Abstract
The purpose of this article is to deepen our understanding of co-creation of value in stakeholder relationships. The authors present a case study on the process of strategic transformation in a medium-sized company providing industrial services. The purpose of the study is to analyze how different stakeholder perspectives join in determining what is perceived as valuable in business operations. Stakeholder relationships are studied during a three-year period when the company transformed from a division of a large industrial corporation into an independent service company. The data was collected through personal interviews and from Intranet documents, and analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Management, personnel, customers and owners are the key stakeholders in transformation of value creation. Based on the study, five elements of stakeholder relationships were identified as important in transformation of value creation: (1) History of the relationship, (2) Stakeholder’s objectives, (3) Interaction in the relationship, (4) Learning and information sharing and (5) Trust. The study contributes to literature on value creation by highlighting the complexity of stakeholder relationships and by showing that the salience of stakeholder relationships varies during the transformation.
This chapter is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled ‘Co-creation of value in stakeholder’ presented at International Conference for Management Cases (ICMC), Greater Noida, India, 29–30 November 2012.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Agle, Bradley R., Donaldson Thomas, R. Edward Freeman, Michael C. Jensen, Ronald K. Mitchell, and Donna J. Wood. 2008. Dialogue: Toward superior stakeholder theory. Business Ethics Quarterly 18 (2): 153–190.
Argandoña, Antonio. 1998. The stakeholder theory and the common good. Journal of Business Ethics 17 (9–10): 1093–1102.
Bowman, Cliff, and Veronique Ambrosini. 2010. How value is created, captured and destroyed. European Business Review 22 (5): 479–495.
Burchell, Jon, and Joanne Cook. 2006. Assessing the impact of stakeholder dialogue: Changing relationships between NGOs and companies. Journal of Public Affairs 6: 210–227.
———. 2008. Stakeholder dialogue and organizational learning: Changing relationships between companies and NGOs. Business Ethics: A European Review 17 (1): 35–46.
Cai, Zhuang, and Peter Wheale. 2004. Creating sustainable corporate value: A case study of stakeholder relationship management in China. Business and Society Review 109 (4): 507–547.
Crane, Andrew, and Sharon Livesey. 2003. Are you talking to me? Stakeholder communication and the risks and rewards of dialogue. In Unfolding stakeholder thinking 2: Relationships, communication, reporting and performance, ed. Jörg Andriof, Sandra Waddock, Bryan Husted, and Sandra Sutherland Rahman, 39–52. Sheffield: Greenleaf.
Crane, Andrew, Dirk Matten, and Laura J. Spence. 2008. Corporate social responsibility. In Readings and cases in a global context. London/New York: Routledge.
Cummings, Jeffrey L., and Jonathan P. Doh. 2000. Identifying who matters: Mapping key players in multiple environments. California Management Review 42 (2): 83–104.
Denzin, Norman K., and Yvonna S. Lincoln. 2000. Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research. In Handbook of qualitative research, ed. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, 2nd ed., 1–28. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Eriksson, Päivi, and Anne Kovalainen. 2008. Qualitative methods in business research. London: Sage.
Evan, William, and R. Edward Freeman. 1988. A stakeholder theory of the modern corporation: Kantian capitalism. In Ethical theory and business, ed. Tom Beauchamp and Norman Bowie, 3rd ed., 101–105. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Freeman, R. Edward. 1984. Strategic management. In A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman.
———. 1999. Divergent stakeholder theory response. Academy of Management Review 24: 233–236.
Freeman, R. Edward, S. Ramakrishna Velamuri, and Brian Moriarty. 2006. Company stakeholder responsibility: A new approach to CSR. In Business roundtable institute for corporate ethics.
Freeman, R. Edward, Jeffrey S. Harrison, and Andrew C. Wicks. 2007. Managing for stakeholders. In Survival, reputation, and success. London: Yale University Press.
