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From Power to Knowledge Relationships: Stakeholder Interactions as Learning Partnerships

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Stakeholder Theory

Abstract

Since it progressively became a major topic in Management Science from the late 1980s, the word ‘tradition’ can be used today to best describe stakeholder theory. Relations between the firm and stakeholders are ‘traditionally’ conceived on a single opposition axis introducing two main patterns of relations. On the one hand, stakeholders can intensify pressure over the firm thus, creating conflict. On the other hand, dialogue and partnership can be set through different methods, like the participation of NGOs in decision processes and strategic actions. In both cases, the patterns of relations are assumed to take place in the context of conflicting interests. This mode of conceptualizing stakeholder relations places power as a core dimension shaping stakeholder relationships. It could be argued that power relations seem to be the only imaginable relationships between the firm and those with whom it interacts — its ‘interactors’. In such a context, institutionalizing ‘fair contracts’ seems to be the only solution to overcome conflicting power relations. However, if such contracts are to be defined, it seems necessary to consider their possible content and the stakeholder relations they imply.

The author would like to acknowledge the support of the ESRC/EPSRC Advanced Institute of Management Research under grant number RES-331-25-0024 for this research.

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Authors
  1. Elena P. Antonacopoulou
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  2. Jérôme Meric
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Développement des Systèmes d’Organization, CNAM (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers), France

    Maria Bonnafous-Boucher (Associate Professor, Chair) & Yvon Pesqueux (Professor, Chair) (Associate Professor, Chair) &  (Professor, Chair)

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© 2005 Elena P. Antonacopoulou and Jérôme Meric

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Antonacopoulou, E.P., Meric, J. (2005). From Power to Knowledge Relationships: Stakeholder Interactions as Learning Partnerships. In: Bonnafous-Boucher, M., Pesqueux, Y. (eds) Stakeholder Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524224_8

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