The Rocky Road to Achieving Stakeholder Value in Business Strategy

This chapter highlights the emerging but compelling aim to create long-term stakeholder value derived from entrepreneurial PURPOSE (the ‘why’) as the principle connector, harmoniser, and differentiator for generating responsible profits. Emphasising the human role as the fundamental basis for all organisational activity, this chapter critically reflects on the four generic steps presented in the Stakeholder Relationship Management Framework in the previous chapter (the ‘how’). Focused on the search for meaning as a key driver of individual purpose, this chapter draws attention to the requirement for a transformed corporate approach, which manifests itself in stakeholder values (the ‘why’) driving the organisation’s mission and vision. This approach both recognises the salience of profits for the long-term success of the business while augmenting the corporate commitment beyond a narrow shareholder focus to inclusively embrace a broader scope of stakeholder groups. The underlying rationale assumes that connecting the various stakeholder interests leads to greater value creation for all groups. While the aim to optimally leverage the corporate impact for their stakeholders is not new in the sense that in practice, the entrepreneurial spirit has been following this approach for years; the research outcome identifies that the current management tools for developing and measuring a stakeholder-connected resource investment strategy are underdeveloped. Because they primarily focus on a profit maximisation business purpose, their narrow approach is fuelling a disconnection between how successful entrepreneurs actually behave and how economic and business studies are comprehended and taught. This chapter concludes that to effectively manage sustainable stakeholder relationships, this theoretical, practical, and educational missing link in corporate approaches to responsible management requires connection in order to make organisations relevant for their stakeholders.