A Stakeholder Relationship Framework for a Sustainable and Effective Business Strategy

Several studies have underlined the importance of including sustainability issues in business models, yet little is known on ways in which to embed stakeholders’ influence in defining and executing firm strategies. In light of this gap, this study inductively develops a framework for stakeholder relationship assessment, which suggests methods to evaluate relationships between the firm and stakeholders, with a dual aim: to embed more sustainable strategies in business models and to make strategy execution more effective and less risky. In doing so, a case study is conducted on Science Lab owing to the multiple stakes of its stakeholders. It presents a unique example on how stakeholder relationships were evaluated for making a strategic decision that, in this case, was whether to close (or not) the organization. This study contributes to the existing literature stressing the role of stakeholders in influencing strategy realization and proposes a useful managerial tool to improve the effectiveness of strategy execution through a better understanding of the role played by each stakeholder.