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This paper aims to offer marketers an example of the application of stakeholder theory and analysis, using a current discourse between a number of stakeholders about their views on issues raised in a report on a model for the sustainability of life in Australia in the future.

Through a systematic discourse analysis of the text of the speakers on the documentary program, the relationship of each stakeholder group to the issues at the centre of the discourse is unpacked.

Four themes emerged from the analysis indicating that the thinking of the stakeholders on the concept of an “economy” was based on different theoretical schemata; their level of concern for “sustainability” of a viable economic model varied; they did not agree on the question of who is responsible for a “sustainable future”; and the philosophical positions of the stakeholders on the issue varied considerably.

The implications for marketing communicators or stakeholder groups, needing to lobby, negotiate or influence others who operate in a different paradigm, are discussed.

An integrated marketing communications model is proposed that accounts for important relationships between the organization and its key stakeholders. The contribution to marketing lies in the demonstration that consideration of each step in the plan as it relates to each stakeholder, rather than a single‐minded approach, provides an opportunity for competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to trace the development of a methodology for identification of stakeholders, their demands, wants and expectations.

Within the public eldercare, data were collected by means of participant observations to assess the methodology under development and to explore the stakeholder view within public eldercare.

In public eldercare, the customer focus is often emphasised, but not always apparent. Nursing staff have the responsibility to give patients the right care. However, these customers often have to be satisfied subject to meeting demands from relatives, management and society, just to mention a few of the other potential stakeholders. Indeed, nurses have diverging views of who the stakeholders are and also find it problematic to prioritize between stakeholders' interests. The findings include a stakeholder methodology, which suggests steps for identification of stakeholders and stakeholders' demands, wants and expectations on an individual employee level as well as steps for group discussions concerning how to achieve a common view and balance different interests on an organizational level.

The implications of the findings are mainly valid for the Swedish public eldercare. However, both experiences and the stakeholder methodology should be valuable both for other public and private organisations.

The study might stimulate the debate on the somewhat controversial customer focus in public eldercare. It explores the suitability of stakeholder theory on an individual level and presents a tentative stakeholder methodology.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a rationale and a method for aligning external and internal brands within an integrated marketing strategy that recognises stakeholder expectations of a more socially responsible approach. It demonstrates the benefits of viewing external and internal brands synergistically in relation to the value propositions offered to stakeholder groups and the beneficial outcomes that can result from this.

Stakeholder constituencies that can facilitate or constrain marketing effectiveness are identified. The analysis underpins a model that shows links and feedback mechanisms between corporate, external and internal brands; stakeholder evaluation of these; and the implications for stakeholder contribution, loyalty and advocacy.

The paper demonstrates the significance and application potential of a conceptual framework that analyses the relationship between the brand benefits and values that an organisation espouses, how these are experienced by customers and employees, and the implications for marketing and human resource management. Its conclusions have particular significance for services brands where successful customer‐organisation relations are dependant on staff commitment that is itself predicated on organisation concern for employee well being.

The model provides a framework for further empirical testing of the relationships shown that includes their operation in particular organisation, industry and sector contexts.

The paper presents a business based rationale for the marketing function to recognise greater stakeholder concern – especially that of customers and employees – for ethical marketing and sustainability; and the financial, social and ethical capital benefits that can accrue from responding to this.

The perspective on branding in the paper recognises the stakeholder management implications of the new marketing paradigm by proposing a holistic approach whereby external and internal brands are viewed synergistically within an integrated marketing strategy. The paper responds to calls for a new philosophy of marketing in which integrated brand architecture demonstrates organisation recognition of a more stakeholder accountable and socially responsible era.

The purpose of this research is to show how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is actually implemented and managed in business practice by a mobile communications provider in Switzerland. Based on this presentation the paper aims to analyze whether this implementation in the firm is consistent or not, to the responsibilities derived from the stakeholder view framework as it has been proposed by Post et al. (2002).

The goal of this investigation is twofold. From a theoretical perspective, the paper aims to find out if the stakeholder view framework is a suitable tool to assess a firm's practical efforts in the area of CSR. And from a practitioners perspective, the application of the stakeholder view framework may help in identifying “blind spots” whereby closing them could increase the firm's effectiveness concerning the implementation of their specific corporate responsibility.

