Stakeholder theory as an arch to manage successful legitimacy strategies

Literature on corporate social responsibility has sought to provide explanations for corporate decisions to disclose information in annual reports. A number of studies have been conducted to identify the motivations for corporate social disclosure by using a number of social theories and not the reactions of the users of this information. However, there is a lack of research into managing legitimacy strategies. The understanding of the nature of legitimating strategies and knowing the role that stakeholders can play to influence these strategies might benefit greatly on increasing the effectiveness of these strategies across social locations and through time. The paper is mainly concerned with: a) bringing some coherence to the methodology of stakeholder theory and corporate strategies; b) explaining the role of stakeholder theory in managing legitimacy strategies effectively.