This Special Issue makes an important contribution to the literature on corporate-NGO relations and I commend the presenters, authors and editors on their effort and execution I encourage you to read and reflect on [these] excellent papers." - Jonathan Doh, Director of the Center for Global LeadershipIn 2012, Copenhagen Business School hosted the conference Partnership 2012: NGO+Business. During the three-day event, a wide range of business leaders, NGO representatives, politicians, academics and students discussed how partnerships can help to alleviate some of the urgent social and environmental challenges facing the world today.


Overall, the various contributions to the conference indicated that business-NGO partnerships hold great promise for solving societal problems, but it was also acknowledged that the planning and implementation of these collaborative efforts could be a challenging endeavour. Topics discussed at the conference included partnership drivers, partner identification, implementation processes, governance mechanisms, barriers and success factors, and impact measurements, among others.


The purpose of this Special Issue of the Journal of Corporate Citizenship is to document and share the experiences from the 2012 conference by publishing some of the interesting research papers that were presented at the event. The Special Issue begins with an introductory article from the conference organisers, Esben Rahbek Gjerdrum Pedersen and Janni Thusgaard Pedersen, that synthesises the state of play in both research and practice related to corporate-NGO partnerships. It also positions the research that is contained in the issue within the broader academic discourse over the subject.


The Special Issue on business-NGO partnerships includes contributions that help both academics and practitioners to better understand how business-NGO partnerships are preached and practised. The contributions look, in particular, at how a number of internal and external factors shape the process and outcomes of business-NGO partnerships.