Corporate diplomacy and sustainable internationalisation: a conceptual and empirical exploration

This paper analyses how internationalising companies can instrumentalise sustainability principles within diplomatic strategies to identify, prioritise and manage holistically and in a sustainable way stakeholders' pressures. The research is conducted through a multi-perspective and interdisciplinary literature review, whose deductions are evaluated on a case study analysis based on the Enel S.p.A. internationalisation process in Chile. Corporate diplomacy offers a systemic approach to handle external pressures by engaging stakeholders, managing networks and detecting socio-economics dynamics. Complementary, corporate sustainability proposes a framework to manage and prioritise external pressures, collecting and analysing the nature of social expectations via replicable methods and international-recognised standards. The findings indicate that sustainable principles positively integrated within corporate diplomatic strategies produce direct, tangible and sustainable effects during the internationalisation process, for the company and its stakeholders. The outcomes are measured using key indicators, such as sustainable performances, value creation, financial profit, co-creational partnerships and corporate local reputation.