Because of the empirical findings it is concluded that the application of the stakeholder responsibility framework yields interesting insights into how corporate responsibilities are managed from a stakeholder perspective.

The paper ends by suggesting several recommendations for the further CSR implementation of the company analyzed and for business practice in general.

Using upper echelons theory (UET), the purpose of this paper is to unravel the influence of a CEO’s ethical ideology on the presence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure on corporate websites. It also considers the CEO’s perception of the importance of CSR (i.e. the extent of the CEO’s detachment from the stockholder-oriented logic and attachment to the stakeholder-oriented logic).

First, a survey was sent to CEOs of large unlisted Belgian companies. Its intention was to assess CEOs’ ethical ideology along the idealism and relativism dimensions and their perceptions on the importance of CSR (PRESOR-detachment-from-stockholder view; PRESOR-attachment-to-stakeholder view), and to gather some demographics. Second, a content analysis of corporate websites was conducted so as to classify companies as being either CSR disclosing or non-disclosing. Third, the annual accounts of these corporations were investigated and follow-up phone calls were conducted to obtain data on managerial discretion (MD).

CEOs’ ethical ideology influences the degree to which they detach from the stockholder-oriented logic and attach to the stakeholder-oriented logic. Moreover, when MD is high, the degree of these CEOs’ attachment to the stakeholder-oriented logic is the factor that influences the presence of CSR disclosure on their corporate websites. Finally, CEO’s idealism indirectly influences the presence of CSR disclosure through the effect of idealism on the degree to which CEOs attach to the stakeholder-oriented logic.

This paper shows that, when MD is high, CEOs’ values and perceptions influence CSR disclosure decisions. This study thereby enhances our knowledge regarding the internal drivers of CSR disclosure practices and offers UET as a lens through which the importance of CEOs’ personal characteristics in the decision-making process might be further explored.

The essential investments in new product development (NPD) made by industrial companies entail effective management of NPD activities. In this context, performance measurement is one of the means that can be employed in the pursuit of effectiveness.

New Zealand (NZ) has no reporting standard or guidance for management commentary (MC) that accompanies financial reports. This is unusual, considering MC is provided by many entities and valued by users. Further, the guidance on MC provided by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in their Management Commentary Practice Statement 1 (MCPS1), which was issued in 2010, is currently under review. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the views of NZ’s financial reporting stakeholders, particularly users, preparers and auditors of financial reports for insights regarding the usefulness of MC.

To gain insights into the views of NZ’s financial reporting stakeholders on MC, this paper surveyed users, preparers and auditors of financial statements. This paper includes an analysis of their views on the objectives, content and principles that should underlie MC in financial reporting, based on the IASB’s MCPS1 with consideration of recent work by the IASB on the revision of MCPS1. In addition, the analysis provides insights as to whether the reporting of MC should be made mandatory, and whether assuring MC would increase its usefulness.

This study found that auditors generally view MC as less useful and more in need of assurance than do preparers and users. Respondents’ ratings indicate that the most important objective for MC is “to enable the assessment of the quality of management’s stewardship”. “Assessing the entity’s future prospects”, and “assessing future cash flows” are also highly rated objectives. The most important principle in preparing MC is identified as “focus on the most important and relevant information”, while the most important content element identified is “the entity's financial performance and position, and cash flows”.

This paper highlights the views of various stakeholders regarding MC reporting, particularly preparers and auditors whose views have not been noted previously in the literature. Also, this study should be of interest to both international and national financial reporting standard setters and regulators. It is particularly timely in view of the current IASB work towards revision and updating of MCPS1, as it provides current insights into what users, preparers and auditors perceive as the most important considerations for MC. This study also has implications for the XRB in NZ, where there is no prior research on stakeholders’ views on MC.

The civil aviation sector in Dubai has been contributing to its economic development by enhancing transportation services, allowing for the establishment of trade links, promoting tourism and providing job opportunities. Despite being a thriving sector of economic activity (Dubai was the third busiest airport in the world in 2018), a common understanding among the stakeholders on the sector’s long-term sustainability strategy is missing. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the identification of important sustainability indicators in the civil aviation sector in Dubai.

