GLOBAL DISPUTE ON SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS: TRENDS AND FUTURE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 9-10 June, 2011, Tampere, Finland GLOBAL DISPUTE ON SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS: ANALYSING MNE-STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIPS IN LOCAL MEDIA TEXTS Lehtimäki, Hanna, Kujala, Johanna & Heikkinen, Anna University of Tampere

Objectives of the study To examine the pluralism related to sustainable business from a stakeholder perspective. The focus of the study is on MNE-stakeholder relationships related to a Finnish green field investment project in Uruguay. The relationships are depicted as they are portrayed in an Argentinian newspaper, El Clarin. Pääidis: Perinteiset sidosryhmämallit ei riitä, kun pyritään ymmärtämään jatkuvasti muuttuvia suhteita!

Theoretical starting points Stakeholder literature argues that sustainable business is achieved in collaboration with a large set of stakeholders and that business logic based on serving only the owners narrows the potential for value creation (Freeman, Harrison & Wicks, 2007). Stakeholder salience model can be used to study stakeholder dynamics. Salience is based on the attributes of power, legitimacy, and urgency (Mitchell et al. 1997) MNE research claims that instead of implementing centralized global strategies companies are required to understand the local context (Ghemawat, 2007) and to reconcile the perspectives of diverse actors (Hart & Sharma, 2004) in order to sustain competitive advantage. Stakeholder perspective brings concepts and tools for understanding pluralism in MNE literature, and thus, allows for theorizing for sustainability. Pääidis: Perinteiset sidosryhmämallit ei riitä, kun pyritään ymmärtämään jatkuvasti muuttuvia suhteita!

Research Case Finnish forest company’s pulp mill investment in Fray Bentos, Uruguay The biggest foreign investment in the history of Finland, USD 1,2 billion Increased Uruguay’s GDP by 1.6% and created 8,000 jobs (est.) Production capacity of 1 million tons of bleached eucalyptus pulp Local and environmental concerns

Research Case, Data and Method Research data Newspaper articles describing the building process and the conflict Data source Argentinean newspaper, El Clarin 445 articles from March, 2005 to May, 2009 planning period 2003-2005 construction period 2005-2007 production period 2007-2009 2009 mill was sold to another company Research method Qualitative content analysis Stakeholder identification: supporting, opposing, neutral Salience analysis: power, legitimacy, urgency Year Articles published in El Clarin (n) 2005 35 2006 151 2007 167 2008 77 2009 15 Total 445

Findings: Stakeholder identification 18 stakeholders were identified in the news coverage of the case Governments Negotiating third parties Argentinean government Church representatives Brazilian government Finnish Embassy in Argentina Finnish government King of Spain and his representatives Uruquayan government Green Cross International Mercosur tribunals Local actors NGO’s Argentinian Citizens’ Environmental Assembly of Gualeguaychú (CEAG) Citizens of Fray Bentos, Uruquay Global institutional actors Local government of Entre Rios, Argentina European union Hague International Court of Justice (ICJ) Opposing Argentineans World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) Botnia’s management

Findings: Stakeholder salience and involvement in the case   Definitive stakeholders Expectant stakeholders Latent stakeholders Supporting stakeholders Botnia’ management Uruguayan government Citizens of Fray Bentos European Union Opposing stakeholders Argentinean government CEAG Local government NGOs Opposing Argentineans Neutral stakeholders Finnish government Hague ICJ IFC King of Spain Mercosur tribunals World Bank Brazilian government Church Finnish embassy

Discussion Stakeholder identification allows for grouping stakeholders according to their stance towards the issue. In the case of Botnia, those opposing the investment argued for environmental sustainability those in favor of investment argued for the local social and economic sustainability local stakeholders appeared as both supporting and opposing stakeholders global stakeholders appeared as neutral stakeholders. The salience analysis combined with analysis on the roles of stakeholders allows for taking into account both the local and global pluralism involved in MNE operations. Stakeholder perspective as compared to the shareholder perspective provides insight into the dynamics related to negotiating sustainability in MNE operations.

Thank you! Questions, comments? Hanna.Lehtimaki@uta.fi Johanna.Kujala@uta.fi Anna.Heikkinen@uta.fi