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Yes / Despite the growing research on the influence of stakeholder integration on organizational outcomes, our understanding of the specific firm-level conditions that may mediate the relationship between stakeholder integration and financial performance is lacking. Using primary data gathered from 233 small and medium-sized enterprises in Ghana, we found empirical support for our contention that the link between stakeholder integration and financial performance is mediated by a firm’s environmental sustainability orientation. In addition, our study demonstrated that competitive intensity moderates the indirect relationship between stakeholder integration and financial performance in such a way that the indirect effect through environmental sustainability orientation is stronger for higher levels of industry competition. We discuss theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.

Yes / In spite of growing research on the influence of external stakeholders on firm outcomes, there is a paucity of research on how they influence innovation in emerging economies. In addition, the specific environmental factors that may influence the effect of stakeholder integration (SI) on firm innovation is less understood. Using data collected from 248 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana, this paper develops and tests a model that examines the relationship between SI and firm-level product innovativeness. The findings from the study indicate SI positively relates to product innovativeness. Moreover, under conditions of higher competitor pressure and greater customer expectations, the effect of SI on product innovativeness is amplified. Contributions for theory and practice are discussed.

Yes / Social media provides a significant avenue for stakeholder engagement which is crucial to ensure loyalty and satisfaction of stakeholders who possess valuable resources that can influence the business outcomes. Container lines – imperative members of global supply chains and facilitators of international trade – utilize social media to engage their stakeholders due to environmental and commercial complexity of their business. However, not all social media posts generate the same amount of stakeholder engagement. This study aims to identify and examine the social media post characteristics that lead to higher stakeholder engagement in the container shipping market. The study applies Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection method to categorize social media posts based on their engagement levels. The analysis is conducted on the tweets of four global container lines which are posted between 1 September 2018 and 31 January 2019. The results demonstrate that social media posts of container lines have varying effects on engagement level. We found that fluency of tweets, tangibility of company resources in the tweet, vividness level, content type, existence of a link, and existence of a call-to-action significantly influence the container lines’ stakeholder engagement rate. This study is the first that finds out social media post classes based on the interaction between their characteristics and engagement rates by employing a decision tree methodology. The results are expected to help container lines in their social media management and stakeholder engagement policies.

Yes / This study aimed to investigate the relationships between blockchain adoption barriers and identified the salient stakeholders for blockchain adoption in containerized international trade. The interpretative structural modelling and Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification analyses indicated that the most impactful among the eight barriers are lack of support from influential stakeholders, lack of understanding regarding blockchain, and lack of government regulations. The stakeholder mapping analysis demonstrated that the high salient stakeholders among 11 legitimate stakeholders are container lines, ports, beneficial cargo owners, freight forwarders/third party logistics, and customs authorities. The study is original and contributes to theory and practice as it uncovers both impactful barriers and critical stakeholders by adopting a stakeholder theory perspective and offers significant implications to practice, policy, and theory by combining these two analyses.

Yes / In recent years, there has been significant attention given to stakeholder management, which involves the intricate interaction between organisations and individuals, as well as diverse groups that can significantly affect or shape an organisation's decisions. While progress has been made, African countries are seen as the next promising frontier for progress and advancement. Nevertheless, there remains a lack of understanding of this concept, as the continent is undergoing remarkable economic growth. Entrepreneurs operating in such environments face intricate landscapes when it comes to stakeholder management. Consequently, understanding how stakeholders contribute to the growth of entrepreneurial ventures in Africa is crucial to promote sustainable and responsible business practices. This chapter presents insights that can stimulate future research on stakeholder management within the intricate and diverse African setting. The chapter conceptualises the relationship between stakeholders and entrepreneurship in Africa and shows how entrepreneurial firms navigate the challenges associated with weak institutional environments. / The full-text of this book chapter will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 7 Jun 2025.

