Types of corporate responsibility and engagement with NGOs: an exploration of business and societal outcomes

Purpose - This paper aims to classify different corporate responsibility (CR) actions into three types philanthropy, CR integration and CR innovation - and examines different forms of corporate engagement with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) through this categorization. The focus is on the societal and business outcomes of engagement. Design/methodology/approach - The study analyzes 20 business-NGO collaborations of three case companies - Hindustan Unilever, Nokia and Stora Enso. Cases are chosen based on revelatory sampling and data are gathered through documentary research of corporate sustainability reports, project reports and websites. Data analysis focuses on engagement forms, business and societal outcomes of engagement and utilizes a categorization of CR. Findings - Different CR types involve different forms of cooperation ranging from sponsorship to partnership. Furthermore, CR integration and CR innovation seem to have more potential for long-term positive business outcomes than philanthropy. In terms of societal outcomes, CR innovation seems to have the highest potential in creating local income-generating mechanisms and supporting local self-sufficiency. A main suggestion of the study is that more in-depth case studies of CR projects should be conducted to develop and improve indicators for business and societal outcomes. Originality/value - First, the paper applies a new pragmatic categorization of CR types. Second, it studies empirically a topic that has received relatively little attention - business-NGO collaboration. Third, it analyzes the business and societal outcomes of different types of business-NGO engagement.