Marketing communication: principles and practice

M A N A G I N G W I T H S T A K E H O L D E R S
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6, for a discussion of negotiated enactment of stakeholder interests). Halal’s
analysis leads to a theory of the nature of the firm:
Corporate managers are dependent on stakeholders because the
economic role of the firm is to combine as effectively as possible 
the unique resources each stakeholder contributes: the risk capital of
investors; the talents, training, and efforts of employees; the continued
patronage of customers; the capabilities of business partners; and the
economic infrastructure provided by government.
(1996: 67)
In this view, managers act as stewards engaged in a ‘social contract’ to draw
together this mix of resources and transform it into financial and social wealth,
which they can distribute among stakeholders to reward their contributions.
The closer the integration into a cohesive community, the greater the wealth.
Stakeholders have different interests according to their unique roles in the
corporate community. These interests can be reconciled if they are organized
to create a more successful enterprise. The goal of business, therefore, should
be to serve the public welfare of all stakeholders.
There are some problems to be resolved in putting this into practice, but
there are compelling reasons why the transition will occur:
• the liberating power of information
• the benefits of cooperation
• the rising aspirations of people
• democratic ideals being extended into everyday life
• the new business model offers increasing productivity and social
benefits, without clashing with the profit-centred model of business
– it is a logical extension which helps to resolve the ‘cultural
contradictions of capitalism’.
(Bell, 1974)
The industrial age was characterized by analysis that rationally broke down
complex problems into constituent parts, which then required hierarchical
structures to coordinate these diverse parts – the age of specialism and
division. The information age has the opposite need: the synthesis of disparate
nations, social diversity, and other fragmented subsystems into a balanced,
integral, functioning whole (Halal, 1996).
What is needed is a balance between internal markets and corporate
community:
the marketplace fosters competition, a focus on profit, individualism,
diversity, and constantly shifting relations – while community encour-
ages co-operation, social welfare, unity, equity, and commitment.
(Halal, 1996: 88)
Rather than seeing all others as sources of conflict and competition, in which
desired resources must be won, many managers are seeing their other