Mapping the Key Stakeholders toward Supply Chain Sustainability: Evidence from the Brazilian Beef Supply Chains

Abstract

This study aims to map the key stakeholders towards Brazilian beef supply chain sustainability based on stakeholder theory. Using the typology proposed by Mitchell and colleagues in 1997, we identified definitive stakeholders (e.g., slaughterhouses), dependent stakeholders (e.g., government agencies), dominant stakeholder (e.g., Greenpeace), discretionary stakeholder (e.g., beef consumer), and nonstakeholder (e.g., media). Beyond providing a mapping of stakeholders and their roles, this study contributes by emphasizing the need to balance firm attention to its stakeholders, who wield varying levels of legitimacy, power, and urgency. We demonstrate the importance of mapping stakeholders as the first step in analyzing supply chain sustainability.