges that MNEs’ international partnerships, or specific forms of such partnership, can effectively address?
- What inter-partner challenges arise in pursuing social value creation across cross-border settings, and how can these challenges be effectively managed?
- What internal and external drivers motivate MNEs to establish international partnerships for social value creation, and what are the boundary conditions that determine the effectiveness of these partnerships?
- Which dynamic capabilities are necessary for social value creation that can be developed through, or leveraged in, international partnerships, and how do these capabilities vary across different partnership types (e.g., equity vs. non-equity alliances, horizontal vs. vertical social alliances, and international joint ventures)?
- How can social purpose be integrated in MNEs’ upstream (e.g., production) and downstream (e.g., marketing) value chain activities, and what roles do value-chain partners play, including the associated challenges and opportunities, in this process?
- What are the nature and consequences of institutional frictions that arise in social value creation through MNEs’ international partnerships, and how can these challenges be effectively addressed?
- What roles do home and host market institutions play in facilitating MNEs’ international partnerships for social value creation?
- What industry- or country-specific factors influence MNEs’ multi-partner and cross-border social alliances?
- In the context of international partnerships involving platform firms and digital ecosystems, what unique challenges and opportunities do multi-sided networks present for MNEs in creating social value?
- How do governance structures and decision-making processes in MNEs’ international partnerships influence the trade-offs between economic and social value creation?
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Submissions Information
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tmbr
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/mbr
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.
Key Deadlines
Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 01/03/2027
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 31/03/2027
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