Stakeholder Orientation for Social Value Creation: A Case Study

Abstract

The integration between business and society is a priority in the current business world, and it is an emergent area of research in the extant literature. Business organizations are pursuing the interdependency between business and society using business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and shared value. Stakeholder orientation is the cornerstone of these new initiatives and it is growing in the future. Therefore, this paper intends to explain the nature of a stakeholder-oriented business organization with its contribution to social value creation. Based on interpretivism, researchers adopted a qualitative embedded single case study design methodology. The organization under study is a small scale manufacturing company in Kandy working with multiple stakeholders. Data was collected using secondary sources and by conducting in-depth interviews with the owner of the company, self-employed rural artisans and entrepreneurial suppliers who were selected using a judgmental sampling method. Data analysis involves transcription, summary and keyword development. The final stage of the analysis was conducted by cross-tab analysis and interview findings are even analyzed using discourse analysis. As per the analysis, the company has shown that a stakeholder-oriented business approach maintains a strong relationship with stakeholders by focusing on multiple stakeholder interests and deep stakeholder understanding. The company works collaboratively with rural artisans, private sector organizations and small scale entrepreneurial suppliers. The continuous stakeholder dialogue is a salient feature in this business approach. Social value creation of stakeholder orientation was evidenced through income enhancement, improvement in living conditions, citizenship enhancement and social capital development. Further, the feeling of engagement in work and supporting the education of the children also emerge in the data as social value creations. Researchers contend that it is important to uncover each stakeholder’s unique social issues in social value creation and conclude that connectivity can be created between a business organization and social issues through stakeholder orientation.