IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i7p3902-d779754.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stakeholder Capitalism, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and Sustainable Development: Issues to Be Resolved

Author

Listed:
  • David Mhlanga

    (College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa)

Abstract

Stakeholder capitalism is gaining traction among academics and management practitioners in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The World Economic Forum (WEF) embraced stakeholder capitalism as the key principle guiding the summit’s subject and the organizations’ focus at its 50th annual meeting in Davos 2020. In addition, the Business Roundtable issued a new declaration that articulates the corporation’s new purpose, which was endorsed by 181 chief executive officers (CEOs), who pledged to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders. In this context, the study analyzed and reviewed the stakeholder capitalism theory to better understand the challenges that will need to be addressed if it is embraced as a philosophy to guide corporate management in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The study, using the document analysis technique, concludes that embracing stakeholder capitalism can lead to the achievement of sustainable development and the various sustainable development goals. However, it was revealed that there are still several challenges that are linked to the ideas of stakeholder capitalism that need to be addressed before it can become a core ideology for corporate management. For instance, the issues around: stakeholder capitalism and positive contributions; the fact that meeting stakeholder expectations may not guarantee long-term viability; the challenge of balancing the needs of companies and stakeholders; the definition of a “stakeholder”, which is not clear in theory; the purpose and character of the company and the duties of managers, which are also unclear; and there is a lack of a theoretical base to describe the company’s behavior, among the other issues that were raised. As a result, when embracing stakeholder capitalism as a major element that will deliver healthy capitalism and sustainable development, it is critical to understand these significant flaws.

Suggested Citation

  • David Mhlanga, 2022. "Stakeholder Capitalism, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and Sustainable Development: Issues to Be Resolved," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:3902-:d:779754
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/3902/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/3902/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Mhlanga, 2021. "Artificial Intelligence in the Industry 4.0, and Its Impact on Poverty, Innovation, Infrastructure Development, and the Sustainable Development Goals: Lessons from Emerging Economies?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Lin-Hi, Nick & Müller, Karsten, 2013. "The CSR bottom line: Preventing corporate social irresponsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1928-1936.
    3. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    4. Freeman, Edward & Liedtka, Jeanne, 1997. "Stakeholder capitalism and the value chain," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 286-296, June.
    5. Min Xu & Jeanne M. David & Suk Hi Kim, 2018. "The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Opportunities and Challenges," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 9(2), pages 90-95, April.
    6. Joseph Petrick, 2011. "Sustainable Stakeholder Capitalism: A Moral Vision of Responsible Global Financial Risk Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 93-109, February.
    7. David Mhlanga, 2021. "Financial Inclusion in Emerging Economies: The Application of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Credit Risk Assessment," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-16, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pontsho William Maja & Johan Meyer & Suné von Solms, 2022. "Smart Rural Village’s Healthcare and Energy Indicators—Twin Enablers to Smart Rural Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-16, September.
    2. Chung-Kwan Lo & Xiaowei Huang & Ka-Luen Cheung, 2022. "Toward a Design Framework for Mathematical Modeling Activities: An Analysis of Official Exemplars in Hong Kong Mathematics Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Favourate Y. Mpofu, 2022. "Green Taxes in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges for Environmental Protection, Sustainability, and the Attainment of Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-26, August.
    4. David Mhlanga, 2022. "Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence: The Superlative Approach to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals in the Fourth Industrial Revolution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-22, June.
    5. Blessing Dirani, 2023. "In Stakeholder Capitalism, have all Actors Found Each Other or is it a Marriage of Convenience?," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(12), pages 1826-1838, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beck, Donizete & Ferasso, Marcos, 2023. "How can Stakeholder Capitalism contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals? A Cross-network Literature Analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).
    2. David Mhlanga, 2023. "Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Energy Consumption and Production in Emerging Markets: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-17, January.
    3. Jan Anton van Zanten & Rob van Tulder, 2018. "Multinational enterprises and the Sustainable Development Goals: An institutional approach to corporate engagement," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(3), pages 208-233, December.
    4. Anja Buerke & Tammo Straatmann & Nick Lin-Hi & Karsten Müller, 2017. "Consumer awareness and sustainability-focused value orientation as motivating factors of responsible consumer behavior," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 959-991, October.
    5. Paola M. A. Paniccia & Silvia Baiocco, 2018. "Co-Evolution of the University Technology Transfer: Towards a Sustainability-Oriented Industry: Evidence from Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-29, December.
    6. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    7. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    8. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.
    9. Jim Butcher, 2006. "The United Nations International Year of Ecotourism: a critical analysis of development implications," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 6(2), pages 146-156, April.
    10. Denise Ravet, 2011. "Lean production: the link between supply chain and sustainable development in an international environment," Post-Print hal-00691666, HAL.
    11. Mara Del Baldo, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in Italian SMEs: the experience of some “spirited businesses”," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(1), pages 1-36, February.
    12. Megan Devonald & Nicola Jones & Sally Youssef, 2022. "‘We Have No Hope for Anything’: Exploring Interconnected Economic, Social and Environmental Risks to Adolescents in Lebanon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    13. Rigby, Dan & Woodhouse, Phil & Young, Trevor & Burton, Michael, 2001. "Constructing a farm level indicator of sustainable agricultural practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 463-478, December.
    14. Michael Howes & Liana Wortley & Ruth Potts & Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes & Silvia Serrao-Neumann & Julie Davidson & Timothy Smith & Patrick Nunn, 2017. "Environmental Sustainability: A Case of Policy Implementation Failure?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, January.
    15. Shiferaw, Bekele & Holden, Stein, 1999. "Soil Erosion and Smallholders' Conservation Decisions in the Highlands of Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 739-752, April.
    16. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    17. Parnphumeesup, Piya & Kerr, Sandy A., 2011. "Stakeholder preferences towards the sustainable development of CDM projects: Lessons from biomass (rice husk) CDM project in Thailand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3591-3601, June.
    18. Pengji Wang & Adrian T. H. Kuah & Qinye Lu & Caroline Wong & K. Thirumaran & Emmanuel Adegbite & Wesley Kendall, 2021. "The impact of value perceptions on purchase intention of sustainable luxury brands in China and the UK," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(3), pages 325-346, May.
    19. Christoph M. Schmidt & Nils aus dem Moore, 2014. "Wie geht es uns? Die W3-Indikatoren für eine neue Wohlstandsmessung," RWI Positionen, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, pages 16, 03.
    20. Katundu Imasiku & Valerie M. Thomas & Etienne Ntagwirumugara, 2020. "Unpacking Ecological Stress from Economic Activities for Sustainability and Resource Optimization in Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-12, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:3902-:d:779754. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.