“Like a battalion of tanks”: A critical analysis of stakeholder management (original) (raw)
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Working Paper: Political? Stakeholder Perceptions of the Role of the Firm
There is, these years, a strong focus in the literature on the normative approach to CSR-the idea of the political role of the firm. In spite of an emerging acknowledgment that corporations are embedded in a network of discourses from multiple stakeholders, there is, however, little knowledge about how the role of the firm is co-constructed by stakeholders. This paper aims to address this question and thereby to contribute to the budding line of research into discursive processes between corporations and their societal environment.
Along with corporate identity, stakeholders are recognized as significant to both management and organizations. A glance at existing scholarship suggests that stakeholders are scrutinized from within multiple perspectives. For instance, in corporate marketing (Balmer 2011) and corporate communication (Podnar 2014), the traditional viewpoint is that organizations and their managers need to place stakeholders in the forefront of their thinking. And in corporate branding (Hatch and Schultz 2010), critical and constructionist perspectives suggest consumers and other stakeholders to be co- creators in the development of identities and brands. However, the examination of the relationships between corporate identity and stakeholders remains underdeveloped. In this introduction, we examine the corporate identity and stakeholder ‘interface’. Mindful of, and building on, previous discussions in this journal on related issues (see: Alvesson 1998; Balmer and Wilson 1998; Czarniawska and Wolff 1998; Marziliano 1998; Motion and Leitch 2002: Stewart 2002; Lawer and Knox 2008), we argue that corporate identity, and the ways it is conceptualized, is of critical importance in comprehending stakeholders. Marshaling insights from the corporate marketing and corporate communication fields, this article scrutinizes two prominent - albeit highly contrasting - perspectives relating to the corporate identity and stakeholder interface. The first takes an endogenous and institutional approach: this represents the orthodox and dominant perspective that focuses on an organization’s inherent corporate identity traits, ethos, and capabilities. The second adopts an exogenous and relational approach: this exemplifies a critical and constructionist perspective where corporate identities are constituted by the interactions with and among stakeholders. By examining these two perspectives, this article seeks to advance our understanding of the territory and the ays
Introducing the Politics of Stakeholder Influence
Business & Society, 2008
If stakeholder theory is to become a full theory of business-society relationships, it will have to develop a better understanding of processes by which stakeholders may gain and hold influence over firms. A better understanding of the political processes involved is required. This paper-as well as the papers in this special issue-takes a political 'view' to addressing the issue, and thereby extends the currently dominant demographic and structural approaches. It suggests that the influence of stakeholders over firms is the temporary outcome of processes of action, reaction, and interaction among various parties. Consequently, the further advancement of stakeholder theory would benefit from the adoption of process-research methods and thinking.
Organization Studies
Globalization is a blind spot in stakeholder theory and this undermines its explanatory power and usefulness to managers in global corporations. In this paper we build on Edward Freeman and colleagues' attempts to construct divergent stories about how to create value for the corporation and its stakeholders when developing a stakeholder theory that is more sensitive to globalization. We achieve this by highlighting two particular challenges that globalization brings to stakeholder theory. The first challenge is to acknowledge new power relations (sub-political movements, new forms of bureaucracy and hierarchy) and the second is to acknowledge new dimensions of responsibility (a political responsibility). In the paper we relate our developments of stakeholder theory to two previously published case studies.
Scrutinizing stakeholder thinking. Orthodoxy or Heterodoxy
2016
This issue provides an overview of stakeholder theory and corporate identity scholarship marshalling insights from the corporate marketing and corporate communications fields. In examining the corporate identity-stakeholder interface the authors compare and contrast endogeneous and exogenous approaches to the territory. The first, endogeneous and institutional, approach represents the orthodox and dominant perspective which focusses on an organization’s inherent corporate identity traits, ethos, and capabilities: an approach informed, in part, by stakeholder theory. The second, exogenous and relationnal, approach exemplies a critical and construcionist perspective where corporate identities are seen to be constituted by interactions with stakeholders. It is argued that both perspectives can be of value in comprehending contemporary organisations.
Corporate responses to stakeholder activism: partnerships and surveillance
Critical perspectives on international business
Purpose Corporations are increasingly expected to act responsibly. The purpose of this paper is to examine two types of corporate responses to these expectations: overt and covert responses. Specifically, it examines oil companies’ involvement in multi-stakeholder initiatives and sponsorships (overt responses) and their monitoring of critics, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and activist organisations (covert responses). Design/methodology/approach Theoretically, the paper draws on theories of visibility and post-political regulation. Empirically, it focuses on case studies of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), Shell and BP, drawing on qualitative methods. Findings The paper demonstrates that overt responses create an impression of consensus between antagonistic interests and that covert responses support this impression by containing deep-seated conflicts. Research limitations/implications Corporate responses have implications for the role of t...
Corporate governance and democracy: The stakeholder debate revisited
Journal of Management and Governance, 2002
Stakeholding' is a term laden with many meanings. In this pape r we attempt to put some order on the discourse by confining attention to the corporation. We assess the origins and the intellectual foundations of the 'shareholder versus stakeholder' debate. We ask whether and how 'stakeholding' might be a more logical or rational system, a fairer or more democratic system, and one that provides better performative outcomes. Each of these claims is assessed in respect to the micro firm perspective and the macro economy wide perspective.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 144.32.240.48 on MonABSTRACT. Sustainable development (SD) -that is, "Development that meets the needs of current genera tions without compromising the ability of future gener ations to meet their needs and aspirations" -can be pursued in many dierent ways. Stakeholder relations management (SRM) is one such way, through which corporations are confronted with economic, social, and environmental stakeholder claims. This paper lays the groundwork for an empirical analysis of the question of how far SD can be achieved through SI^M. It describes the so-called SD-SRM perspective as a distinctive research approach and shows how it relates to the wider body of stakeholder theory. Next, the concept of SD is operationalized for the microeconomic level with refer ence to important documents. Based on the ensuing SD framework, it is shown how SD and SRM relate to each other, and how the two concepts relate to other popular concepts such as Corporate Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. The paper concludes that the significance of societal guiding models such as SD and of management approaches like CSR is strongly dependent on their footing in society.