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usiness, political, environmental and social realms that affect or are affected by TNCs’operations.PoliticalStakeholdersEnvironmentalStakeholdersBusinessStakeholdersSocialStakeholdersTNCsFig. 1 Relations between stakeholders and TNCs in the environmental governance of OFDIBusiness stakeholders involve a number of business actors along the supply chain of TNCswho have commercial interest in TNCs, such as suppliers, competitors, consumers, clients andfinancial institutions. Whereas it is not common, suppliers have been found to have affectedTNCs’ environmental behaviors in some cases. 15 Competitors may affect the level ofenvironmental and social standards adopted by TNCs. TNCs may need to consider the levelof standards generally used by competitors as well as costs and benefits associated with theuse of higher standards prior to the decision on what environmental and social standards touse.Consumers and clients can use their purchasing power to drive up TNCs’ environmental andsocial performance. Major clients of TNCs, especially governments and large companies, mayhave screening procedures in place to ensure procurement of environmental and socialsustainable products, which can push TNCs to use good environmental and social standards.Consumers can be powerful in publicly backlashing or boycotting products against TNCs’environmental and social misconduct, which can force TNCs to improve their environmentaland social behaviors, although consumer pressures are usually fragmented and hard toorganize.Among business stakeholders, financial institutions, including banks and insurance companies,are crucial actors that can considerably leverage TNCs’ environmental and social performancethrough their lending power. It makes a business case for financial institutions to addressenvironmental and social risks of projects they finance, as these risks would jeopardize15Hansen, Michael W. Cross Border Environmental Management in Transnational Corporations: AnAnalytical Framework. Frederiksberg: Corporate Business School, 199937

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