Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Measuring Corporate Performance by Building on the Stakeholders Model of Business Ethics

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The main thesis guiding the conceptual development of our corporate performance measurement model is that business success – defined as long-term survival and growth – is determined by relationship quality (1) among the various organizational departments (internal stakeholders), (2) between internal and external stakeholders, and (3) between internal and distal stakeholders. Relationship quality among internal stakeholders is conceptualized and operationalized in terms of internal service quality. Relationship quality between internal and external stakeholders is conceptualized and operationalized in terms of external service quality. Relationship quality between internal and distal stakeholders is conceptualized and operationalized in terms of company goodwill. Thus, corporate performance of manufacturing firms can be measured by a survey of representatives of internal, external, and distal stakeholders. Corporate strategies can be developed as a direct function of strengths and weaknesses uncovered by corporate performance measurement.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson, E. and B. Weitz: 1992, 'The Use of Pledges to Build and Sustain Commitment in Distribution Channels', Journal of Marketing Research 29(2), 18–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, P. F.: 1982, 'Marketing, Strategic Planning, and the Theory of the Firm', Journal of Marketing 46 (Spring), 15–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. R., R. F. Lusch and C. Y. Nicholson: 1995, 'Power and Relationship Commitment: Their Impact on Marketing Channel Member Performance', Journal of Retailing 71(4), 363–392.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buzzell, R. D. and F. D. Wiersea: 1981, 'Successful Share-Building Strategies', Harvard Business Review 1–2, 135–144.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deming, W. E.: 1988, Out of the Crisis(Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, T. and L. E. Preston: 1995, 'The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications', Academy of Management Review 20(1), 65–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Droge, C., R. Germain, and D. Halstead: 1990, 'A Note on Marketing and the Corporate Annual Report: 1930–1950', Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 18 (Fall), 355–364.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drucker, P.: 1998, 'The Information Executives Truly Need', in Harvard Business Review on Measuring Corporate Performance(Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA), pp. 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dwyer, R. F., P. H. Schurr and S. Oh: 1987, 160 M. Joseph Sirgy 'Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships', Journal of Marketing 51(4), 11–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ernest and Young Quality Improvement Consulting Group: 1990, Total Quality: an Executive's Guide for the 1990s, One Irwin/APICS Series in Production Management.

  • Evan, W. M. and R. E. Freeman: 1998, 'A Takeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation: Kantian Capitalism', in Tom L. Beauchamp and Norman Bowie (eds.), Ethical Theory and Business, 3rd edn. (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, R. E.: 1984, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach(Pitman Publishers, Boston, MA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, R. E. and D. L. Reed: 1983, 'Stockholders and Stakeholders: A New Perspective on Corporate Governance', California Management Review 25 (Spring), 88–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ganesan, S.: 1994, 'Determinants of Long-Term Orientation in Buyer-Seller Relationships', Journal of Marketing 58(4), 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenley, G. E. and G. R. Foxall: 1996, 'Consumer and Nonconsumer Stakeholder Orientation in U.K. Companies', Journal of Business Research 35(2), 105–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, A. and J. R. Hauser: 1992, 'Patterns of Communication Among Marketing Engineering, and Manufacturing-A Comparison Between Two Product Teams', Management Science 38(3), 360–373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gundlach, G. T., R. S. Achrol and J. T. Mentzer: 1995, 'The Structure of Commitment in Exchange', Journal of Marketing 59(1), 78–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Han, S., D. T. Wilson, and S. P. Dant: 1993, 'Buyer-Seller Relationship Today', Industrial Marketing Management 22, 331–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hosseini, J. C. and S. N. Brenner: 1992, 'The Stakeholder Theory of the Firm: A Methodology to Generate Value Matrix Weights', Business Ethics Quarterly 2(2), 99–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Javalgi, R., M. Taylor, A. Gross and E. Lampan: 1994, 'Awareness of Sponsorship and Corporate Image: An Empirical Investigation', Journal of Advertising 23(4), 47–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Juran, J. M.: 1951, Juran's Quality-Control Handbook (McGraw-Hill, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Juran, J. M.: 1988, Juran on Planning for Quality(Free Press, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, K. B. and J. T. Mentzer: 1998, 'Marketing's Integration With Other Departments', Journal of Business Research 42, 53–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, R. S. and D. P. Norton: 1998, 'Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work', in Harvard Business Review on Measuring Corporate Performance(Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA), pp. 123–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, R. S. and D. P. Norton: 1996, The Balanced Scorecard(Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, R. S. and D. P. Norton: 1992, 'The Balanced Scorecard-Measures That Drive Performance', Harvard Business Review 1–2, 71–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, N., L. K. Scheer and J. E. M. Steenkamp: 1995, 'The Effects of Supplier Fairness on Vulnerable Resellers', Journal of Marketing Research 32(2), 54–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, L. D. and G. E. Fryxell: 1994, 'CEO Stakeholder Attitudes and Corporate Social Activity in the Fortune 500', Business and Society 33(1), 58–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lim, J. and D. A. Reid: 1992, 'Vital Cross-Functional Linkages With Marketing', Industrial Marketing Management 21, 159–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitroff, I. I.: 1983, Stakeholders of the Organizational Mind( Jossey-Bass Publishers, London).

