Resumo

The purpose of this paper is to argue for a managing for stakeholders' approach towards corporate sustainability. Organizations and their stakeholders’ interactions impact society’s welfare. Our framework suggests that this approach may influence firms to build stronger relationships with stakeholders, by adopting transparent practices and proactive environmental strategies and behavior, impacting on value creation and distribution, stakeholder engagement and managing stakeholder networks.

This paper explores the role of the natural environment in business strategy by building a framework of a managing for stakeholders' approach towards corporate sustainability. This paper analyzes (i) previous literature on stakeholder management focused on how firms address stakeholders’ environmental concerns and (ii) previous literature on corporate sustainability focused on managing stakeholders’ claims.

When firms adopt the behavior of distributing and creating value across their stakeholder networks, prioritizing a wider range of groups than just the shareholders, the firm is managing for stakeholders. The capacity to create value in a sustainable way directly influences long-term relationships with stakeholders, thus impacting the firm’s performance. Corporate sustainability is an approach whereas managerial practices are focused on and account for the firm’s behavior regarding the economic, social and environmental dimensions of its processes and performance.

P2 e P4:Firms that proactively adopt sustainable practices and/or disclose behavior may observe a positive influence on their performance/reputation.P3:Value creation may be increased when a firm addresses stakeholders’ sustainability concerns and claims.P5:It may positively influence engagement levels.P6: Corporate sustainability may lead to solid interactions among stakeholder networks.P7: Firms may build unique relationships with stakeholders and this may unfold into firms’ competitive advantage and it may positively influence the firms' performance.

Managing for stakeholders is associated with addressing the pressuring claims to adopt more sustainable practices. Not only should a firm create value for its stakeholder, but it should also attend the stakeholders' welfare regarding the environment. Our propositions may positively influence i) corporate reputation; ii) create a distinct competitive advantage to the firm ), and iii) corporate performance. We hope our propositions are tested and used to develop further studies on the topic

Harrison, J.S., Bosse, D.A. and Phillips, R.A. (2010), “Managing for stakeholders, stakeholder utility functions, and competitive advantage”, Strategic Management Journal. Hörisch J, et al, 2014. Applying stakeholder theory in sustainability management: links, similarities, dissimilarities, and a conceptual framework. Organization and Environment. Schaltegger, S., S., Hörisch, J., & Freeman, R. E. (2019). Business cases for sustainability: A stakeholder theory perspective. Organization & Environment. Whetten, D. A. (1989). What constitutes a theoretical contribution? Academy of management.