Private sector engagement in Indonesia government projects for poverty alleviation through CSR partnerships

This research paper discusses Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) partnerships between the private and public sectors in poverty alleviation project using political-economic and institutional analyses in CSR studies. By integrating the approach of political-economic factors both at global and national levels with neo-institutionalism in the literature written by Schlutz and Wehmeir (2010), this paper wants to see how the two approaches interwind with each other and explain CSR practices in Indonesia and how it shapes CSR partnerships between the public and private sectors in poverty alleviation projects. This research paper also explores whether the concept of CSR partnership proposed by Reed and Reed (2008) is adequates to become a solution of the current situation of CSR partnership. This study observes a separate cases of poverty alleviation projects covering State-Owned Enterprises (SOE), National Companies (NC), and Multinational Companies (MNC) alongside the involvement of four different government organization. This study combines textual analysis from a variety of sources with qualitative interviews to observe the complexities of CSR partnerships and their challenges. The results of this study show that the CSR partnership model, which varies based on the type of private sector, can be shaped by neo-institutionalism and political-economic approaches, which also help to explain CSR practices in Indonesia. The differences are primarily driven by regulations, professional norms, and public pressures that interact with political-economic factors, such as national economic systems and the penetration of foreign economies. These aspects are then taken in by each private sector, as shown by CSR reports and individual action. The study further highlights challenges in current CSR partnerships, such as imbalanced power dynamics, difficulty finding appropriate skills, difficulty identifying incentives, limited public awareness on CSR, and cultural differences between the public and private sectors.