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Crisis Partnerships: Genuine Change or Corporate Spin?

Strategy
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Research by Associate Professor Aline Gatignon at HEC Paris uncovers how crises redefine power and legitimacy in corporate–nonprofit partnerships.

Aline Gatignon portrait at HEC

When a corporate scandal explodes, like Volkswagen’s Dieselgate or BP’s oil spill, companies scramble to save their reputations. Often, they turn to nonprofits, funding environmental or social causes to show they’re part of the solution. But are these partnerships real, or just spin? Strategy professor Aline Gatignon suggests answers. Her new study uncovers how crises change the way corporations and nonprofits work together - and how nonprofits sometimes resist being used as PR cover. Her research is a story about power, legitimacy, and the resilience of civil society.

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