Social alliances as catalyzers of CSR programs' impact

This chapter examines how social enterprises form and govern alliances among them to better position themselves to attain environmental, social, and governance goals. We propose that social alliances are a type of multi-stakeholder partnership — cooperative arrangements that evolve among social enterprises (small, medium, or large), non-governmental organizations, community groups, and/or governmental agencies, with the primary purpose of adding value to the community, rather than growing the wealth of a select group of individuals or corporations. We further look at three social alliances and use a comparative case study to explain: (1) how firms govern social alliances; (2) what alliances’ structures and mechanisms govern social goals; and (3) how these alliances end up being a space for positive societal change. We show that alliances are important mechanisms by which organizations come together to facilitate social change due to the fact they are part of a network of actors that bring together skills and resources toward shared social goals.