IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v20y2011i8p539-552.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stakeholder Engagement: Defining Strategic Advantage for Sustainable Construction

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander Rodriguez‐Melo
  • S. Afshin Mansouri

Abstract

Although sustainable development is increasingly becoming a part of business plans, it is unclear what makes the economic, social and environmental dynamics strategically compatible. This research examines which of the following in sustainable development – government policy, managerial attitude and stakeholder engagement – is the most influential on the profitability of companies in the UK construction sector. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were rendered through a survey and semi‐structured interviews. Patterns of ambiguity in legislation were discovered as an obstacle for changing the sector's mind‐set. Stakeholder engagement was identified as the defining factor increasing managers' awareness, helping legislation to be effectively implemented and making sustainability highly appealing to clients. These findings indicate that to gain competitive advantage, companies should embark on long‐term strategic alliances which adopt the proposals of environmental non‐governmental organisations and closely follow public opinion. This, strengthens brand equity, allows for premium pricing, increases market share and maximizes profit. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Rodriguez‐Melo & S. Afshin Mansouri, 2011. "Stakeholder Engagement: Defining Strategic Advantage for Sustainable Construction," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(8), pages 539-552, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:20:y:2011:i:8:p:539-552
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.715
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.715
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.715?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yoram Krozer & Andries Nentjes, 2008. "Environmental policy and innovations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(4), pages 219-229, May.
    2. Adam B. Jaffe et al., 1995. "Environmental Regulation and the Competitiveness of U.S. Manufacturing: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 132-163, March.
    3. Bino Catasús & Maths Lundgren & Hans Rynnel, 1997. "Environmental managers' views on environmental work in a business context," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(4), pages 197-205, September.
    4. Richard Welford & Clifford Chan & Michelle Man, 2008. "Priorities for corporate social responsibility: a survey of businesses and their stakeholders," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 52-62, January.
    5. Stuart L. Hart & Gautam Ahuja, 1996. "Does It Pay To Be Green? An Empirical Examination Of The Relationship Between Emission Reduction And Firm Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 30-37, March.
    6. Bonifant, Benjamin C. & Arnold, Matthew B. & Long, Frederick J., 1995. "Gaining competitive advantage through environmental investments," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 37-47.
    7. Elaine Sternberg, 1997. "The Defects of Stakeholder Theory," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 3-10, January.
    8. Tim Newton & George Harte, 1997. "Green Business: Technicist Kitsch?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 75-98, January.
    9. Andrew J. Hoffman, 1993. "The importance of fit between individual values and organisational culture in the greening of industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(4), pages 10-18, December.
    10. Sukhbir Sandhu & Lucie K. Ozanne & Clive Smallman & Ross Cullen, 2010. "Consumer driven corporate environmentalism: Fact or fiction?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(6), pages 356-366, September.
    11. William Q. Judge & Thomas J. Douglas, 1998. "Performance Implications of Incorporating Natural Environmental Issues into the Strategic Planning Process: An Empirical Assessment," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 241-262, March.
    12. John R. Bryson & Rachel Lombardi, 2009. "Balancing product and process sustainability against business profitability: sustainability as a competitive strategy in the property development process," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 97-107, February.
    13. Pasi Heikkurinen, 2010. "Image differentiation with corporate environmental responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), pages 142-152, May.
    14. Andrew L. Friedman & Samantha Miles, 2002. "Developing Stakeholder Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 1-21, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cañón de Francia, Joaquín & Garcés Ayerbe, Concepción, 2006. "Repercusión económica de la certificación medioambiental ISO 14001," Cuadernos de Gestión, Universidad del País Vasco - Instituto de Economía Aplicada a la Empresa (IEAE).
    2. Gerusa Giménez Leal & Martí Casadesús Fa & Jaume Valls Pasola, 2003. "Using environmental management systems to increase firms' competitiveness," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(2), pages 101-110, June.
    3. Kay H. Hofmann & Gregory Theyel & Craig H. Wood, 2012. "Identifying Firm Capabilities as Drivers of Environmental Management and Sustainability Practices – Evidence from Small and Medium‐Sized Manufacturers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(8), pages 530-545, December.
    4. Samuel Adomako, 2020. "Environmental collaboration, sustainable innovation, and small and medium‐sized enterprise growth in sub‐Saharan Africa: Evidence from Ghana," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1609-1619, November.
    5. Olaf Weber, 2014. "Environmental, Social and Governance Reporting in China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(5), pages 303-317, July.
    6. Francesca Bartolacci & Antonella Paolini & Anna Grazia Quaranta & Michela Soverchia, 2017. "Performance economiche e ambientali nelle aziende italiane di igiene urbana: prime evidenze empiriche," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(2), pages 33-51.
    7. Helena Forsman, 2013. "Environmental Innovations as a Source of Competitive Advantage or Vice Versa?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 306-320, July.
    8. González-Benito, Javier & González-Benito, Óscar, 2005. "Environmental proactivity and business performance: an empirical analysis," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 1-15, February.
    9. Isabel Gallego‐Álvarez & Isabel M. García‐Sánchez & Cléber da Silva Vieira, 2014. "Climate Change and Financial Performance in Times of Crisis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(6), pages 361-374, September.
    10. Günther, Finn & Möller, Klaus & Wenig, Philipp, 2015. "Erfolgswirkung einer proaktiven Unternehmensstrategie zur Integration natürlicher Ressourcen," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 69(1), pages 25-53.
    11. Francesca Bartolacci & Ermanno Zigiotti & T. T. Hai Diem, 2015. "Environmental and Financial Performance in Italian Waste Management Firms," MIC 2015: Managing Sustainable Growth; Proceedings of the Joint International Conference, Portorož, Slovenia, 28–30 May 2015,, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper.
    12. Nigel Martin & John Rice, 2010. "Analysing emission intensive firms as regulatory stakeholders: a role for adaptable business strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 64-75, January.
    13. Satyajit Majumdar & Gordhan K. Saini, 2016. "CSR in India: Critical Review and Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 2(1), pages 56-79, January.
    14. Stefan Ambec & Paul Lanoie, 2007. "When and Why Does It Pay To Be Green?," CIRANO Working Papers 2007s-20, CIRANO.
    15. Hayam Wahba, 2010. "How do institutional shareholders manipulate corporate environmental strategy to protect their equity value? A study of the adoption of ISO 14001 by Egyptian firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(8), pages 495-511, December.
    16. Glen Dowell & Stuart Hart & Bernard Yeung, 1999. "Do Corporate Global Environmental Standards in Emerging Markets Create Or Destroy Market Value," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 259, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    17. Francesco Perrini & Angeloantonio Russo & Antonio Tencati & Clodia Vurro, 2011. "Deconstructing the Relationship Between Corporate Social and Financial Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 59-76, March.
    18. Suhong Li & Thomas Ngniatedema & Fang Chen, 2017. "Understanding the Impact of Green Initiatives and Green Performance on Financial Performance in the US," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(6), pages 776-790, September.
    19. Jiafeng Gu, 2021. "Spatial Dynamics between Firm Sales and Environmental Responsibility: The Mediating Role of Corporate Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    20. Samantha Miles, 2017. "Stakeholder Theory Classification: A Theoretical and Empirical Evaluation of Definitions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 437-459, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:20:y:2011:i:8:p:539-552. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.