Stakeholder thinking in marketingStakeholder thinking is becoming a "core" part of marketing as well as other businessrelated disciplines. A search of the business source primmer database found that priorto 1995 there are 58 articles using the term stakeholder in their title and 27 academicmarketing related articles with stakeholder as a key term. The interest in stakeholdertheory has however grown rapidly, between January 2000 and November 2004 therewere 228 articles using stakeholder theory in the title and 140 academic marketingrelated journal articles that examined stakeholder issues. In fact the American Marketing Association's (AMA, 2004) new definition ofmarketing expressly incorporates our responsibility to consider how marketingactivities impact stakeholders:Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways thatbenefit the organization and its stakeholders. Thus the AMA has recognised the core role of stakeholder thinking. While there is an increased interest in stakeholder thinking in marking, anexamination of the literature would seem to suggest that there is no unified view ofhow stakeholder thinking can be or should be integrated into theory or practice. Manyof the stakeholder works, marketing and in other disciplines, still focus on the socialand ethical impacts of stakeholders. This may have been where much off stakeholderthinking initially gained its prominence, but it is a broader strategic tool that canbenefit a range of areas and was in fact the focus of Freeman's (1984) original work inthe area. This is not to suggest that the general strategic implications of stakeholderthinking are not being consider, as an increasingly number of works are looking atstakeholder implications in regards to exchange networks, relationship marketing, andother issues related to strategy development. The papers in this special issue have considered a range of varying perspectivesincluding: corporate social responsibility, the impact of interacting with stakeholders, relationship issues, and broader discussions of stakeholder theory as a strategic tool. These papers have taken a diverse range of perspectives including conceptual works, case studies, qualitative approaches, and various empirical approaches to examiningthe issues of interest within various pieces. The scope of papers included in the special, as well as those not included, identifies the breadth of relevance stakeholder thinkinghas for the application of all aspects of marketing theory and practice. The question of how stakeholders and stakeholder theory can be considered inorganisational activities and marketing theory is an issue that most certainly seems towarrant further consideration. The works in this special issue have advanced thisdebate and identified some directions that could be considered. Stakeholder thinking ishowever not necessarily a paradigm shift in marketing thinking, although some mightbelieve it is, but rather it broadens existing concepts such as relationship marketing, network theory, organisational social responsibility and other areas. Hopefully thepapers presented in this special issue will encourage others to consider the inclusion ofstakeholders into broader areas of marketing. Any special issue editor has to thank a range of people for assistance withdeveloping the special issue. I would like to thank Audrey Gilmore and David Carson, editors of EJM, for allowing the special issue to be developed. Their input through theprocess has been invaluable. I would also like to thank the many authors ofunsuccessful papers for submitting their work. It was of course impossible to includeall papers in the special issue, but the breadth of coverage, in regards to topics andgeographic areas would seem to demonstrate the growing interest in stakeholderthinking within marketing. Lastly, it is imperative that I thank the reviewers, withouttheir assistance the special issue would not have been possible. The following peoplereviewed papers for the special issue:. Anupam Jaju - Gorge Mason University;. Bill Kilbourn - Clemson University;. Bob Heiser - New Mexico State University;. Catherine Elder, [email protected] . ;. Cathy L. Hartman - Utah State University;. David Waller - University of Technology Sydney;. David Stewart - Monash University;. Devashish Pujari - McMaster University;. Dr Russell Casey - Clayton State University;. Duane Windsor - Rice University;. Edwin R. Stafford - Utah State University;. Felix Mavondo - Monsah University;. Frank de Bakker - University of Amsterdam;. Hamish Ratten - University of Queensland;. J. Tomas Gomez Arias - St Mary's College of California;. Jeanne M. Logsdon - University of New Mexico; . John F. Mahon - University of Main;. John Stanton - University of Western Sydney;. Kamal Ghose - University of South Australia;. Kelly Strong - Iowa State University;. Kirk Davidson - Mount St Mary's University;. Kim E. Schatzel - University of Michigan-Dearborn;. Les Carlson - Clemson University;. Linda McGilvray - Massey University;. Marie-Louise Fry - University of Newcastle, Australia;. Mary McKinley - ESCEM School of Business and Management;. Michael Beverland - Monsah University;. Michael Hyman - New Mexico State University;. Mike McCardle - Western Michigan University;. Mike Reid - Monash University;. Nick Grigoriou - Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology;. Peter Scholem - Monash University;. Rita Ferreira - University of Navarra;. Romana Garma - Victoria University, Australia;. Ruhi Yahan - Victoria University, Australia;. Rujirutana Mandhachitara - Long Island University;. Sabrina Helm - Heinrich-Heine University, Duesseldorf;. Scott Vitell - The University of Mississippi;. Sema Sakarya - Bogazici University;. Srikanth Beldona - University of Delaware;. Stacey Hills - Utah State University;. Taras Danko - National Technical University;. Ulrich Orth - Oregon State University; and. William E. Martello - St Edwards University. Michael Jay PolonskyGuest EditorPreviously published in: European Journal of Marketing, Volume 39, Number 9/10, 2005

This book shows how companies can maximize the value of their CR initiatives by fostering strong stakeholder relationships.

