Skip to main content
Log in

Multinational enterprises and the Sustainable Development Goals: An institutional approach to corporate engagement

  • Published:
Journal of International Business Policy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cannot be achieved without the contributions of multinational enterprises (MNEs). However, extant international business research hardly covers the private sector’s role in achieving international policy goals. This article conceptualises the SDGs as a goal-based institution. Building on institutional theory, it develops propositions that help explain MNEs’ engagement with SDGs. Exploratory survey results from 81 European and North American Financial Times Global 500 companies indicate that MNEs engage more with SDG targets that are actionable within their (value chain) operations than those outside of it, and more with SDG targets that “avoid harm” than those that “do good”. Differences in SDG engagement based on MNEs’ home- and host-countries and their industrial sectors are also explored. We draw policy conclusions for a more pro-active involvement of MNEs in sustainable development, and we define avenues for future international business research. In particular, cross-sector partnerships deserve further attention.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Accenture & UN Global Compact. 2016. Agenda 2030: A window of opportunity. The UN Gobal Compact-Accenture Strategy CEO Survey 2016. New York: Accenture.

  • Arya, B., & Bassi, B. 2011. Corporate social responsibility and broad-based black economic empowerment legislation in South Africa: Codes of good practice. Business and Society, 50(4): 674–695.

    Google Scholar 

  • Attig, N., Boubakri, N., El Ghoul, S., & Guedhami, O. 2016. Firm internationalization and corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 134(2): 171–197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Austin, J. E., & Seitanidi, M. M. 2012. Collaborative value creation: A review of partnering between nonprofits and businesses: Part 1. Value creation spectrum and collaboration stages. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41(5): 726–758.

    Google Scholar 

  • Babiak, K., & Thibault, L. 2009. Challenges in multiple cross-sector partnerships. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 38(1): 117–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bäckstrand, K. 2006. Multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development: Rethinking legitimacy, accountability and effectiveness. European Environment, 16(5): 290–306.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee, S. B. 2008. Corporate social responsibility: The good, the bad and the ugly. Critical Sociology, 34(1): 51–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bansal, P. 2005. Evolving sustainably: A longitudinal study of corporate sustainable development. Strategic Management Journal, 26(3): 197–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barkemeyer, R., Preuss, L., & Lee, L. 2015. On the effectiveness of private transnational governance regimes: Evaluating corporate sustainability reporting according to the Global Reporting Initiative. Journal of World Business, 50(2): 312–325.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron, J. 1996. Do no harm. In D. M. Messick & A. E. Tenbrunsel (Eds.), Codes of Conduct: Behavioral Research into Business Ethics (pp. 197–213. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumann-Pauly, D., Wickert, C., Spence, L. J., & Scherer, A. G. 2013. Organizing corporate social responsibility in small and large firms: Size matters. Journal of Business Ethics, 115(4): 693–705.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhanji, Z., & Oxley, J. E. 2013. Overcoming the dual liability of foreignness and privateness in international corporate citizenship partnerships. Journal of International Business Studies, 44(4): 290–311.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biermann, F., Kanie, N., & Kim, R. E. 2017. Global governance by goal-setting: The novel approach of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26: 26–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blowfield, M. 2012. Business and development: Making sense of business as a development agent. Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, 12(4): 414–426.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bondy, K., Moon, J., & Matten, D. 2012. An institution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in multi-national corporations (MNCs): Form and implications. Journal of Business Ethics, 111(2): 281–299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, K. J., Cradock-Henry, N. A., Koch, F., Patterson, J., Häyhä, T., Vogt, J., et al. 2017. Implementing the “Sustainable Development Goals”: towards addressing three key governance challenges – collective action, trade-offs, and accountability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26–27: 90–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brammer, S. J., Jackson, G., & Matten, D. 2012. Corporate social responsibility and institutional theory: new perspectives on private governance. Socio-Economic Review, 10: 3–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brammer, S. J., & Pavelin, S. 2006. Corporate reputation and social performance: The importance of fit. Journal of Management Studies, 43(3): 435–455.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brammer, S. J., Pavelin, S., & Porter, L. A. 2006. Corporate social performance and geographical diversification. Journal of Business Research, 59(9): 1025–1034.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brammer, S. J., Pavelin, S., & Porter, L. A. 2009. Corporate charitable giving, multinational companies and countries of concern. Journal of Management Studies, 46(4): 575–596.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brinkerhoff, D. W., & Brinkerhoff, J. M. 2011. Public–private partnerships: Perspectives on purposes, publicness, and good governance. Public Administration and Development, 31(1): 2–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryson, J. M., Crosby, B. C., & Bloomberg, L. 2015. Creating public value in practice: advancing the common good in a multi-sector, shared-power, no-one-wholly-in-charge world. London: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Business & Sustainable Development Commission. 2017. Valuing the SDG prize. London: Business & Sustainable Development Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cai, Y., Jo, H., & Pan, C. 2012. Doing well while doing bad? CSR in controversial industry sectors. Journal of Business Ethics, 108: 467–480.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, J. L. 2004. Institutional change and globalization. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, J. L. 2007. Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? An institutional theory of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 32(3): 946–967.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, A. B., & Shabana, K. M. 2010. The business case for corporate social responsibility: A review of concepts, research and practice. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1): 85–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, H-J. 2010. Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark: How development has disappeared from today’s “development” discourse. Towards New Developmentalism: Market as Means rather than Master, September 2016: 1–11.

