Engaging the stakeholders: corporate views and current trends

This paper is based on research conducted at Imperial College in 1996, in which the authors have reviewed the extent, purpose and motivation of evironmental stakeholder initiatives (ESIs). The research objective was to determine ESIs' impact on corporate environmental management through a survey of businesses engaged in such initiatives, and to propose a set of recommendations for successful implementation of ESIs. Previous research on the subject has mainly discussed the case for stakeholders' involvement, reviewing whom companies would target as stakeholders. This paper goes a step further by assessing the current ESI practices of the researched companies in terms of style, purpose and method of engagement, as well as the target audiences and timing of these initiatives. Five stages of ESI undertaken by companies are identified and the benefits, as well as limiting factors, are discussed. In addition to the research conclusions the key factors for successful ESIs and a set of recommendations for companies engaging in such initiatives are presented. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.