1. 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

2. 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!

3. 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!

4. 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

5. 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
construction period
production period
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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. Thank you! Questions, comments?