This study uses the stakeholder theory to identify sustainability indicators. It deploys a qualitative research design that collects data through multiple focus groups, and it accounts for the stakeholders’ views toward key sustainability indicators. This research classified stakeholders completely in a separate matrix preventing their integration and therefore the confounding of their views. The study addresses the complexity of sustainability in the sector and identifies key indicators based on comprehensive and valid data from different stakeholders. The study focuses separately on the three pillars of sustainability: social, economic and environmental sustainability and identifies sustainability indicators for each pillar from the views of stakeholders. The study uses thematic analysis to produce results by identifying themes according to the collected data.

The study finds that there is a lack of sustainability knowledge and awareness in the civil aviation sector in Dubai despite its buoyant growth and expansion. The results show that stakeholders highlight the importance of social sustainability indicators that value equitable development in the pursuit of business goals. They also value economic sustainability indicators that focus on changing consumption patterns and increasing preservation. They finally focus on environmental sustainability indicators that promote eco-efficiency and renewable energy. However, considerable differences exist among stakeholders regarding the importance and priority of their suggested indicators.

The implications of the study are theoretical and practical. In the case of the former, it would contribute toward the reduction of uncertainty in the civil aviation sector in Dubai regarding the policy actions required to improve the sector’s sustainability. It is done by identifying the stakeholders’ views on the key sustainability indicators for each pillar of sustainability. In the case of practical implications, the outcomes of the study highlight specific directions that policy actions should take. Although the results are local, they can have tentative global policy implications. Finally, the results of the study are instrumental in addressing the sustainability debate within the civil aviation sector not only in Dubai but also globally.

The study extends existing research efforts to identify sustainability indicators in the civil aviation sector by considering the three different pillars of sustainability and by accounting for the diverse stakeholders’ views on the identification of key sustainability indicators. The study should be extended to account for the role of technological readiness in the region of other innovative approaches in the current civil aviation sectors.

This paper seeks to examine whether the stakeholder strategy matrix provides useful guidance for managers in dealing with stakeholders. The matrix suggests that strategies for dealing with stakeholders can be determined based on stakeholder ability to cooperate and threaten organisational outcomes.

The study uses a hypothetical scenario looking at the development of a new environmentally friendly product, where eight stakeholder groups and their influencing abilities are manipulated. Marketers reviewed one version of the scenario and were then asked the applicability of 13 strategies for each stakeholder group described. Mixed design analysis is then undertaken to examine the direct effects and interactions between the four combinations of influencing abilities, the stakeholder group examined or how the strategy suggested impacted on managers' views.

The research found that there was an interaction effect suggesting that some strategies were more applicable to stakeholders with certain sets of influencing abilities, as the stakeholder strategy matrix suggested. The specific stakeholder group examined also appeared to impact on managers' views, which is inconsistent with the theory.

The limitations are that the research focused on managers' perceptions of the applicability of strategies, rather than the actual success of strategies examined. Research into the effectiveness of actual behaviours would possibly require more in‐depth examination of case studies.

The research suggests that the stakeholder strategy matrix may provide some guidance as to how managers deal with stakeholders. However, it also suggests that managers may be implicitly applying influencing abilities to groups irrespective of their “true” influencing ability. In this case managers are in fact ignoring valuable information when deciding how to interact with stakeholders and therefore possibly using less effective strategies to interact with stakeholders.

The research is unique as it looks at determining whether different types of strategies for dealing with stakeholders are perceived to be more or less effective. This therefore seeks to make stakeholder theory more strategic and applicable in a broader set of contexts. As such the paper would be of interest to managers seeking to understand better how to deal with stakeholders and to theorists seeking to understand better how stakeholder theory impacts on organisational outcomes.

Theories of management require normative justification; that is, they rely on some conception of what is morally good, right, and just. This chapter examines some of the normative reasons for adopting a stakeholder theory of management and for rejecting the once, and perhaps still, “dominant” shareholder-centric approach. This chapter then surveys some of the prominent “normative cores” that are used to ground stakeholder theory, that is, Kantian, contractarian, feminist ethics, and ethical pragmatism, and the moral obligations that each normative approach generates. Some pressing questions are raised with respect to each normative approach. To what extent ought we to recognize imperfect obligations to shareholders? Are contractarian hypernorms morally substantive? How exactly should we care about stakeholders, and is care even an appropriate attitudinal response? Without some commitment to objective ethical standards, how can pragmatists resolve stakeholder conflict?