Digital transformation, sustainability, and purpose in the multinational enterprise

• Main Authors: GEORGE, Gerard, Simon J.D. SCHILLEBEECKX
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility; Digital Sustainability; Multinational Corporations; Pandemic; Purpose; Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics; Strategic Management Policy; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7008; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/8007/viewcontent/1_s2.0_S1090951622000190_main_pvoa_nd.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

We discuss how environmental and pandemic crises in combination with digitization are presenting the multinational enterprise (MNE) with increasing geopolitical, organizational, and market tensions. Institutional pluralism is creating a more complex global environment. The organization of productive work is shifting, which challenges how MNEs structure and coordinate their activities. Changing consumer and investor expectations are broadening the understanding of value creation with implications for business models. We contend that the tensions invite MNEs to reconsider how they frame, formalize, and realize corporate purpose. We close with a research agenda that recognizes the need for MNEs to become purpose-driven actors.