Engaging with Stakeholders: A Relational Perspective on Responsible Business contends that meaningful and constructive stakeholder engagement efforts should be rooted in a deep relational process of shared understanding, expectations, and viewpoints, through honest, continued dialogue between stakeholders and company management. This anthology follows and reaffirms this view, which also establishes the increasing need to explore the subtleties of how companies can respectfully engage their stakeholders in ways that reflect the corporate strategy and contribute to the ongoing development of business activities and creation of value, for themselves and stakeholders, from social, environmental, and economic perspectives.

Stakeholder engagement practices, however, remain highly complex and difficult to manage; their ability to generate value in an inclusive way requires critical consideration. Sound stakeholder engagement efforts also constitute a keystone for responsible business activities.

Drawing on a wide range of literature and studies, this book addresses key dimensions of stakeholder engagement, through a responsible business lens, and thereby contributes to identifying the opportunities, challenges, and key organizational implications associated with their unfolding. The four main topics covered are:

* Delineating the nature and multiple raisons d'etre of stakeholder engagement

* Dialogical and communicational foundations of stakeholder engagement

* Engaging with diverse stakeholders throughout the value chain

* Reaping organizational returns and relational rewards of stakeholder engagement efforts

About the Author

Dr. Adam Lindgreen is Professor at Copenhagen Business School where he heads the Department of Marketing. He also is Extra Ordinary Professor at University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science. He has published in the California Management Review, the Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of Product Innovation Management, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and the Journal of World Business, among others.

Dr. Francois Maon is Associate Professor at IESEG School of Management. He received his PhD from the Catholic University of Louvain (Louvain School of Management). Dr. Maon has published in the California Management Review, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the International Journal of Management Reviews, among others.

Dr. Joelle Vanhamme is a Professor at the Edhec Business School. Dr. Vanhamme received her PhD from the Catholic University of Louvain (Louvain School of Management). She has published in the California Management Review, Industrial Marketing Management, the International Journal of Research in Marketing, the Journal of Advertising, the Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of Retailing, Marketing Letters, Psychology & Marketing, and Recherche et Applications en Marketing, amongst others.

Dr. Beatriz Palacios Florencio is Associate Professor at Pablo de Olavide University. Her main research focus is corporate social responsibility and tourism. She has published in the Journal of Business Research, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Management Decision, and the Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, among others.

Dr. Christine Vallaster is Professor at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences where she heads the Marketing & Relationship Management section. She has published in the California Management Review, Industrial Marketing Management, the Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of World Business, among others. She has also authored articles for the German edition of Harvard Business Manager.

Dr. Carolyn Strong is Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University's Business School, where she teaches postgraduate marketing and ethical issues in marketing to undergraduate students. She received her PhD from the University of Wales. She has published in the Journal of Business Research, Marketing Letters, the European Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of Advertising, among others. She is the editor of the Journal of Strategic Marketing.

Reviews

"This book presents a synthesis of the most recent work on stakeholder management and opens up new fields of research. But, more deeply, it addresses the issue of corporate responsibility from the most relevant and fruitful angle: seeing reponsibility as relationship management." - Prof. Herve Dumez, Ecole polytechnique and CNRS (France)

"The book provides a treasure trove of international scholars' perspectives on stakeholder engagement. Consistent with Jerry Calton's and Stephen Payne's seminal work on multi-stakeholder dialogue and reciprocal sensemaking, the contributions address the communicative foundations of stakeholder engagement and examine its implications for organizational performance, throughout the value chain. Implicit in these important theoretical and empirical efforts is the increasing importance of relationships with individual stakeholders-rather than broad, generic stakeholder groups or collectives. Timely, context-sensitive, and comprehensive." - Prof. Marc Orlitzky, University of South Australia Business School

"The editors and authors have brought together an incisive and comprehensive anthology of the role of stakeholder engagement and responsible business. The nature of the stakeholder has changed and continues to evolve. Real-time and fast moving e-communications have turned recipients of business into shapers and enablers of business, which organisations and agencies must engage with. This timely book sets out the modern landscape of responsible business and the relational strategies needed to survive and prosper in the user generated and influenced world." - Prof. Martin Hingley, University of Lincoln

"A comprehensive, multi-perspective, research-based anthology, edited and written by an international group of scholars who both critically analyze stakeholder relationships and explore diverse ways to make these relationship lively and effective for the good of businesses, the good of stakeholders, and the good of society. Readers of this anthology-both business people and students-can learn much and gain some useful ideas by looking at these essays. This is a wonderfully cosmopolitan, thoughtful, and practically-oriented book." - Dr. Frederick Bird, Adjunct Professor, Political Science, University of Waterloo and Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Concordia University

"This anthology provides a unique overview by leading stakeholder thinkers of recent developments and contemporary issues in managing stakeholder relationships. It's a go-to resource for scholars, students, and managers seeking to understand the frontiers of the theory and practice of stakeholder engagement." - Prof. Stephen Brammer, Executive Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University

"Corporate responsibility is a transactional process building ongoing alignment, across multiple parties. This book provides an excellent overview of research to date helping scholars and practitioners better understand the dynamics and learn from empirical and theoretical perspectives to activate effective solutions expected to make business a force shaping a more just and sustainable world." - Farid Baddache, Managing Director, Business for Social Responsibility

"This book is highly recommendable for anyone with an interest in stakeholder engagement. It offers novel overviews, valuable insights, and alternative approaches, as it takes the reader through some of the key practical complexities while it introduces new theoretical and empirical perspectives to explore stakeholder engagement. Congratulations!" - Prof. Mette Morsing, Professor at the Copenhagen Business School and the Mistra Chair of Sustainable Markets at Stockholm School of Economics

Book Information
ISBN 9781138325579
Author Adam Lindgreen
Format Hardback
Page Count 370
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g