  • Clemens, B. 2001. Changing environmental strategies over time: An empirical study of the steel industry in the United States. Journal of Environmental Management, 62(2): 221–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Copenhagen Consensus. 2016. Nobel Laureates guide to smarter global targets to 2030. http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/post-2015-consensus/nobel-laureates-guide-smarter-global-targets-2030. Accessed 11 November 2017.

  • Crane, A., & Matten, D. 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crilly, D., Ni, N., & Jiang, Y. 2016. Do-no-harm versus do-good social responsibility: Attributional thinking and the liability of foreignness. Strategic Management Journal, 37(7): 1316–1329.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crilly, D., Zollo, M., & Hansen, M. T. 2012. Faking it or muddling through? Understanding decoupling in response to stakeholder pressures. Academy of Management Journal, 55(6): 1429–1448.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahlsrud, A. 2008. How corporate social responsibility is defined: An analysis of 37 definitions. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 15(1): 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dauvergne, P., & LeBaron, G. 2014. Protest Inc.: the corporatization of activism. London: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, K. 1973. The case for and against business assumption of social responsibilities. Academy of Management Journal, 16(2): 312–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delmas, M. A., & Toffel, M. W. 2008. Organizational responses to environmental demands: opening the black box. Strategic Management Journal, 29(10): 1027–1055.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeSombre, E. R. 2000. The experience of the Montreal Protocol: Particularly remarkable, and remarkably particular. UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, 19(49): 49–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. 1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2): 147–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doh, J. P., & Guay, T. R. 2006. Corporate social responsibility, public policy, and NGO activism in Europe and the United States: An institutional–stakeholder perspective. Journal of Management Studies, 43(1): 47–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, T., & Dunfee, T. W. 1999. Ties that bind: A social contracts approach to business ethics. Boston: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donoher, W. J. 2017. The multinational and the legitimation of sustainable development. Transnational Corporations, 24(3): 49–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunning, J. H., & Fortanier, F. 2007. Multinational enterprises and the new development paradigm: Consequences for host country development. Multinational Business Review, 15(1): 25–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eccles, R. G., & Karbassi, L. 2018. The right way to support the Sustainable Development Goals. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-right-way-to-support-the-uns-sustainable-development-goals/. Accessed 9 April 2018.

  • Frederiksen, C. S. 2010. The relation between policies concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR) and philosophical moral theories: An empirical investigation. Journal of Business Ethics, 93(3): 357–371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, R. E., Wicks, A. C., & Parmar, B. 2004. Stakeholder theory and “the corporate objective revisited”. Organization Science, 15(3): 364–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fukuda-Parr, S. 2016. From the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals: Shifts in purpose, concept, and politics of global goal setting for development. Gender and Development, 24(1): 43–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garriga, E., & Melé, D. 2004. Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory social responsibility corporate theories: Mapping the territory. Journal of Business Ethics, 53(1/2): 51–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giuliani, E., Macchi, C., & Fiaschi, D. 2014. The social irresponsibility of international business: A novel conceptualization. In R. van Tulder, A. Verbeke, & R. Strange (Eds.), International business and sustainable development (pp. 141–173). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • GRI, UN Global Compact, & WBCSD. 2015. SDG Compass: The guide for business action on the SDGs. Amsterdam, Geneva, New York.

