Aim: The aim of this thesis is to describe possible steps of how circular partnerships can be formed, and how they can connect the different steps of a material loop, such as design and recycling. The focus of the empirical study within this thesis is the reconnection of recycling, design and production within the household goods industry. By this we will answer the following research question:“What are the rationales and circumstances needed for separate organizations to develop a sustainability-oriented innovative partnership in the context of the Circular Economy?” The Case: This research project is based on a case study of a collaboration between Stena Recycling AB, a Swedish recycling company, and Electrolux AB, a global appliances producer. Together those two companies formed a pilot project, called the “Infinity Project”, whose goal is to produce a vacuum cleaner which is made out of 100% post-consumer recycled materials, and is 100% recyclable. Methodology: The researchers participated in the meetings of the Infinity Project, and interviewed the people who were involved in the beginning of the collaboration. The research is done in an abductive process, as literature was analyzed that explained the findings made in our observations. From the theory and our findings we created a model, which helps explain the what, why, and how of Stena Recycling AB and Electrolux AB reconnecting recycling with design and production processes. Key findings: Through industrial symbiotic lenses and a corporate social innovation mindset the two companies recognized the enormous amount of waste as a problem of linear business models. With a mindset driven by corporate social innovation, they saw the potential of a collaboration in order to achieve a shared competitive advantage. By selecting each other as a partner for this circular economic collaboration, they identified how they could combine their respective knowledge and resources to reach their mutual goals. Through a long term strategic approach with a clear and shared vision, clear targets from the directing management, and a team with complementary skills, many program synergies have been realized, with potentially outsized successes for each organization. This setting also created an environment of trust and a common identity within the project, which was fundamental to create social innovation and to find successful ways to reconnect recycling with design and production. Additionally, the existence of the project within each organization seemed to function as a talent magnet, attracting like-minded sustainability-motivated talent who would best perform towards the goals of the project.

Background: The increase in public awareness and rising social expectations have changed the role businesses have in modern society, as they are expected to deliver both organizational and social value. Despite this, most social engagements have previously been philanthropic, which is argued to only scratch the surface of societal issues. The concept of CSI was therefore coined, and it focuses on leveraging companies’ core capabilities to be innovative while forming collaborations and partnerships between units within the company and external organizations to mend social ills. This concept has been described to yield excellent outcomes; however, the initiation and implementation of CSI have been vaguely depicted in literature.  Purpose: Previous research of CSI has centralized around the outcomes, such as innovation capabilities and competitive advantage, and regularly compared them to more basic philanthropic initiatives. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to focus on the origin of CSI in organizations and how partnerships can facilitate its generation. The thesis further intends to collect and summarize the various definitions of CSI to establish the occurrence of CSI in various organizations.  Method: This research adopted a critical realism philosophical stance to perform a multiple case study. We did this with a qualitative research design, including eight semi-structured interviews with participants from different organizations currently engaged in partnerships. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis, which we practically performed using an abductive approach to code data and the subsequent thematization. The findings of this thesis are then, using theory matching and triangulation, presented to discover alternative explanations for the facilitating factors of CSI in partnerships.  Conclusion: We consolidated previous research to construct a definition of CSI. This consolidated concept was used to evaluate the initiatives in the participants’ partnerships. We used thematic analysis to define three distinct facilitating themes for generating CSI in partnerships: People, Partnership Conditions, and Institutional Entity Structure. Conclusively, the purpose was achieved as our findings and subsequent analysis indicates that the three realized themes substantially influence CSI generation. It was found that these facilitating factors are interdependent, as the underdevelopment of one area negatively influenced the ability to engage in CSI.

Yes / Corporate Social Innovation (CSI) has emerged as a research priority for multinational enterprises (MNEs) due to the increasing popularity of sustainable development solutions addressing wicked problems in the 21st century. Although most studies on CSI have focused on data from developed economies, emphasising the younger generation's forward-looking, sustainable, and environmentally friendly attitudes, there exists a gap in our understanding of the attitude of the older generation towards CSI practices of MNEs operating in emerging economies. The UN's SDG 3 advocates for the well-being of all at all ages. Despite this, healthcare outcomes in global-south countries fall below standard. Therefore, we conducted an in-depth critical analysis of textual data concerning CSI practices of 115 healthcare MNEs operating in 13 emerging economies. We quantified the number of CSI practices in their annual reports and operationalised the dependent variable using an entropy index to calculate the density and percentage score of CSI. Drawing on Upper Echelons, our analysis revealed that older CEOs are likelier to promote, initiate, and implement CSI in greater depth and breadth. These findings present a compelling case supporting the argument that CEOs and board members tend to contribute more to society as they age. We offer empirical evidence supporting the strengthening roles of senior board members and female board chairs. Our findings complement existing CSI studies from developed countries and illustrate how CEO and board characteristics influence the depth and breadth of CSI in emerging economies.