Freeman, R. Edward, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Andrew C. Wicks, Bidhan Parmar, and Simone de Colle. 2010. Stakeholder theory. the state of the art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harrison, Jeffrey S., and Andrew C. Wicks. 2013. Stakeholder theory, value, and firm performance. Business Ethics Quarterly 23 (1): 97–124.
Harvey, Brian, and Anja Schaefer. 2001. Managing relationships with environmental Stakeholders: A study of U. K. water and electricity utilities. Journal of Business Ethics 30 (3): 243–260.
Lerro, Antonio. 2011. A stakeholder-based perspective in the value impact assessment of the project ‘Valuing intangible assets in Scottish renewable SMEs’. Measuring Business Exellence 15 (3): 3–15.
Mele, Cristina, and Maria Colurcio. 2006. The evolving path of TQM: Towards business excellence and stakeholder value. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management 23 (5): 464–489.
Mitchell, Ronald K., Bradley R. Agle, and Donna J. Wood. 1997. Toward a theory of stakeholder Identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review 22 (4): 853–886.
Myllykangas, Päivi, Johanna Kujala, and Hanna Lehtimäki. 2010. Analyzing the essence of stakeholder relationships: What do we need in addition to power, legitimacy and urgency? Journal of Business Ethics 96 (1): 65–72.
Näsi, Juha. 1995. What is stakeholder thinking? In Understanding stakeholder thinking, ed. Juha Näsi, 19–32. Jyväskylä: Gummerus.
Normann, Richard, and Rafael Ramirez. 1993. Designing interactive strategy: From value chain to value constellation. Harvard Business Review 71 (4): 65–77.
Parmar, Bidhan L., R. Edward Freeman, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Andrew C. Wicks, Lauren Purnell, and Simone de Colle. 2010. Stakeholder theory: The state of the art. The Academy of Management Annals 4: 403–445.
Peloza, John, and Jingzhi Shang. 2011. How can corporate social responsibility activities create value for stakeholders? A systematic review. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 39: 117–135.
Porter, Michael E. 1985. Competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance. New York: Free Press.
Post, James E., Lee E. Preston, and Sybille Sachs. 2002. Managing the extended enterprise: The new stakeholder view. California Management Review 45: 6–28.
Prahalad, C.K., and Venkat Ramaswamy. 2004. Co-creation experiences: The next practice in value creation. Journal of Interactive Marketing 18 (3): 5–14.
Ramirez, Rafael. 1999. Value co-production: Intellectual origins and implications for practice and research. Strategic Management Journal 20 (1): 49–65.
Ravasi, Davide, Violina Rindova, and Elena Dalpiaz. 2012. The cultural side of value creation. Strategic Organization 10 (2): 231–239.
Rowley, Timothy J. 1997. Moving beyond dyadic ties: A network theory of stakeholder influences. Academy of Management Review 22 (4): 887–910.
Savage, Grant, Timothy W. Nix, Carlton J. Whitehead, and John D. Blair. 1991. Strategies for assessing and managing organizational stakeholders. Academy of Management Executive 5 (2): 61–75.
Vargo, Stephen L., and Robert F. Lusch. 2004. Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing 68: 1–17.
Wheeler, David, and Maria Sillanpää. 1997. The stakeholder corporation. London: Pitman.
Worldwatch Institute. 2010. State of the world 2010: Transforming cultures. Massachusetts.
Yin, Robert K. 2003. Case study research: Design and methods. 3rd ed. London: Sage.
Zappi, Gianna. 2007. Corporate responsibility in the Italian banking industry: Creating value through listening to stakeholders. Corporate Governance 7 (4): 471–475.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kujala, J., Lehtimäki, H., Myllykangas, P. (2017). Value Co-creation in Stakeholder Relationships: A Case Study. In: Freeman, R., Kujala, J., Sachs, S. (eds) Stakeholder Engagement: Clinical Research Cases. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 46. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62785-4_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62785-4_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62784-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62785-4
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)