Beyond stakeholder engagement: the challenges of stakeholder participation in corporate governance

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics

Volumn 1, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 45-55

  Low, Christopher ^a   Cowton, Christopher ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

corporate governance; engagement; not for profit companies; participation; stakeholder management

Indexed keywords

EID: 33645810192     PISSN: 14779048     EISSN: 1741802X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2004.004896     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. For the most prominent and readable of recent critiques of corporate activity see Klein, Naomi (2000) No Logo, Flamingo, London.
2. Donaldson, T. and Lee P. (1995) ‘The stakeholder theory of the corporation: concepts, evidence, and implications’, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp.65–91. It is worth noting that the authors accept that the stakeholder concept is sometimes used to primarily serve the interests of shareholders but is dressed up as an intention to serve the interests of stakeholders.
3. (2003) ‘Department for trade and industry’, Enterprise for Communities: Proposals for a Community Interest Company, DTI, June 25, p.8, http://www.dti.gov.uk/cics/pdfs/condoc.pdf
4. Walmsley, K. (2003) ‘Community interest companies’, Chartered Secretary, August 2003, p.3.
5. Monsanto (1999) ‘Monsanto confirms stakeholder dialogue approaches’, September 27, http://www.monsanto.co.uk/news/99/september99/260999_monsanto.html
6. (2003) ‘Premier oil’, Sustainability Report 2002, July 29, p.12, http://www.premieroil.co.uk/asp/uploads/uploadedfiles/1/113/premier_oil_sust_03.pdf
7. (2003) ‘Corporate governance’, Network Rail, July 14, http://www.networkrail.co.uk/corpgov/index.html
8. Tickell, James (2003) ‘National Housing Federation’, The Housing Association Model: A Template for the Social Enterprise Sector?, pp.12, 18, 20. This paper, which was presented internally was made available by the author on request.
9. R.E. Freeman’s definition of stakeholders in his landmark book Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, Pitman, London (1984) included not only those affected by the organisation but also those that could affect the organisations achievement of its objectives. This has the effect of significantly increasing the number of stakeholders that should be identified by the focal organisation.
10. (1998) OECD Corporate Governance, OECD, Paris, pp.17, 49.
11. Sternberg, E. (1998) ‘Corporate governance: accountability in the marketplace’, Institute of Economic Affairs, London.
12. (2002) DTI ‘Social enterprise: a strategy for success’, Social Enterprise Unit, p.62.
13. Walker, D. (2003) ‘Fissure price’, The Guardian, January 8, p.10.
14. (2002) ‘Strategy unit’, Private Action, Public Benefit: A Review of Charities and the Wider Not-for-profit Sector, Cabinet Office, p.69.
15. (2003) ‘Review of the role and effectiveness of non-executive directors’, DTI, January 20, http://www.dti.gov.uk/cld/non_exec_review/pdfs/higgsreport.pdf
16. Rhodes, R.A.W. (2000) ‘Governance and public administration’, in J. Pierre (Ed.), Debating Governance, pp.54–90, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
17. Goodpaster, K. (1993) ‘Business ethics and stakeholder analysis’ in E.R. Winkler and J.R. Coombs (Eds.) Applied Ethics: A Reader, pp.229–248, Blackwell, Oxford. Goodpaster believes that attention to stakeholder interests does not have to result in a dilution of shareholder interests but it is difficult to see how this could be sustained in practice.