About the project
This project (STAKES) aims to expand stakeholder theory to better study the evolving role of firms as societal agents, and why attempts to align corporate purpose with social impact succeed or fail. STAKES will conduct research on seven leading EU-based companies (Siemens, Lidl, H+M, Sanofi, Heineken, TotalEnergies, Unilever) in seven fragile and/or crisis countries (for example Colombia, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo).
Led by PI Jason Miklian at the Centre for Global Sustainability (GLOBE), University of Oslo STAKES unites seven world-leading scholars from the USA, Colombia, UAE, and UK to drive new interdisciplinary research in business/management, development studies, and international relations/political science. We drive this frontier by critically assessing the private sector's complex role in violent and crisis-ridden societies through their social impact activities. It will deliver new theory on business contributions to sustainable development by assessing how “cutting edge” business frameworks of social benefit impact upon corporate objectives.
We aim to enhance interdisciplinary understandings and collaborations on business purpose to encourage more in-depth and evidence-based commitments by businesses to improve their societal activities and humanitarian engagement in fragility, conflict and violent settings. We also aim to deliver evidence for more refined policies by national governments and multilateral organizations to reduce negative societal consequences by business and offer a blueprint for ways to increase capacity of local communities affected by security issues to build constructive conversations with businesses on social projects. Our main societal impact is to deliver a deeper understanding of the private sector's role in societal security, peace, and sustainable development.
Background
We are witnessing a dramatic change in how businesses see themselves in society. Top firms now claim that they no longer aim just to make profit, but to also deliver social value in an era of polycrisis, and grand societal challenges. However, critical voices believe that corporate efforts for social impact donʼt live up to the hype, and can even harm the world’s most vulnerable communities in the name of going good.
As we face unprecedented global crises that require collaboration across society to tackle, what does it mean to be a responsible business today? This project is structured to help us learn the motivations and impact of new private sector roles in societal “grand challenges” and “wicked problems”. It aims to expand the value of stakeholder theory for a new generation of business-society scholarship.
Financing
12 mill. NOK from the Research council of Norway, under the FRIPRO initiative.
