Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking: Theory, Responsibility, and Engagement

This book makes it clear that in today's societies successful companies are those that recognise that they have responsibilities to a range of stakeholders that go beyond mere compliance with the law or meeting the fiduciary responsibility inherent in maximising returns to shareholders. If in the past the focus was on enhancing shareholder value, now it is on engaging stakeholders for long-term value creation.

The process of engagement creates a dynamic context of interaction, mutual respect, dialogue and change — not a one-sided 'management' of stakeholders.

Indeed, the authors believe the very term 'stakeholder management' to be outdated and corporate-centric. Companies can manage their relationships with stakeholders, but frequently cannot actually manage the stakeholders themselves, because, as the activist and collaborative initiatives described in this volume suggest, company-stakeholder relationships are not one-way streets and different institutions bring different agendas, goals and priorities to the engagement.