    Google Scholar 

  • Moorman, C., G. Zaltman and R. Deshpande: 1992, 'Relationship Between Providers and Users of Market Research: The Dynamics of Trust Within and Between Organizations', Journal of Marketing Research 29(8), 314–329.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, R. M. and S. D. Hunt: 1994, 'The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing', Journal of Marketing 58(7), 20–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ness, J. A. and T. G. Cucuzza: 1998, 'Tapping the Full Potential of ABC', in Harvard Business Review on Measuring Corporate Performance(Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA), pp. 47–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noordewier, T. G., G. John and J. R. Nevin: 1990, 'Performance Outcomes of Purchasing Arrangements in Industrial Buyer-Vendor Relationships', Journal of Marketing 54(10), 80–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parasuraman, A, L. L. Berry and V. A. Zeithaml: 1991, 'Refinement and Reassessment of the SERVQUAL Scale', Journal of Retailing 67(4), 420–450.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parasuraman, A, V. A. Zeithaml and L. L. Berry: 1988, 'SERVUAL: A Multiple Item Scale for Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Service Quality', Journal of Retailing 64(1), 12–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parasuraman, A., V. A. Zeithaml and L. L. Berry: 1995, 'A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its Implications for Future Research', Journal of Marketing 49 (Fall), 41–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plender, J.: 1997, A Stake in the Future: The Stakeholding Solution(Nicholas Brealey, London). Measuring Corporate Performance 161

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruekert, R. W. and O. C. Walker: 1987, 'Marketing's Interaction With Other Functional Units: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Evidence', Journal of Marketing 51(1), 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shemwell, D. J. Jr., J. J. Cronin, Jr. and W. R. Bullard: 1995, 'Relational Exchange in Services: An Empirical Investigation of Ongoing Customer Service-Provider Relationships', International Journal of Service Industry 5(3), 57–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheth, J. N. and A. Sharma: 1997, 'Supplier Relationships: Emerging Issues and Challenges', Industrial Marketing Management 26, 91–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. B. and D. W. Barclay: 1997, 'The Effects of Organizational Differences and Trust on the Effectiveness of Selling Partner Relationships', Journal of Marketing 61(1), 3–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanley, L. L. and J. D. Wisner: 1998, 'Internal Service Quality in Purchasing: An Empirical Study', International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management 34(Summer), 50–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, D. and M. Sillanpaa: 1997, The Stakeholder Corporation: Blueprint for Maximizing Stakeholder Value(Pitman Publishing, London).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wind, Y.: 1981, 'Marketing and the Other Business Functions', in Jagdish N. Sheth (ed.), Research in Marketing, Vol. 5 ( JAI Press, Greenwich, CT), pp. 237–264.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0236, U.S.A.

    M. Joseph Sirgy

Authors
  1. M. Joseph Sirgy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sirgy, M.J. Measuring Corporate Performance by Building on the Stakeholders Model of Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 35, 143–162 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013856421897

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013856421897

Search

Navigation