University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

Environmentally Responsible Image Differentiation
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It was found that treating stakeholders as one group (in case of strategic CR) is an
unacceptable loose and inaccurate viewpoint. This is because a firm has a myriad
amount of stakeholders with different expectations and various interests that are
often (also) contradictive – a firm is incapable to cater all of its stakeholders.
Therefore this study used an modified approach to stakeholder theory (Freeman
1984) that can be referred as the key stakeholder approach.
In the model (Figure 1) the key stakeholders are identified and divided into internal
and external parties. In this specific case study, corporate responsibility was
internally driven (starting from internal stakeholder) by the team members. CR can
also be driven by external stakeholders, i.e. externally driven corporate
responsibility. In this case study, the external key stakeholders were not driving the
CR – yet they did become active after the case company started to supply CR. This
study proposes that [P5] if a demand for corporate responsibility does not exist, firms
can hasten its emergence by supplying corporate responsibility.
In addition to internal and external key stakeholders, there exists key stakeholders
that belong to both and/or neither parties, e.g. shareholders. Especially, the interests
and the amount of initiative are distinctive factors between stakeholders and key
stakeholders. In the case company the shareholders lacked interest in CR.
Figure 1. Key stakeholder approach to image differentiation
According to the revised model, a firm can differentiate itself with an environmental
responsible image. This image is a perception in the key stakeholders (both in
internal and external) and results as internal and external differentiators that can
enhance firm’s strategic position. The internal differentiators and benefits of an
environmental image are: a more preferred employer, an enchanced employees’
motivation, and cost savings. The external differentiators or benefits of an