Call for paper: International Partnerships for Social Value Creation: New Insights from Multinational Enterprises

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).

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.

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

1. 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?
2. How do MNEs’ international and domestic partnerships create value for multiple stakeholders and communities?
3. 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?
4. Are there limits to the types of social challenges that MNEs’ international partnerships, or specific forms of such partnership, can effectively address?
5. What inter-partner challenges arise in pursuing social value creation across cross-border settings, and how can these challenges be effectively managed?
6. 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?
7. 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)?
8. 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?
9. 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?
10. What roles do home and host market institutions play in facilitating MNEs’ international partnerships for social value creation?
11. What industry- or country-specific factors influence MNEs’ multi-partner and cross-border social alliances?
12. 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?
13. How do governance structures and decision-making processes in MNEs’ international partnerships influence the trade-offs between economic and social value creation?​​

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​

For more details refer here

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