Stakeholder management and sustainability strategies in the French nuclear industry

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. 2 Energy has become a major issue in the agenda of governments, institutions, business firms and the public. Preventing global warming while meeting the world's energy needs is of critical importance to the sustainability of the planet (IES, 2008). However, the demand for non-renewable resources continues to rise with continued population growth further exacerbating the situation. Between 1945 and 2009 the world's population increased from 2 billion to 6.2 billion and the OECD estimates that the planet will have nearly 9 billion people by 2050. Population growth will occur mainly in the developing regions of the world where energy needs will rise significantly. World consumption of electricity is estimated to grow at 2.4% per year between 2006 and 2030 with higher levels of growth in China and India (IAE, 2008). However, electricity production is dominated by fossil fuels combustion such as petroleum, coal and natural gas. These production processes are a major cause of global warming through greenhouse gad emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Permanent repository link:Change (IPCC) estimates that the world temperature can rise from 1.1 to 6 degrees Centigrade before the next century with devastating environmental and social consequences. Dramatic reductions on greenhouse gas emissions coupled with fundamental changes in the traditional energy production model are needed to ensure planetary survival.Given the political and economic power of the global fossil fuel lobby energy experts admit that the traditional energy model will be hard to replace. Renewable energy sources such as biomass, solar power, wind power, geothermal energy and hydroelectric energy only represent 3% of the world consumption. Investment in these technologies could reduce the world's dependence on fossils but the capacity to invest in non-renewable energy and the technological capability is unevenly distributed. Our inability to stock energy is also a problem because renewable sources do not produce energy continuously. There are ongoing efforts to provide solutions to the energy storage problem as in Germany where plans are underway to build an energy distribution network that would connect wind power stations in the north of the country with solar power stations in the south. However these developments are limited to a select few industrialized countries.In the context of energy sources the nuclear power industry has an ambiguous status.While many institutions and governments consider nuclear energy as a 'sustainable' solution to the energy crisis there are serious concerns about the safety and ecological impact of the industry as well as the treatment of radioactive waste. Nuclear power corporations are often the targets of activist green groups and there is both a material and ideological battle currently being waged about the risks and benefits of nuclear energy. 3In this paper we describe how the sustai...

Implications of Managerial Framing of Stakeholders in Environmental Reports

“…Henriques and Sadorsky (1999) identified four groups that managers perceive as setting environmental demands: regulatory stakeholders (government and trade associations), organizational stakeholders (customers, suppliers, employees and shareholders), community stakeholders (community groups and environmental organizations) and the media. This list of stakeholders has since been supported by many other studies examining environmental demands from different stakeholder groups (Banerjee and Bonnefous, 2011;Sharma and Henriques, 2005;Delmas and Toffel, 2004): Banerjee and Bonnefous (2011) identified different strategies for addressing supportive stakeholders (such as government and international institutions), obstructive stakeholders (NGOs) and passive stakeholders (the general public). Sharma and Henriques (2005) identified the multiplicity of withholding influences (by regulators and environmental NGOs), usage influences (by customers) and employee influences (through involvement) were identified by managers.…”

Transparency fallacy

“…However, while there are several examples that shed light on malpractice (e.g. Banerjee and Bonnefous (2011) on the French nuclear industry and Owen (2005) on Enron), there are also MNCs that are praised for their excellence, for instance Patagonia (McSpirit, 1999) with its calls for reduced consumption. Whether or not Patagonia has succeeded in actually reducing the overall consumption is another question.…”

Sustainable Oil and Profitable Wind

“…We agree with the authors when they state, "studies on the relation between such controversial industry sectors and CSR are in its infant stage and we do not fully understand why and how firms in controversial industries gain or sneak legitimacy through CSR engagement" (p. 468). However, in recent years in particular, there have been a few studies (Banerjee & Bonnefous 2011;Cai, Jo & Pan 2012;Du & Vieira Jr. 2012;Frynas 2005;Yoon, Gürhan-Canli, & Schwarz 2006;Livesey 2002;Livesey & Kearins 2002;O'Connor & Gronewold 2012;Palazzo & Richter 2005;Slack 2012;Wheeler, Fabig & Boele 2002). Results appear to be counter-intuitive and show that controversial industries do not avoid CSR claims.…”

“…The communication of economic responsibilities might be prioritised or marginalised. It might or might not be related to the communication of social and environmental responsibilities (Banerjee & Bonnefous 2011;Humphreys & Brown 2008;O'Connor & Gronewold 2012). Functionalist business research (e.g., Cai, Jo & Pan 2012) tends to underestimate the complexity of these tensions by assuming a kind of natural win-win-relationship: being profitable and being a "good corporate citizen" are claimed to be mutually supportive.…”