Premium
Corporate awakening – why (some) corporations embrace public–private partnerships
Author(s) -
LaFrance Julie,
Lehmann Martin
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
business strategy and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.123
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1099-0836
pISSN - 0964-4733
DOI - 10.1002/bse.471
Subject(s) - stakeholder , legitimacy , civil society , summit , government (linguistics) , public relations , sustainable development , corporate social responsibility , business , corporate governance , public administration , political science , politics , finance , linguistics , philosophy , physical geography , law , geography
Abstract Predominantly since the 1992 Rio Summit, corporations have been increasingly pursuing partnerships with public institutions including governments, international organizations and NGOs that aim to contribute to sustainable development activities. Partnerships have become more common as corporations react to mounting pressure from corporate stakeholders, civil society and government on the responsible nature of their business practices. The corporate awakening towards a broader role of business in society and the trend of corporations embracing partnerships has led many to question the driving factors that motivate corporations to pursue partnerships. In this paper, the authors examine the underlying drivers of corporate organizational behaviour from the theoretical perspectives of both legitimacy and stakeholder needs, and discuss the challenges of gaining insight into why corporations embrace public–private partnerships. These theoretical perspectives are used to gain a deeper understanding of the corporate drivers that motivated TOTAL S.A. to approach UNESCO for cooperation on community development programmes in Myanmar. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.