Managing for Stakeholders: Survival, Reputation, and Success, the culmination of twenty years of research, interviews, and observations in the workplace, makes a major new contribution to management thinking and practice. Current ways of thinking about business and stakeholder management usually ask the Value Allocation Question: How should we distribute the burdens and benefits of corporate activities among stakeholders? Managing for Stakeholders, however, helps leaders develop a mindset that instead asks the Value Creation Question: How can we create as much value as possible for all of our stakeholders?Business is about how customers, suppliers, employees, financiers (stockholders, bondholders, banks, etc.), communities, the media, and managers interact and create value. World-renowned management scholar R. Edward Freeman and his coauthors outline ten concrete principles and seven practical techniques for managing stakeholder relationships in order to ensure a firm’s survival, reputation, and success. Managing for Stakeholders is a revolutionary book that will change not only how managers do business but also how they recognize and evaluate business opportunities that would otherwise be invisible.

Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This book – the first of a two-volume series – argues that, today, stakeholder thinking has evolved into the study of interactive, mutually engaged and responsive relationships that establish the very context of doing modern business, and create the groundwork for transparency and accountability. This book makes it clear that in today's societies successful companies are those that recognize that they have responsibilities to a range of stakeholders that go beyond mere compliance with the law or meeting the fiduciary responsibility inherent in maximizing 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. There are clear implications to the way in which stakeholder thinking is unfolding today. If in the past corporate "social" responsibility was simply seen as profitability plus compliance plus philanthropy, now responsible corporate citizenship – or corporate responsibility – means companies being more aware of and understanding the societies in which they operate. Corporate responsibility means recognising that day-to-day operating practices affect stakeholders and that it is in those impacts where responsibility lies, not merely in efforts to "do good". Companies are now faced with a wide array of challenges that mean that senior executives and managers need to be able to deal with issues including greater accountability, human rights abuses, sustainability strategies, corporate governance codes, workplace ethics, stakeholder consultation and management. Stakeholder thinking needs to capture these new realities. The global reach of multinational corporations has served to highlight the need for the (re)integration of business into society, relationships into stakeholder relations, and ethics into managerial practice. The rise in power of global activism involving NGOs, and global business involving multinational corporations, makes it even more critical today for companies to consider the power and interests of corporate stakeholders when developing strategic plans. The interactivity and mutuality of relationships described in this book make it clear that firms and stakeholders share the power and responsibility to influence both the profit potential of the firm and how the benefits of the firm's success impact on society. This important volume brings together leading academic thought on stakeholder thinking for the first time. Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking will be indispensable to corporate managers, NGOs and academics seeking greater understanding of the dynamics of stakeholder thinking in a world of rapidly changing responsibilities.A companion volume, Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking 2, focusing on practical issues such as relationship management, communication, reporting, and performance, is also available.

In 1984, R. Edward Freeman published his landmark book, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, a work that set the agenda for what we now call stakeholder theory. In the intervening years, the literature on stakeholder theory has become vast and diverse. This book examines this body of research and assesses its relevance for our understanding of modern business. Beginning with a discussion of the origins and development of stakeholder theory, it shows how this corpus of theory has influenced a variety of different fields, including strategic management, finance, accounting, management, marketing, law, health care, public policy, and environment. It also features in-depth discussions of two important areas that stakeholder theory has helped to shape and define: business ethics and corporate social responsibility. The book concludes by arguing that we should re-frame capitalism in the terms of stakeholder theory so that we come to see business as creating value for stakeholders.

The stakeholder perspective is an alternative way of understanding how companies and people create value and trade with each other. Freeman, Harrison and Zyglidopoulos discuss the foundation concepts and implementation of stakeholder management as well as the advantages this approach provides to firms and their managers. They present a number of tools that managers can use to implement stakeholder thinking, better understand stakeholders and create value with and for them. The Element concludes by discussing how managers can create stakeholder oriented control systems and by examining some of the important stakeholder-related issues that are worthy of future scholarly and managerial attention.