  • Hajer, M., Nilsson, M., Raworth, K., Bakker, P., Berkhout, F., de Boer, Y., Ludwig, K., & Kok, M. 2015. Beyond cockpit-ism: Four insights to enhance the transformative potential of the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability, 7(2): 1651–1660.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hák, T., Janoušková, S., & Moldan, B. 2016. Sustainable Development Goals: A need for relevant indicators. Ecological Indicators, 60: 565–573.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, P. A., & Soskice, D. 2001. Varieties of capitalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, J., & Vredenburg, H. 2003. The challenge of innovating for sustainable development. MIT Sloan Management Review, 45(1): 61–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardin, G. 1968. The tragedy of the commons. Science, 162(3859): 1243–1248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawn, O. V. 2012. Do actions speak louder than words? The case of corporate social responsibility (CSRvAcademy of Management Proceedings, 1: 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hemingway, C. A., & Maclagan, P. W. 2004. Managers’ personal values as drivers of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 50(1): 33–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Husted, B. W., & Allen, D. B. 2006. Corporate social responsibility in the multinational enterprise: Strategic and institutional approaches. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(6): 838–849.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jamali, D. 2010. The CSR of MNC subsidiaries in developing countries: Global, local, substantive or diluted? Journal of Business Ethics, 93(2): 181–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jamali, D., & Neville, B. 2011. Convergence versus divergence of CSR in developing countries: An embedded multi-layered institutional lens. Journal of Business Ethics, 102(4): 599–621.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, B., Bowd, R., & Tench, R. 2009. Corporate irresponsibility and corporate social responsibility: Competing realities. Social Responsibility Journal, 5(3): 300–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kharas, H., & Zhang, C. 2014. New agenda, new narrative: What happens after 2015? SAIS Review of International Affairs, 34(2): 25–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolk, A. 2014. Partnerships as panacea for addressing global problems? On rationale, context, actors, impacts and limitations. In M. M. Seitanidi & A. Crane (Eds.), Social partnerships and responsible business a research handbook (pp. 15–43). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolk, A. 2016. The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business, 51(1): 1–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolk, A., & Fortanier, F. 2013. Internationalization and environmental disclosure: The role of home and host institutions. Multinational Business Review, 21(1): 87–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolk, A., Kourula, A., & Pisani, N. 2017. Multinational enterprises and the Sustainable Development Goals: What do we know and how to proceed? Transnational Corporations, 24(3): 9–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolk, A., Rivera-Santos, M., & Rufín, C. 2018. Multinationals, international business, and poverty: A cross-disciplinary research overview and conceptual framework. Journal of International Business Policy, 1(1): 92–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolk, A., & van Tulder, R. 2010. International business, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. International Business Review, 19(2): 119–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolk, A., van Tulder, R., & Kostwinder, E. 2008. Business and partnerships for development. European Management Journal, 26(4): 262–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolk, A., van Tulder, R., & Welters, C. 1999. International codes of conduct and corporate social responsibility: Can transnational corporations regulate themselves? Transnational Corporations, 8(1): 143–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kostova, T., & Zaheer, S. 1999. Organizational legitimacy under conditions of complexity: The case of the multinational enterprise. Academy of Management Review, 24(1): 64–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumi, E., Arhin, A. A., & Yeboah, T. 2014. Can post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals survive neoliberalism? A critical examination of the sustainable development–neoliberalism nexus in developing countries. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 16(3): 539–554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Blanc, D. 2015. Towards integration at last? The Sustainable Development Goals as a network of targets. DESA Working Paper No. 141.

  • Lichtenberg, J. 2010. Negative duties, positive duties, and the “new harms”. Ethics, 120(3): 557–578.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin-Hi, N., & Müller, K. 2013. The CSR bottom line: Preventing corporate social irresponsibility. Journal of Business Research, 66(10): 1928–1936.

    Google Scholar 

  • London, T., & Hart, S. L. 2004. Reinventing strategies for emerging markets: Beyond the transnational model. Journal of International Business Studies, 35(5): 350–370.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marano, V., & Kostova, T. 2016. Unpacking the institutional complexity in adoption of CSR practices in multinational enterprises. Journal of Management Studies, 53(1): 28–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matten, D., & Moon, J. 2008. “Implicit” and “explicit” CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 33(2): 404–424.

    Google Scholar 

  • McWilliams, A., & Siegel, D. 2001. Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of Management Review, 26(1): 117–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, H. L. 2015. Global prosperity and Sustainable Development Goals. Journal of International Development, 27(6): 801–815.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller, A. 2006. Global versus local CSR strategies. European Management Journal, 24(2–3): 189–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nieuwenkamp, R. 2017. Ever heard of SDG washing? The urgency of SDG due diligence. https://oecd-development-matters.org/2017/09/25/ever-heard-of-sdg-washing-the-urgency-of-sdg-due-diligence/. Accessed 13 January 2018.

