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The Nature of Nature as a Stakeholder

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Abstract

There is a longstanding debate in the stakeholder literature as to who and what really counts as the stakeholders of the firm. Likewise, there have been discussions on whether nature should be considered a stakeholder of the firm. However, one seldom encounters any definitions of the key concepts, that is of nature or the natural environment. We seek to contribute to the debate by taking a closer look at what this thing called nature actually is. In addition, we discuss the implications of this conceptual refinement for the stakeholder model. In order to reinforce the status of the natural environment in the stakeholder model, we propose that any visualisation of a stakeholder network should be embedded in the natural environment.

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Acknowledgments

This article stems from the author’s discussions with the late Professor Juha Näsi, whose input on an early version of this article is gratefully acknowledged. The usual caveat still applies.

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  1. School of Management, University of Tampere, 33014, Tampere, Finland

    Matias Laine

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  1. Matias Laine
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Correspondence to Matias Laine.

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Laine, M. The Nature of Nature as a Stakeholder. J Bus Ethics 96 (Suppl 1), 73–78 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-0936-4

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