MNCs and ODA alignment
Jo‐Anna Russon · 2023
Chapter 8 discusses the implications arising from the case chapters for theorising the MNC-development relationship in ODA from a CSR perspective. The broad areas of alignment (and non-alignment) between the case MNCs and UK ODA goals are reviewed from the business case, development case and critical case perspectives of CSR. In sum, these differing perspectives challenge the possibility of mutually beneficial outcomes occurring through MNC engagement in ODA. The cases showed that strategic, sector-specific CSR programmes grounded in the business case and elements of the development case most closely aligned with UK ODA goals, though trade-offs remained between profit maximisation and complex development challenges. For the case MNCs, such trade-offs were managed through partnerships with NGOs, other businesses and donors, including the UK. The resultant question is how trade-offs between the business case, the development case and the critical case are understood and managed by the donor. Theoretically, in order to navigate amongst these three possibilities, it is argued that the re-centring of the poverty reduction mandate in ODA is necessary in the quest for mutually beneficial outcomes. A failure to do so undermines both donor recipient outcomes and UK interests.