  • Nilsson, M., Griggs, D., & Visbeck, M. 2016. Policy: Map the interactions between Sustainable Development Goals. Nature, 534(7607): 320–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • North, D. C. 1990. Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orlitzky, M., Siegel, D. S., & Waldman, D. A. 2011. Strategic corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability. Business & Society, 50(1): 6–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Painter-Morland, M. 2006. Triple bottom-line reporting as social grammar: Integrating corporate social responsibility and corporate codes of conduct. Business Ethics: A European Review, 15(4): 352–364.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parmar, B. L., Freeman, R. E., Harrison, J. S., Wicks, A. C., Purnell, L., & de Colle, S. 2010. Stakeholder theory: The state of the art. Academy of Management Annals, 4(1): 403–445.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pattberg, P., & Widerberg, O. 2016. Transnational multistakeholder partnerships for sustainable development: Conditions for success. Ambio, 45(1): 42–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Persson, Å., Weitz, N., & Nilsson, M. 2016. Follow-up and review of the Sustainable Development Goals: Alignment vs. internalization. Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, 25(1): 59–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Philips. 2016a. Improving people’s lives. https://www.philips.com/b-dam/corporate/about-philips/sustainability/downloads/infographics/Philips_SDG_Infographic_2016.pdf. Accessed 13 January 2018.

  • Philips. 2016b. United, we can make a better world. https://www.philips.com/a-w/about/news/archive/blogs/innovation-matters/united-we-can-make-a-better-world.html. Accessed 13 January 2018.

  • Philips. 2017. Annual Report 2016. Amsterdam: Philips N.V.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pogge, T., & Sengupta, M. 2015. The Sustainable Development Goals as drafted: Nice idea, poor execution. Washington International Law Journal Association, 24(3): 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • PrC. 2011. The state of partnerships report 2010. Rotterdam: The Partnerships Resrouce Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • PwC. 2015. Make it your business: Engaging with the Sustainable Development Goals. London: PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Radley, B., & Vogel, C. 2015. Fighting windmills in Eastern Congo? The ambiguous impact of the “conflict minerals” movement. The Extractive Industries and Society, 2(3): 406–410.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasche, A., & Kell, G. 2010. The United Nations global compact: Achievements, trends and challenges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasche, A., Waddock, S., & McIntosh, M. 2013. The United Nations global compact. Business & Society, 52(1): 6–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. 1972. A theory of justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed, A. M., & Reed, D. 2009. Partnerships for development: Four models of business involvement. Journal of Business Ethics, 90(1): 3–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rivera, J. E. 2010. Business and public policy: Responses to environmental and social protection processes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rivera-Santos, M., Rufín, C., & Kolk, A. 2012. Bridging the institutional divide: Partnerships in subsistence markets. Journal of Business Research, 65(12): 1721–1727.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggie, J. 2007. Business and human rights: The evolving international agenda. The American Journal of International Law, 101(4): 1–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggie, J. 2008. Clarifying the concepts of “sphere of influence” and “complicity”. Geneva: UNHCR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sachs, J. 2014. Sustainable development goals for a new era. Sustainable humanity, sustainable nature: Our responsibility (Extra Seri). Vatican City: Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

