Integrating corporate responsibility principles and stakeholder approaches into mainstream strategy: a stakeholder‐oriented and integrative strategic management framework

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to establish a strategic management framework that supports the integration of corporate social responsibility principles and stakeholder approaches into mainstream business strategy.Design/methodology/approachA top‐down and bottom‐up approach was used to develop the proposed framework. The top‐down approach focused on analyzing the main strategic management theories including social responsibility movements to identify complementary concepts and create a relevant topology. The bottom‐up approach was based on empirical research on the views of business companies on corporate social responsibility, a review of best practices and case studies mainly in Greece.FindingsThe paper describes a stakeholder‐oriented integrative strategic management framework linking the main strategic management theories across value, responsiveness and responsibility dimensions. A mathematical model is presented describing the synergistic development of advantage‐creating knowledge and advantage‐creating stakeholder relations in accordance with the criteria of the resource‐based theory.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed management framework is based on the results of research projects and is not fully developed and tested. The approach will be refined, exploiting results from ongoing research including further empirical research and testing in business organizations.Originality/valueThe paper defines a novel conceptual framework extending the resource‐ and stakeholder‐based approaches by introducing two interlinked concepts: advantage‐creating knowledge and advantage‐creating stakeholder relations.

Stakeholder mapping of CSR in Switzerland

“…charitable donations to education and stakeholder engagement). Katsoulakos and Katsoulakos (2007) have also noticed that CSR and corporate sustainability are overlapping movements. Companies practicing CSR often address sustainability issues, and these concepts are seen as interchangeable, even if there are different motivations behind the two movements and still discussion as to whether the former is subsystem to the latter or vice versa.…”

“…For Du and Vieira (2012), CSR represents a way for companies to achieve such ethical standards and a balance of economic, environmental and social requirements, thereby resolving the concerns of their stakeholders and meeting their expectations. Katsoulakos and Katsoulakos (2007) distinguish between these two interrelated CSR dimensions: CSR as a "moral activity" and a new vision for the world based on a global partnership for sustainable development, on the one hand, and CSR as a "business case" or more precisely a business management approach that should, in the long run, provide better value for shareholders on the other. The former has no need for formalisation because it is driven by norms and values, where moral legitimacy can only be gained through "moral reasoning" (Schultz et al, 2013) and the "forceless force of the better argument" (Habermas, 1984).…”

Reinventing the wheel? A comparative overview of the concept of dialogue

“…Indeed, strategic planning models envisage formal research methodologies (see, for example, Accountability, 2006). In addition to "listening", "openness to the other" is another of the dimensions dealt with in research studies in the field of business management (Walter, Lechner, & Kellermanns, 2007;Katsoulakos & Katsoulakos, 2007). Dialogue is figured as a key part of company management, because to a certain extent it changes the way decisions are taken, insofar as new agents or actors with a range of interests and concerns may influence the choices made by managers.…”

Embedding Corporate Social Responsibility in Corporate Governance: A Stakeholder Systems Approach

“…To address the limited knowledge we have used a holistic approach to corporate governance and CSR that integrates company, shareholder and wider stakeholder concerns. A defensive stance has been avoided by delineating key stages of the governance process and aligning profit-centred and social responsibility concerns to produce a business-based rationale for minimising financial risk and mainstreaming CSR (Paulet 2011;Katsoulakos and Katsoulakos 2007). We have also addressed the disconnection of many salient stakeholders from company decisions on CSR by incorporating stakeholder evaluation of the effectiveness and equity of system outcomes at each stage of the governance model that the paper proposes.…”