Space for Stakeholding? Stakeholder Capitalism and Economic Geography

Bibliographic Data

ID4841993
AuthorsPeter Sunley (0000-0003-4803-5299, University of Edinburgh, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume31
Issue12
Pages2189-2205
Publication date1999-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1068/a312189
OpenAlexW2143858156
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited41

In this paper I review recent stakeholding proposals and critically assess their implications for debates on local and regional economic development. I highlight some of the benefits, tensions, and ambiguitics of the stakeholding metaphor, before considering whether it offers a blueprint for the construction of more ethically and socially responsible regional and local economies. I argue that the idea's main limitations stem from its basis in a notion of corporate autonomy which detracts from the diversity of ways in which places and regional contexts condition the range of feasible and beneficial company strategies. The debate highlights the need for more research into how corporate governance affects regional economic fortunes. I criticise stakeholding proposals for implying that the benefits of cooperative economic relations are sufficient to ensure the formation of new industries and new technological trajectories. In the final section of the paper I briefly examine the use of stakeholding in public policy debates in Britain, and the likely geographical consequences. I argue that the use of the term reflects an optimistic communitarianism, and that the benefits of emphasising community participation, rights, and responsibilities should not be used to legitimate a policy abandonment of those communities lacking the resources to participate as stakeholders

Autonomy · Blueprint · Capitalism · Corporate governance · Economics · Management · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Stakeholder · Cooperative Studies and Economics · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Management and Organizational Studies

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