Yes / The view that corporations have a wider focus than just maximizing shareholder value has received considerable attention from practitioners, managers, and academics alike. We investigate the Q theory of corporate investment with financial frictions when management maximizes stakeholder value instead of shareholder value. Different objective functions are investigated. We characterize the optimal investment and financial policy of the firm. The results show that stakeholder firms invest more than shareholder firms, i.e., over-investing, and an increase of stakeholder shares increases investment, except when equity issuing firms face severe informational asymmetries or severe cost of external equity. We also discuss different approaches to model investment of stakeholder firms and their implications for empirical analysis.

Yes / Despite the recent growth in research on analysing the influence of stakeholders' green pressure on firm performance, our understanding of the subject seems limited, especially regarding the positive and negative influence of many internal and external stakeholders and the mediating roles of environmental orientation and commitment. Analysing primary data from 317 Japanese SMEs, we found that environmental orientation has negative while environmental commitment positively influences firm performance. Besides, the findings also show that green pressure from regulators, competitors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and employees significantly influences the market and financial performance, followed by a discussion of relevant theoretical and practical implications.

Unternehmen sind mehr und mehr dem globalen Wettbewerb, strengeren gesetzlichen Regelungen und veränderten Kundenbedürfnissen ausgesetzt. Durch eine Neuausrichtung des Unternehmens auf Stakeholder-Management können sich Entscheidungsträger an veränderte Marktbedingungen anpassen. Der vorliegende Beitrag ist ein Leitfaden zum Stakeholder-Management der gemeinsam mit Nachhaltigkeitsexperten von PricewaterhouseCoopers entwickelt wurde. Er besteht aus den Schritten (i) Strategisch Denken, (ii) Analyse und Priorisierung der Stakeholder und ihrer Ansprüche, (iii) Aufbau von Kapazitäten zum Stakeholder-Management, (iv) Stakeholder-Kommunikation sowie (v) Kommunikation und Lernen. Der vorliegende Leitfaden ist der erste, der explizit die Bedürfnisse von kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen und Familienunternehmen einbezieht. Obwohl diese Unternehmen oft explizit oder implizit Stakeholder-Management in ihrer Unternehmensphilosophie verankert haben, fehlen häufig strukturierte Ansätze und Management-Tools hierfür. Dieser Leitfaden gibt Managern in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen sowie Familienunternehmen eine praktische Handhabe für ihr Stakeholder-Management. / Firms are facing more global competition, more stringent regulation and a faster change of customer needs. Managers can adapt to changed market dynamics with increased stakeholder management. Together with sustainability experts from Pricewaterhouse Coopers we develop a guideline for stakeholder management consisting of the steps (i) think strategically, (ii) analysis and prioritization of stakeholders and their stakes (iii) capacity building for stakeholder management (iv) stakeholder information (v) communication and learning. It builds on Freeman (1984) and defines stakeholder as “any group or individual who can affect or can be affected by the achievement of anorganisation’s objectives”. The proposed stakeholder guideline is the first, which fulfils the needs of small and medium sized enterprises and family owned businesses. While these companies often have explicitly or implicitly embodied stakeholder management corporate philosophy, structured approaches and management tools are still missing. Our guideline givesmanagers in small and medium sized enterprises and family owned businesses a practical tool for stakeholder management.

In recent years the fashion industry has experienced a high frequency of famous Creative Directors departing the companies for unknown reasons. The same problem does not seem to occur in the Scandinavian fashion industry. This study’s purpose is to explore why Scandinavia does not experience the same problem, contribute a deeper understanding of the leader-designer relationship in the Swedish fashion industry, and to examine how the Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage is applicable in the Swedish fashion industry. Three case studies were conducted at the Swedish fashion companies TRIWA, Baron and Weriseg where both leaders and designers were interviewed. The findings showed that the leaders view their designers as an essential part of the organisation but how they are prioritised depend on the situation. Further more, this study indicates that all of the studied companies have a stakeholder approach, uses a value creating strategy based on cooperation with their stakeholders, are aligned with a typical Swedish organizational culture, and has a Swedish Management Style. Thus this study indicates that the notion of Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage is applicable at the Swedish fashion industry and that this might be a factor for their success.