What is the Purpose of Responsible Business? Bringing Society to Stakeholder Theory

We are witnessing a dramatic change in how businesses see themselves in society. Top firms now claim that they no longer aim just to make profit, but to also deliver social value in an era of crisis and grand societal challenges. However, critical voices believe that corporate efforts for social impact don't live up to the hype, and can even harm vulnerable communities in the name of going good. As we face unprecedented global crises that require collaboration across society to tackle, what does it mean to be a responsible business today? This project (STAKES) aims to help us learn the motivations and impact of new private sector roles in societal “grand challenges” and “wicked problems”. It also aims to expand the value of stakeholder theory for a new generation of business-society scholarship. STAKES will conduct research on seven leading EU-based companies (for example, Siemens, Lidl, H+M, Sanofi, Heineken, TotalEnergies, Unilever) in seven fragile and/or crisis countries (for example Colombia, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo). Led by PI Jason Miklian at the Centre for Development and Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, STAKES unites 7 world-leading scholars from the USA, Colombia, UAE, and UK to drive new interdisciplinary research in business/management, development studies, and international relations/political science. We drive this frontier by critically assessing the private sector's complex role in violent and crisis-ridden societies through their social impact activities. Our main societal impact is to deliver a deeper understanding of the private sector's role in societal security, peace, and sustainable development. We aim to improve evidence-based engagements by businesses in crisis settings, help support governments and multilateral organizations to reduce negative societal consequences by business and offer a blueprint to increase capacity of local communities to engage with business.

We are witnessing a dramatic change in business-society relations. Top firms now claim that they no longer aim just to maximize shareholder returns, but to also deliver social value. Research on “grand challenges” and “wicked problems” has become a formative topic in business and management as firms try to marry their impacts with their responsibilities, liabilities, and duties while navigating a world of crisis. However, critical voices believe that corporate efforts for social impact don’t live up to the hype, or harm communities in the name of going good. As the problems of society are becoming impossible to solve alone, firms are being asked to do more. Reorienting the purpose of the firm raises essential questions for scholarship, but this has not been matched by an in-depth empirical study of the consequences of these policies. Businesses have different incentives, tactics, and aims than the societies they work in, leaving the impacts of this new role unclear. Our primary project aim is thus: To expand stakeholder theory to better study the evolving role of firms as societal agents, and why attempts to align corporate purpose with social impact succeed or fail. Our eight Research Questions each uncover a key part of this answer. We will study business development mechanisms for societal improvement in seven fragile and/or conflict-affected countries, aiming to expand the value of stakeholder theory for a new generation of business-society scholarship. STAKES unites seven world-leading scholars to drive new interdisciplinary research across business/management, development studies, and international relations/political science. We build theory and new empirical evidence through eight high-level co-authored articles and a monograph, and build capacity through two PhDs and a post-doc. Our novel inside-out / outside-in approach places communities and businesses as equal players, generating ground-breaking knowledge to expand stakeholder theory for today.