Vera Ivanaj, Université de Lorraine

Silvester Ivanaj, ICN Business School

Niti Bhasin, Université de Delhi

John McIntyre, Institut de Technologie de Géorgie

Timeline

• April 28, 2025: Submission deadline

Jonas Puck, WU Vienna

Srividya Jandhyala, ESSEC Business School

Vera Kunczer, Copenhagen Business School

Harald Puhr, University of Innsbruck

Michael Wolfesberger, WU Vienna

Rising national security concerns, populist politics, and societal pressures have produced fragmentation, i.e., the coexistence of overlapping, conflicting, or weakly coordinated rules and pressures across national, supranational, and societal spheres. MNEs must navigate the triality of home, host, and supranational institutions in cross-border business. Multilateral frameworks that could shape MNE sustainability initiatives, such as the UN SDGs and the Paris Agreement, face domestic resistance in some countries and are part of the legal basis in others. Such tensions between supranational frameworks and nationalist movements or policies can create conflicting institutional logics and institutional schisms. While international institutions shape firms' assessments of their domestic environments, in adapting to these fractured environments, MNEs may also amplify institutional pluralism through local responses.

This focused issue seeks to advance understanding of how MNEs strategize in fractured environments and the resulting stakeholder pressures. Papers may address the proposed areas of focus or other relevant areas related to MNE responses to fragmentation and stakeholder pressures. The issue welcomes interdisciplinary submissions that complement business perspectives with approaches from other disciplines, particularly political science. Both conceptual and empirical papers are welcome, including contributions focused on methodological advances, theory testing, and theory development.

Potential topics

• What drives the exposure of MNEs to institutional fragmentation and fracturing?
• When and how do MNEs integrate market- and non-market strategies across global markets in response to fragmented stakeholder and institutional pressures?
• How do MNEs manage and organize their response strategies across different markets?
• How do institutional fragmentation and geopolitical tensions shape interactions within firms?

Timeline

• September 30, 2026: Submission deadline

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Multinational enterprises (MNEs) face unprecedented challenges from exogenous shocks such as pandemics, natural disasters, geopolitical tensions, and supply chain disruptions. These major disruptions test the resilience and adaptability of global business operations and require strategic responses that span multiple countries and business units.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities and opportunities within global value chains and MNE operations. Understanding how MNEs learn from and adapt to such major disruptions is critical for both theory and practice in international business.

This special issue seeks to advance our understanding of how MNEs respond to, learn from, and build resilience against exogenous shocks. We welcome empirical and theoretical contributions that examine MNE adaptation strategies, organizational changes, and the factors that influence their ability to navigate major disruptions.

Potential topics

• How have MNEs adapted their global value chains in response to exogenous shocks?
• What organizational and strategic changes have MNEs implemented to build resilience?
• How has the pandemic affected MNE subsidiary autonomy, mandates, and roles?
• What is the role of digital transformation in MNE adaptation to exogenous shocks?
• How do institutional contexts shape MNE responses to major disruptions?
• What are the short-term and long-term implications of exogenous shocks for MNE competitiveness?
• How have MNEs managed stakeholder relationships during major disruptions?
• What lessons can be learned from MNE responses to past crises?

Timeline

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This special issue aims to advance scholarly knowledge on how multinational enterprises (MNEs) form international partnerships to create social value. Research in multinational business scholarship has examined the international activities of MNEs in addressing the broader sustainability agenda. 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. The motivation for this special issue is to advance new theoretical and empirical knowledge into how MNEs' international partnerships enable social value creation.

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 phenomena due to varying stakeholder expectations and underlying institutional complexities and differences. Such partnerships can serve as catalysts for social value creation given the complex nature of social problems, which are often too protracted to be addressed through unilateral organizational actions and capabilities. 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-organizational partnerships has been noted as important for creating value for multiple stakeholders. However, different types of partnerships (e.g., equity vs non-equity) may provide different pathways for generating social value. Such partnerships are well recognized for enabling access to partners' valuable knowledge and capabilities, thereby supporting innovation development. Prior studies have mainly considered the role of inter-organizational partnerships in cross-border supplier development, technological knowledge transfer, organizational learning and firm growth, and achieving strategic goals within partnership arrangements. Whilst recent studies have begun to highlight firms' potential to create social value through relationships within communities and cooperatives, much less is known about how different forms of inter-organizational partnerships and the multiple stakeholders involved across diverse institutional environments contribute to social value creation.

