Modelling a corporate network’s stakeholder value created amid CSR policy implementation

Abstract

The article aims to develop methodological approaches to assessing the stakeholder value of a corporation in the process of implementing the policy of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the face of unpredictable changes in the external environment. Network theory and the concept of corporate social responsibility constitute the methodological framework of the study. The methods used are narrative, correlation, regression and comparative analysis. The empirical evidence covers the data provided by the Federal State Statistics Service on the Russian regions for 2012–2021, RAEX rankings, and listings of the Moscow Exchange. The authors substantiate their own approach to assessing a corporate network’s stakeholder value created in the process of implementing CSR policy. The proposed method is tested using PAO Norilsk Nickel’s financial statements and the socio-economic development indicators of Krasnoyarsk krai as the corporation’s external environment. The research demonstrates that CSR policy has an effect on Business Environment and Natural Environment stakeholder groups, while the most profound response to CSR activities were observed in Population and Investors stakeholder groups. During the COVID-19 crisis, the ‘Corporation – Population – Corporation’ relationship model through the system of indicators ‘Annual wage – RF region’s unemployment rate – Enterprise net profit’ lost its indicativeness: there was a ‘compression’ of network relationships as a reaction to changing environmental conditions. Among the directions for further research is expanding the composition of the corporate network’s actors.