96% of world’s largest companies collaborate with governments or NGOs to achieve CSR goals


Public-private partnerships and profit/non-profit partnerships for sustainable development are increasingly becoming the way that companies try to achieve their corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals. Whether it is about innovation, efficiency enhancement, delivering public goods, managing climate change or fighting poverty, as many as 96 per cent of the world’s largest companies collaborate in at least 18 different partnerships with governments and the societal midfield (organisations as intermediaries), and vice versa.

This is one of the outcomes of a sample company survey conducted by the newly-established Partnerships Resource Centre – a network coalition of large companies, research institutes, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and governments. This global research is the first of its kind in scope and depth, and was presented in a report on Thursday 26 May to coincide with the official launch of the Centre in Rotterdam.

Until now, there was little systematic research into the way companies engaged in partnerships, while policy makers – in the Netherlands at least – increasingly turn to partnerships. It seems that large companies have very little overview of the policy makers’ growing portfolio of partnerships, and are therefore facing a new challenge.  

The research was carried out under the leadership of <link people rob-van-tulder _blank>Rob van Tulder, Professor of International Business-Society Management. The Partnership Resource Centre will research cross-sector partnerships for sustainable development. The knowledge gathered will be publicly accessible and applicable by managers and policymakers. The Centre aims to develop protocols and teaching modules, and will train managers and policymakers engaged in cross-sector partnerships.

The Partnerships Resource Centre conducts (or commissions) academic research and develops tools, knowledge sharing protocols, web-based learning modules and executive training. These activities are primarily aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of partnerships for sustainable development around the world. The centre strives to have a high societal as well as scientific impact. It should be regarded as a source of validated information on cross-sector partnerships, a platform for information dissemination and a source of inspiration for practitioners around the world. Therefore the Centre’s activities are publicly accessible.