Stakeholder management theory meets CSR practice in Swedish mining

Abstract

CSR needs to be implemented into every level of an organization to have a meaningful impact, and management systems are proven useful for CSR practice. Benefits of integrating all CSR aspects into a sustainability management system are often claimed. Stakeholder theory can advance CSR practice. This case study explores how a company reacts to and appropriates stakeholder theory through interviews and workshops with the top management of corporate responsibility. This is an empirical addition to the dominant conceptual contributions to stakeholder management framed within the concept of management system thinking. The focus is on identification of stakeholders and the estimation of “who and what really counts”. This study support conceptual papers and suggest Mitchell and colleagues’ model for the initial step of SMS. It shows that theory easily can be practised and that it works well. The company highlighted the discussions where it had to look at stakeholders from different perspectives.