Week 2 readings

Question 1

Defining priorities done by 3 broad actions

Answer 1

• Map the value chain to identify impact areas
• Select indicators and collect data
• Define priorities

Question 2

Mapping the value chain (3 important steps)

Answer 2

• broad perspective
• prioritize stakeholders
• look at stakeholders that don’t have a voice

Question 3

Logic model for collecting data (5 criteria)

Answer 3

• Inputs: what resources go in that could positively or negatively affect the SDG?
• Activities: what activities are undertaken
• Outputs: what is generated through those activities?
• Outcomes: what changes in the target population occurred?
• Impacts: what are the changes as a result of those outputs?

Question 4

Define priorities (2 steps that need to be transparent)

Answer 4

• Consider the magnitude, severity, and likelihood of current and potential negative impacts, the importance of such impacts to key stakeholders and the opportunity to strengthen competitiveness through resource efficiency.
• Assess the opportunity for your company to grow or gain advantage from its current or potential positive impacts across the SDGs. This may include opportunities to innovate, develop new products and solutions or target new market segments.

Question 5

Most important internal drivers

Answer 5

• Leadership
• Business case

Question 6

Most important external drivers

Answer 6

• Reputation
• Customer demand and expectations
• Regulation and legislation

Question 7

Soft issues

Answer 7

Mental models

Question 8

External perspective on a company

Answer 8

Black boxes

Question 9

Internal perspective on company

Answer 9

Isolated island

Question 10

Responsibility assumption

Answer 10

stakeholder engagement is a sign of corporate responsibility.

Question 11

Rawlisan form of stakeholder engagement

Answer 11

mutually beneficial and just scheme of cooperation

Question 12

Stakeholder engagement has the potential to be immoral or either moral.

Answer 12

A merger between the justness of the process (procedural justice) and the justness of the outcome (distributive justice) may occur. The process can be depicted as largely morally neutral or unaligned as the actors only care on outcome.

Question 13

2 fundamental normative stakeholder questions

Answer 13

• Who is the legitimate stakeholder and what makes them such?
• How the company balances inevitable conflicts between stakeholder claims.

Question 14

2 models for indentifying legitimate stakeholders

Answer 14

• Narrow (vital for the company) and broad (any group affected by the company)
• Moral or strategic

Question 15

Corporate irresponsibility

Answer 15

occurs when the strategic management of stakeholders does not remain responsibility-neutral practice but becomes an immoral practice based on the deception and manipulation of stakeholders.

Question 16

4 types of dependence relationships between firms and stakeholders (Frooman):

Answer 16

1. Low interdependence relationship  indirect withholding strategy by the stakeholder
2. High interdependence relationship  direct usage strategy by the stakeholder
3. Firm has the power  indirect usage strategy by the stakeholder
4. Stakeholder has the power  direct withholding strategy by the stakeholder

Question 17

NGO strategies (2)

Answer 17

Symbolic damage
Symbolic gain

Question 18

2 aims of NGO influence

Answer 18

• To deinstitutionalize unwanted corporate norms and practices.
• To re-institutionalize preferred alternative norms and practices.

Question 19

Reformative NGO

Answer 19

use symbolic gain strategies (positive publicity) and material gain strategies (buycott)

Question 20

Radical NGO

Answer 20

use symbolic damage strategies (negative publicity) and material damage strategies (boycott)

Question 21

Radical flank effect

Answer 21

how the existence of radicals makes moderate groups in a social movement more attractive negotiating partners to the movement opponents

Question 22

5 main propositions on NGO strategies

Answer 22

Proposition 1: An effective symbolic gain NGO strategy will induce reinstitutionalization of corporate practices.

Proposition 2: An effective symbolic damage NGO strategy will induce de- and reinstitutionalization of corporate practices.

Proposition 3: When conducted simultaneously toward the same company and/or sector of industry, contrasting NGO strategies will interplay (radical flank effect)

Proposition 4: an effective symbolic gain and symbolic damage strategy will reinforce each other in creating institutional change: the symbolic damage NGO strategy will deinstitutionalize the status quo and provide the company/sector with an incentive for reinstitutionalization, while the symbolic gain NGO strategy will guide the process of reinstitutionalization.

Proposition 5: the resource dependence relationship between NGO and target company influences the NGO strategy, and the NGO strategy influences the character of the resource dependence relationship.