Moving from ‘Managing Stakeholders’ to ‘Managing for Stakeholders’: The Imperative for Responsible Business
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Markets Globalization and Development Review
Publication Date
1-1-2024
Abstract
Gone are the days when it was accepted that shareholders were the ones for whose benefit business was done, and that the purpose of business was to maximize returns to shareholders. Today, it is universally accepted that a business has to look beyond maximizing profits. It has to take into account the needs all stakeholders, including the environment. Several frameworks and approaches have been advocated to achieve the objective of optimizing the value of the corporation from multiple angles, including Triple Bottom Line, Responsible Business, Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, etc. At the heart of all these concepts is the issue of being fair to all stakeholders. While Stakeholder Management concepts and theories advocate that the concerns and perspectives of all stakeholders, not just shareholders, be taken into account while business decisions are made, in real-world operations, stakeholder management is done more from the perspective of ‘managing stakeholders’ so that the obstacles to the success of business are reduced, and profits can be maximized. But in the new world, where the world is striving for sustainability keeping environment, society and governance in mind, there needs to be a shift in both mindsets regarding stakeholder management, as well as managerial processes of stakeholder management. The commentary outlines what some of the changes needed are, how some of the process changes can be made, and compares multiple approaches for managing for multiple stakeholders.
Volume
9
Issue
3
First Page
1
Last Page
12
Recommended Citation
Raghunathan, M., & Liu, K. (2024). Moving from ‘Managing Stakeholders’ to ‘Managing for Stakeholders’: The Imperative for Responsible Business. Markets Globalization and Development Review, 9 (3), 1-12. Retrieved from https://docs.rwu.edu/gsb_fp/246
E-ISSN
24734055