MNEs commonly form non-market partnerships in international markets for purposes such as gaining legitimacy. 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. Multinationals must learn to cooperate in order to address global societal problems. In the context of grand societal challenges, MNEs can engage in international social alliances. 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 as well as the structures and configurations of international partnerships, given that prior literature has primarily examined these aspects in the context of economic value creation. Furthermore, scholars can advance theoretical understanding by exploring the strategic attributes of different types of international partnerships in understanding how partner resource scope, alliance portfolio size, and social network power 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.

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. 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). International cooperative alliances and joint ventures may also serve as mechanisms for developing organizational agility in addressing social problems, enabling timely and effective responses. Accordingly, these aspects provide valuable avenues for advancing knowledge on how MNEs leverage dynamic capabilities within international partnerships to create social value.

Any concrete organizational form can be understood as an adaptive social structure in which the purpose of 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; 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. While research has recently focused on social purpose organizations, there remains limited understanding on how social (re)purpose in international partnerships facilitates social value creation. 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.

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, 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. Furthermore, the efficacy of home and host institutional support, institutional configuration and voids, and political connections can be examined in facilitating and hindering social value creation processes in the context of MNEs' international partnerships.

In line with the aim and scope of the Multinational Business Review, we invite submissions that present 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 provide new perspectives, advance, or challenge existing theories and their underlying assumptions, and demonstrate methodological rigor. Submissions that adopt a multidisciplinary approach are particularly encouraged.

Potential topics

• 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?

Timeline

• January 3, 2027: Opening date for manuscripts submissions
• March 31, 2027: Closing date for manuscripts submission

Florian Becker-Ritterspach, HTW Berlin

Raghda El Ebrashi, German International University (Cairo)

Jasper Hotho, Copenhagen Business School

Environmental degradation has become an urgent global concern, with emerging and developing economies facing a particularly complex set of challenges. While many of these countries are rapidly industrializing and increasingly integrated into global value chains, they often lack the regulatory infrastructures, institutional capacity, and enforcement mechanisms necessary to ensure environmentally responsible economic activity. These so-called environmental institutional voids amplify the negative externalities of business operations, threatening both ecological integrity and long-term development prospects.

This Special Issue addresses a significant blind spot in international business (IB) research: the intersection between environmental governance and institutional voids in emerging markets. While the concept of institutional voids has received growing attention in IB literature—mainly in relation to market and regulatory failures—its environmental dimensions remain underexplored. In particular, how multinational enterprises (MNEs) navigate weak or absent environmental regulations, and how they may act as institutional entrepreneurs or sources of environmental innovation, warrants deeper scrutiny.

This Special Issue invites scholarly contributions that critically examine the environmental strategies of MNEs operating in institutionally weak contexts. It seeks to understand the mechanisms through which MNEs circumvent, cope with, or compensate for governance deficiencies, and to assess the role they play—intentionally or unintentionally—in shaping environmental outcomes in host countries. Contributors are encouraged to engage with questions of climate justice, sustainability transitions, and the interplay between formal and informal institutions in shaping corporate environmental behavior.

The contributions to this issue aim not only to advance theory, but also to offer actionable insights for practitioners and policymakers seeking to strengthen environmental governance frameworks. Critical perspectives are invited that consider power asymmetries, transnational influence, and the responsibilities of business actors in settings where state regulation is uneven or contested. Comparative, cross-country, and interdisciplinary approaches are particularly welcome, as are empirical studies that foreground the lived realities of stakeholders most affected by environmental externalities.

The compounding effects of climate change, geopolitical tensions, and shifting global production networks underscore the urgency of understanding how firms operate in institutionally constrained environments—and what they can do to foster sustainable development. By focusing on environmental governance gaps and the corporate strategies that emerge in response, this Special Issue aims to contribute to a more comprehensive, justice-oriented, and context-sensitive understanding of international business in the 21st century.

