This research project examines social innovation initiatives that involve multinational companies (MNCs) in different industry, community and national contexts. We define social innovation as activities that seek to meet a social need, particularly those arising from social divides and the corporate responsibilities towards the externalities that MNCs create.

Our focus is on the individuals within MNCs who engage in innovative activities that address social divides, with a view to understanding whether and how such initiatives might contribute to inclusive growth in wider society. These initiatives may, for example, concern healthcare, educational and skill ecosystems, core labour rights, discrimination based on gender, race, sexual orientation and disability, or the marginalisation of migrants and indigenous peoples.

We emphasize the process of social innovation activities and the work of social activists from both within and beyond the boundaries of these companies. In this way, we study social innovation not only as top-down initiatives led by executives, but also as bottom-up processes led by social activists from a range of backgrounds and positions.

We seek to understand the dynamics of such social innovations in terms of:

• which actors take them forward

• how individuals within multinationals engage with civil society, government, or community stakeholders

• what resources and skills are deployed

• how and why they are successful