Green Alliances and ESG performance of Multinational Corporations

In today's globalized and interconnected world, the business community must take a proactive stand on sustainability challenges. Historically, companies were primarily focused with making profits, creating jobs, and providing goods and services. However, this traditional approach is becoming increasingly insufficient to meet the complex and interconnected concerns that characterize our current era, such as climate change, resource depletion, social inequality, and global health crises. These challenges are not just societal concerns; they also have a direct influence on the commercial landscape. As businesses increase their reach in a globalized economy, their environmental and social consequences become more pronounced, heightening the expectation that they actively engage in solutions to global concerns rather than contributing to them. The solution investigated in this research is the formation of sustainability alliances, which is based on the concept of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 17, which stresses partnerships for sustainable development. Methodologically, the present research used a panel dataset focusing on the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) sector, including data collected from the Thomson Reuters SDC Platinum Database, Refinitiv's ESG database, and the Bureau Van Dijk Orbis database. Following rigorous adjustments, the sample currently includes 1,411 enterprises involved in 1,178 sustainable partnerships. Key findings show that two-partner alliances are becoming more common in sustainability projects, with a higher incidence in Europe, the Far East, and Central Asia. The research additionally demonstrates that sustainability alliances have increased significantly over time, with younger firms being inclined to form these collaborations. This is presumably due to the fact that younger firms are more likely to include sustainability-oriented business models, driven by agility and a competitive advantage that prioritizes sustainable practices. These findings highlight the rising importance of strategic alliances in promoting corporate sustainability, particularly when younger firms take the lead in implementing sustainable practices. Nonetheless, academic research on this issue is limited, leaving important parts of the field remaining unexplored. More study is thus required to increase understanding in this area and help the ongoing growth of sustainability-focused corporate practices.