Multinationals' solutions to Grand Challenges

• 成果类型: Editorial Material
• 署名作者: Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro; Santangelo, Grazia D.; George, Gerard; Tihanyi, Laszlo; Doh, Jonathan; Senbet, Lemma W.; Ma, Xufei
• 署名单位: Northeastern University; Copenhagen Business School; Georgetown University; Rice University; Villanova University; University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; Chinese University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/s41267-026-00848-9
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: INTERNATIONAL-BUSINESS; GLOBAL STRATEGY; environment; firm; management; WORLD; MNEs; CSR

摘要

Grand Challenges are complex problems that transcend national borders and affect future generations and, as a result, have traditionally been viewed as the responsibility of governments. Building on economic theories of market imperfections, we introduce a three-pronged framework to explain how multinationals contribute solutions to Grand Challenges. First, we clarify multinationals' solutions by classifying them by their sustainability dimensions and associated market imperfections: solutions to environmental Grand Challenges arising from negative externalities and the overexploitation of common goods; solutions to social Grand Challenges resulting from unrealized positive externalities and underinvestment in public goods; and solutions to governance Grand Challenges stemming from information imperfections and abuses of market power. Second, we contextualize the global implementation of these solutions within the two drivers of globalization (technological and institutional changes) and explain their supporting and constraining effects: technological advances enable cross-border development and coordination, but technological inertia and lock-in produce suboptimal outcomes; pro-market reforms facilitate cross-border diffusion, but pro-market reversals limit global knowledge transfer. Third, we explain how intersectoral collaboration and financing are supplementary drivers enabling the scaling of multinationals' solutions across countries. Overall, our framework resolves the paradox that multinationals can help solve, rather than exploit, market failures.