Potential topics

• Defining and conceptualizing environmental institutional voids in emerging markets, and assessing how these voids impact environmental outcomes and corporate behavior. What constitutes an "environmental" institutional void, and how do formal and informal institutions interact to exacerbate or mitigate negative externalities of business operations
• Examining how firms strategically respond to institutional voids to achieve environmental objectives, including circumventing strategies (bypassing institutional deficiencies), coping mechanisms (adapting to challenges in the absence of robust institutions), and compensating actions (offsetting negative environmental impacts when formal governance is lacking)
• Investigating the influence of multinational enterprises in host countries with weak environmental institutions. How do MNEs transfer environmental standards and best practices from developed to emerging markets, and with what effects? In what ways can MNEs act as catalysts for improved local environmental governance or institutional change?
• Investigating the emergence of environmental or "green" innovation in contexts of institutional voids. When formal support or infrastructure is lacking, how do companies and entrepreneurs innovate to solve environmental problems? Topics may include frugal innovation, social innovation partnerships, and novel business models that address institutional gaps
• Analyzing how institutional voids influence the transition towards sustainability (such as shifts to low-carbon energy, circular economy, or sustainable agriculture) in emerging markets. How actors adapt business models to propel sustainability transitions despite voids
• Exploring how state actors in emerging markets influence the persistence or reduction of environmental institutional voids. How different state configurations enable or constrain MNEs in implementing robust environmental strategies and how tensions between national sovereignty and transnational environmental standards shape corporate practices
• Identifying public policy frameworks and collaborative approaches that can help close environmental institutional voids. What roles can governments, international organizations, and civil society play in partnership with business to strengthen environmental governance?

Timeline

• January 1, 2026: Opening date for manuscripts submissions
• September 30, 2026: Closing date for manuscripts submission

Achieving net-zero targets poses significant challenges for economies, governments, and societies worldwide. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are central actors in this transition, both as developers and adopters of renewable energy and low-carbon technologies. As primary boundary spanners, they manage global value chains and partnerships across diverse institutional contexts and consumer markets. MNEs increasingly navigate a complex landscape of incentives, sanctions, and regulatory barriers that vary by sector, technology platform, country, and region. Politically motivated disruptions—including shifting tariff and non-tariff barriers and uneven low-carbon policies—compound these challenges, placing premium value on managerial capabilities.

Two emerging developments motivate this Special Issue. First, digital technologies offer new potential to enhance firm-level capabilities for coordinating and adapting cross-border networks, while reshaping competitive dynamics between incumbents, startups, and scale-ups. Second, China's ascendancy as both innovator and regulator—particularly in new energy technologies—and its growing geopolitical influence demand renewed scholarly attention.

While MNEs' contributions to sustainable development goals have received growing research attention, significant gaps remain. Circular economy models require reverse logistics and integrated, cross-border collaboration, making their configuration highly dependent on regional policies, resource availability, and digital applications. Limited research examines how circular supply chains are configured globally or regionally, or what drives their development.

We are particularly interested in the microfoundations, routines, and recombinative capabilities underlying sustainability practices. We encourage international comparative studies examining how MNEs bridge institutional differences to establish circular business models and progress toward net-zero. Methodological innovation—including causal inference, longitudinal designs, and empirical approaches capturing complexity and measuring environmental outcomes—is also welcome.

Potential topics

• Multinational enterprises
• Sustainability
• Circular economy
• Global value chains
• Digitalization
• Geopolitics
• Institutions
• China
• Emerging industries
• How do MNEs navigate and shape the complex policy and stakeholder landscape accelerating net-zero goals?
• What roles do digital technologies play in advancing sustainability and circularity, and what new complexities do they introduce?
• How do governance differences and regulatory regimes affect firms, sectors, and stakeholders differently?
• Are international innovation races helpful or harmful, and to what extent are they regionally demarcated?
• Do MNEs customize practices locally or transfer superior practices across regions, and with what strategic implications?

Timeline

• January 7, 2026: Opening date for manuscripts submissions
• October 20, 2026: Closing date for manuscripts submission