The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are changing the way multinational enterprises (MNEs) engage with host governments. The SDGs offer MNEs a unique opportunity to build political influence by assisting governments in attaining a host country’s social needs. However, international business scholars have largely remained silent on how MNEs strategize to repurpose ‘doing good’ into political influence. Based on a multiple case study of four Western European MNE subsidiaries in Indonesia, we uncover the strategies that MNEs use to turn their SDG initiatives into political access and influence. Our study reveals three nonmarket strategies – SDG-directed cross-sector partnership, SDG-directed conflict management, and SDG-directed constituency building. These actionable strategies help MNEs manage the tensions arising from misaligned government priorities, high levels of perceived corruption, and skepticism toward foreign firms. Our findings advance the literature on international nonmarket strategy by explaining how MNE subsidiaries resolve these tensions and convert SDG-directed investments into political access and influence without succumbing to locally institutionalized norms of corruption. Finally, our study suggests that emerging-market governments may benefit from rewarding MNEs for their investments that contribute to the SDGs, as long as they provide clear guidance and multi-stakeholder platforms that foster effective collaborations with MNEs.

联合国可持续发展目标 (SDG) 正在改变跨国企业 (MNE) 与东道国政府合作的方式。可持续发展目标为跨国企业提供了独特的机会，通过协助政府满足东道国的社会需求来建立政治影响力。然而，对于跨国公司如何制定战略，将“行善”转变为政治影响力，国际商业学者基本上保持沉默。基于对印度尼西亚四家西欧跨国公司子公司的多个案例研究，我们揭示了跨国公司将其可持续发展目标举措转化为政治准入和影响力的策略。我们的研究揭示了三种非市场策略——可持续发展目标导向的跨部门伙伴关系、可持续发展目标导向的冲突管理和可持续发展目标导向的选民建设。这些可行的战略有助于跨国企业应对因政府优先事项不一致、腐败程度高以及对外国公司的怀疑而产生的紧张局势。我们的研究结果解释了跨国公司子公司如何解决这些紧张局势，并将可持续发展目标导向的投资转化为政治准入和影响力，同时又不屈服于当地制度化的腐败规范，从而推进了国际非市场战略的文献。最后，我们的研究表明，新兴市场政府可能会从奖励跨国企业对可持续发展目标做出贡献的投资中受益，只要它们提供明确的指导和多利益相关者平台来促进与跨国企业的有效合作。