This, along with the prevalence of corporate social responsibility has led to an emphasis on cross-sector partnering, of close relations being formed between non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and corporations, foundations and multilateral organisations such as the World Bank and World Health Organisation.

The development of greater interwoven relationships between governments, NGOs and international corporations can, in the view of many, be directly attributed to the effects of globalisation, with intersectoral collaborations or partnerships being used to advance the fundamental goals and objectives of each party.

It is a general theme within business that the majority of multinational corporations are actively strengthening their corporate social responsibility programmes throughout the developing world. This view has been reinforced by a wide range of NGOs, all of whom agree that corporations both through their CSR programmes and their are deliberately expanding and improving their relevance to countries' social and environmental issues.

The relationship between corporate companies and NGOs has been crucial to the success of those CSR programmes that have been implemented to date. NGOs have served as a crucial reference point for information connected to corporate behaviour in developing countries.

In addition to broad-based, business-orientated organisations, non-governmental organisations have taken roles as advocates or even in some cases as watchdogs, ensuring companies adhere to acceptable practices in regions open to exploitation. They have proved hugely influential in calling the attention of the world's public (and with that the attention of the global media) to the key issues and in directly confronting them on their practices.

Mutual Benefits

The most obvious benefit for an NGO entering into a relationship with a global corporation is the opportunity to extend the reach of that organisation, reaching more people than they might do ordinarily, be it overseas or in the United States. NGOs subsequently find new ways of carrying out their mandates and fulfilling their missions, while also being able to access more resources to support their programmes.

Corporations also have a wide variety of reasons for working with NGOs in their corporate responsibility programmes, the good reputation and moral influence of that organisation being viewed as a great asset. In some cases, a key attraction is the contacts and relations built by the NGO in the countries in which it operates, while in other the expertise in a particular area of focus is viewed as invaluable, enabling companies to establish operations in more than one new region through the same relationship. It is not just conceptual expertise that NGOs are able to bring; in many cases their established management capacity relieves some of the paperwork burden on the corporate partner, while working with them as opposed to working with a regional government is seen as being preferable in less politically stable regions.