Social alliances: Business and social enterprise collaboration for social transformation

Social alliances are voluntary collaborations between business and social enterprises addressing social problems too complex to be solved by unilateral organizational action. The present study adopts a systems approach to the study of social alliances and concurrently analyzes the objectives instrumental in the formation of the cross-sector collaboration, the inputs provided by the partners and the outcomes and social transformation impact of the social alliances in a subsistence market place context. The research questions addressed by the study are “Why and with what consequences do business and social enterprises establish alliances?” The exploratory research follows the methodological tradition of using case studies in collaborations. Comparative analyses of the six social alliance cases indicate patterns regarding the adoption and prioritization of alliance- and partner-level objectives, provision of resources by partners, intended scope and social transformation impact, and measurement of results. Some of the observed patterns support prior research and are in line with the resource dependence and institutional perspectives. Despite their limited capacity for significant social change, the results highlight the potential of incremental contributions of social alliances in social transformation in subsistence market places.