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Aline C. Gatignon

Assistant Professor of Management

Work In Progress

Working Papers

RESEARCH UNDER REVIEW

Stakeholder Architecture under Resource Constraints: A Configurational Approach to Healthcare Provision in Sub-Saharan Africa (w/ Julien Clement, Leandro Pongeluppe, & Luk N. Van Wassenhove)

Working Paper

We examine how different configurations of stakeholder relationships shape viable engagement strategies under resource constraints. Usingfuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we analyze data from North Star Alliance’s HIV/AIDS clinics serving high-risk populations along transport routes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our findings reveal four models of stakeholder engagement. Clinics struggled when they either lacked strong stakeholder ties (“dining alone”) or became overextended by engaging too many stakeholders without leveraging synergies (“too many cooks in the kitchen”). In contrast, successful approaches balanced internal coordination with external partnerships. The “potluck” model integrated resources from a homogeneous set of external partners while using internal support to manage donor relationships. The “community kitchen” model fostered deeper relationships with diverse but less munificent stakeholders, leveraging internal coordination to expand networks. Our study advances stakeholder theory and Grand Challenges research by introducing stakeholder architecture—a structured system of relationships that managers design around guiding principles rather than a static prioritization calculus. By emphasizing interfacing design features, we highlight how different configurations of stakeholder relationships reduce coordination costs, enhance synergies, and help organizations navigate resource constraints to achieve their goals. These insights offer actionable strategies for organizations seeking to scale social impact in resource-constrained environments.

Cross-Sector Relational Realignments after an Institutional Crisis: Checking the Instrumentalization of Corporate-Nonprofit Partnerships (w/ Marina Gama)

Conditionally accepted at the Academy of Management Journal

This study examines how government corruption scandals influence corporate-nonprofit partnerships by altering the institutional context in ways that affect the value of different nonmarket relationships. We study these dynamics in the context of the 2014 revelation of Operation Carwash in Brazil. Using data on all publicly listed firms and registered nonprofits in Brazil from 2010 to 2017, we find that partnerships became more common in the years after the scandal’s disclosure, as both firms and nonprofits sought to collaborate on socio-economic development. However, firms seen as directly or indirectly involved in the scandal struggled to form partnerships due to concerns over the risks to nonprofits’ legitimacy. Nonprofits that appeared to be closer to firms (i.e., trade associations) or the government (i.e., education and research nonprofits or nonprofits with political capital) were less likely to enter into partnerships, as they were vulnerable to accusations of advancing corporate political influence. Our findings suggest that such institutional crises can lead to a realignment of corporate partnerships with nonmarket actors, and these shifts must be studied across nonmarket sectors, not just within them.

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

They don’t care about us: How public policies can unlock growth in disadvantaged communities (w/ Daphne Coelho, Leandro Pongeluppe, & Sergio Lazzarini)
Corporate Social Responsibility and Disaster Response: Evidence from India (w/ Doron Tadmor & Christiane Bode)
The political drivers of CSR investments: an analysis of electoral contests following the 2013 Reform to the India Companies Act (w/ Christiane Bode & Sukrit Puri)
Market consolidation, decoupling, and environmental impact: evidence from the Brazilian meatpacking industry (w/ Laurence Capron, Leandro Pongeluppe, and Fernanda Lemos)
Nonmarket Stakeholder Synergies in Mergers and Acquisitions (w/ Marina Gama & Emilie Feldman)
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: How Government Attacks on the Nonprofit Sector Affect Firms’ Nonmarket Strategies (w/ Marina Gama)

About

My research is situated at the intersection of nonmarket strategy and multinational management. It explains how firms can collaborate with nonprofit organizations and/or governments to solve ESG and sustainability issues of mutual concern.

My research emphasizes how cross-sector partnerships can enhance both firm performance and the broader institutional environment, diverging from traditional firm-centric approaches. It centers on two main streams:

Creating Public and Private Value: Exploring how partnerships improve public goods vital for business while amplifying the voices of less powerful stakeholders.
Institutional Influences: Investigating how societal expectations, regulations, and external shocks shape the formation and sustainability of these collaborations, offering a dynamic perspective on firms' political and social activities.

To address the complexities of these partnerships, my work focuses on three themes:

Examining multi-level relationships to uncover interdependencies and trade-offs in partnership governance.
Building unique datasets in underrepresented settings.
Employing diverse methodologies—from qualitative to large-scale statistical analysis—to provide nuanced insights into underlying mechanisms.

My fieldwork spans three continents, supported by fluency in four languages and a multidisciplinary background in political science and development economics. The datasets I’ve developed cover diverse industries and include notable studies on CSR in India, health clinics in Sub-Saharan Africa, and corporate relationships in Brazil.

My scholarship has been recognized with prestigious awards and published in top journals like Strategic Management Journal and Organization Science. I actively collaborate with junior scholars, mentor doctoral students, and engage with academic and professional audiences globally.

Aline Gatignon is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a PhD in management from INSEAD and a Master’s in development economics from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). She studies the design, implementation, and impact of cross-sector partnerships between multinational firms and nonprofit organizations across three continents. Her research explains how firms can leverage such collaborations to address nonmarket strategic issues (e.g., incomplete regulations, undereducated labor force, limited physical infrastructure) of mutual concern and how such efforts are contingent upon institutional conditions in emerging markets. The empirical settings for her work range from cross-country comparisons of corporate disaster response to regional studies of supply chain development in Brazil, CSR implementation in India, and access to healthcare across Sub-Saharan Africa. Aline is the 2023 recipient of the ARCS Emerging Sustainability Scholar Award and is listed on the Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2025 and INSEAD’s “50 years, 50 Women, 50 Ideas” series. She sits on the editorial review boards for the Strategic Management Journal and Organizational Science and is a guest editor for the Academy of Management Perspectives’ upcoming Special Issue "Making it Better by Working Together”.

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