A Research Agenda for Global Stakeholder Strategy

• Author: Timothy M. Devinney,Maurizio Zollo,Anita M. Mcgahan
• Published date: 01 November 2013
• Date: 01 November 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.2042-5805.2013.01066.x

A RESEARCH AGENDA FOR GLOBAL

STAKEHOLDER STRATEGY

TIMOTHY M. DEVINNEY,1* ANITA M. MCGAHAN,2and

MAURIZIO ZOLLO3,4

1Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, United

Kingdom

2Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

3Center for Research in Innovation, Organization and Strategy, Bocconi

University, Milan, Italy

4University of Business and Economics (WU), Vienna, Austria

This purpose of this article is to provide a framework into which we can integrate global

strategy with stakeholder theory. Our aim is to createthe basis for a research agenda that deals

specifically with issues that are unique to global strategy and to use this perspective to

demonstrate the insights that may arise for core stakeholder theory through the pursuit of such

an agenda. We argue that a global perspective implies not only the management of stakehold-

ers in various locations across the globe, but also the management of the rising phenomenon

of multinationals and other organizations as truly global stakeholders. We argue that global

stakeholder management involves a range of issues that are not yet fully considered either in

the field of global strategy or the field of stakeholder theory. For example, drawing on recent

research that emphasizes stakeholder claims as arising from rules of law, global strategy can

involve selectively exposing the corporation across jurisdictions to particular stakeholders.

This presents an opportunity for gains from the trade in intellectual ideas, concepts, theories,

and empirical findings. Copyright © 2013 Strategic Management Society.

INTRODUCTION

One of the consistent and significant hallmarks of

global strategy that distinguishes it from traditional

corporate strategy is the degree and extent to

which the managers of the firm—in this case

the multinational enterprise (MNE)—must manage

complexity. This complexity arises organically

from the nature of the environments in which

the firm chooses to operate and from the challenges

of intraorganizational coordination under this

complexity.By operating across national and cultural

boundaries, the MNE’s managers must address not

just multiple markets and more complex customers

and supply conditions, but multiple political jurisdic-

tions and a plethora of cultural milieus. Rarely do

these political and cultural environments align effec-

tively with the experience of the MNE, particularly in

the early stages of internationalization.

The literature in international business and global

strategy has a long and documented history of

addressing many of the issues that arise as a firm

internationalizes. An important concept for describ-

ing political and cultural complexity is the ‘liability

of foreignness’ (Zaheer, 1995), which encapsulates

the additional costs that the firm faces as it moves

from its home market into new environments.

Studies of this liability suggest that the successful

MNE distinguishes itself by being able to generate

Keywords: stakeholders; MNEs; social responsibility;

sustainability; stakeholder-based theory of the firm

*Correspondence to: Timothy M. Devinney, Leeds University

Business School, University of Leeds, Maurice Keyworth

Building, Leeds LS2 9JT U.K. E-mail: Timothy.Devinney@

gmail.com

Global Strategy Journal

Global Strat. J., 3: 325–337 (2013)

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1111/j.2042-5805.2013.01066.x

Copyright © 2013 Strategic Management Society