  • Sachs, J. 2015. The age of sustainable development. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Durand-Delacre, D., & Teksoz, K. 2017. SDG Index and Dashboards Report 2017. New York: Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaltegger, S., & Hörisch, J. 2017. In Search of the Dominant Rationale in Sustainability management: Legitimacy- or profit-seeking? Journal of Business Ethics, 145(2): 259–276.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scherer, A. G., & Palazzo, G. 2011. The new political role of business in a globalized world: A review of a new perspective on CSR and its Implications for the firm, governance, and democracy. Journal of Management Studies, 48(4): 899–931.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scherer, A. G., Palazzo, G., & Matten, D. 2014. The business firm as a political actor: A new theory of the firm for a globalized world politics: Concern for the common good and exercise of power. Business & Society, 53(2): 143–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scherer, A. G., Palazzo, G., & Seidl, D. 2013. Managing legitimacy in complex and heterogeneous environments: Sustainable development in a globalized world. Journal of Management Studies, 50(2): 259–284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheyvens, R., Banks, G., & Hughes, E. 2016. The private sector and the SDGs: The need to move beyond “business as usual”. Sustainable Development, 24(6): 371–382.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, A., Wickert, C., & Marti, E. 2017. Reducing complexity by creating complexity: a systems theory perspective on how organizations respond to their environments. Journal of Management Studies, 54(2): 182–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schönherr, N., Findler, F., & Martinuzzi, A. 2017. Exploring the interface of CSR and the Sustainable Development Goals. Transnational Corporations, 24(3): 33–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. R. 1995. Institutions and organizations. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seitanidi, M. M., & Crane, A. 2009. Implementing CSR through partnerships: Understanding the selection, design and institutionalisation of nonprofit-business partnerships. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(2): 413–429.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seitanidi, M. M., & Crane, A. 2014. Social partnerships and responsible business: A research handbook. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selsky, J. W., & Parker, B. 2005. Cross-sector partnerships to address social issues: Challenges to theory and practice. Journal of Management, 31(6): 849–873.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharfman, M. P., Shaft, T. M., & Tihanyi, L. 2004. A model of the global and institutional antecedents of high-level corporate environmental performance. Business & Society, 43(1): 6–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spar, D. L., & La Mure, L. T. 2003. The power of activism: Assessing the impact of NGOs on global business. California Management Review, 45(3): 78–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, C., & Kanie, N. 2016. The transformative potential of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 16(3): 393–396.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strike, V. M., Gao, J., & Bansal, P. 2006. Being good while being bad: Social responsibility and the international diversification of US firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(6): 850–862.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swanson, D. L. 2018. Society, business values, and the social contract. In CSR Discovery Leadership: 27–68. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. 2008. Nudge. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN. 2015. Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. New York: United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN Global Compact. 2013. Global corporate sustainability report. New York: United Nations Global Compact.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN Global Compact. 2017. Making global goals local business: A new era for responsible business. New York: United Nations Global Compact.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN News Centre. 2015. UN forum highlights “fundamental” role of private sector in advancing new global goals. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=51981#.Wf7X6FvWypo. Accessed 15 July 2016.

  • UNDG. 2013. A million voices: The world we want. New York: United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vachani, S., Doh, J. P., & Teegen, H. 2009. NGOs’ influence on MNEs’ social development strategies in varying institutional contexts: A transaction cost perspective. International Business Review, 18(5): 446–456.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Marrewijk, M. 2003. Concepts and definitions of CSR and corporate sustainability: between agency and communion. Journal of Business Ethics, 44(2): 95–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Tulder, R. 2008. Partnerships for development. Max Havelaar Lecture, 2.

  • van Tulder, R., & Keen, N. 2018. Capturing collaborative challenges: Designing complexity-sensitive theories of change for cross-sector partnerships. Journal of Business Ethics, 1–18.

  • van Tulder, R., & Pfisterer, S. 2014. Creating partnering space: Exploring the right fit for sustainable development partnerships. In M. M. Seitanidi & A. Crane (Eds.), Social partnerships and responsible business: A research handbook (pp. 105–235. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Tulder, R., & van der Zwart, A. 2006. International business-society management: Linking corporate responsibility and globalization. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Tulder, R., van Wijk, J., & Kolk, A. 2009. From chain liability to chain responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(2): 399–412.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Tulder, R., Verbeke, A., & Strange, R. 2014. International business and sustainable development. Emerald: Bingley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verbeke, A., Puck, J., & van Tulder, R. 2018. Distance in international business: Concept, cost and value. Emerald: Bingley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waddock, S. 2008. Building a new institutional infrastructure for corporate responsibility. Academy of Management Perspectives, 22(3): 87–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • WBCSD. 2015. Reporting matters: Redefining performance and disclosure. Geneva: WBCSD.

    Google Scholar 

  • WCED. 1987. Our common future. World Commission on Environment and Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wettenhall, R. 2003. The rhetoric and reality of public–private partnerships. Public Organization Review: A Global Journal, 3(1): 77–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wijen, F., Zoeteman, K., Pieters, J., & van Seters, P. (Eds.). 2012. A handbook of globalisation and environmental policy (2nd ed.). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yin, J., & Jamali, D. 2016. Strategic corporate social responsibility of multinational companies subsidiaries in emerging markets: Evidence from China. Long Range Planning, 49(5): 541–558.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaheer, S. 1995. Overcoming the liability of foreignness. Academy of Management Journal, 38(2): 341–363.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Consulting Editor Ans Kolk and three anonymous peer reviewers for their detailed, constructive, and timely feedback. We also thank Peter Nolan at Jesus College, Cambridge, for supportive and stimulating discussions during the initial stages of research leading to this article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan Anton van Zanten.

Additional information

Accepted by Ans Kolk, Consulting Editor, 21 May 2018. This article has been with the authors for three revisions.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

van Zanten, J.A., van Tulder, R. Multinational enterprises and the Sustainable Development Goals: An institutional approach to corporate engagement. J Int Bus Policy 1, 208–233 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-018-0008-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-018-0008-x

Keywords

Navigation