Deck 3: Stakeholder Theory

Question 1

______ stakeholders are external to the firm.

A)Organizational and economic
B)Economic and personal
C)Economic and societal
D)Personal and organizational

Answer 1

C

Question 2

______ stakeholders include consumers, shareholders, and competitors.

A)Organizational
B)Economic
C)Societal
D)Personal

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Integrating a stakeholder perspective into a strategic framework allows firms to respond to stakeholder demands in ways that maximize both ______ and ______ value.

A)economic; social
B)stakeholder; social
C)economic; shareholder
D)environmental; stakeholder

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What holds organizations together and allows them to focus on efficiency, productivity, and profits?

A)respect
B)diversity
C)trust
D)competence

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT one of the five stages of learning organizations go through when developing a sense of corporate responsibility?

A)defensive
B)compliance
C)managerial
D)offensive

Question 6

______ in an organization are the individuals and groups who depend on the firm in order to achieve their personal goals and on whom the firm depends for its existence.

A)Stakeholders
B)Shareholders
C)Directors
D)Consumers

Question 7

According to Zadek, an issue characterized as being of high strategic relevance and also being institutionalized is ______.

A)an opportunity
B)a danger
C)irrelevant
D)a caution

Question 8

According to the textbook, the businesses most likely to succeed in today's rapidly evolving global environment will be those best able to ______.

A)meet shareholders' quarterly growth expectations
B)build the best senior management team
C)balance the conflicting interests of multiple stakeholders
D)state and meet specific CSR objectives

Question 9

______ identified the five stages of learning that organizations go through when developing a sense of corporate responsibility.

A)Ed Freeman
B)Milton Friedman
C)John Mackey
D)Simon Zadek

Question 10

Who is usually credited with contemporary stakeholder theory?

A)Frank Pierce
B)Eric Rhenman
C)Ed Freeman
D)Frank Abrams

Question 11

A(n) ______ in an organization is (by definition) any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives.

A)employee
B)customer
C)supplier
D)stakeholder

Question 12

The extent to which it has become accepted business practice is known as issue ______.

A)reification
B)evolution
C)operationalization
D)entropy

Question 13

The firms most likely to succeed in today's rapidly evolving global environment will be those best able to ______ by balancing the conflicting interests of multiple stakeholders.

A)adapt to their environment
B)change their environment
C)regulate their environment
D)ignore their environment

Question 14

In Zadek's model, an irrelevant issue is characterized by ______.

A)high strategic relevance and latent issue
B)high strategic relevance and institutionalized issue
C)low strategic relevance and latent issue
D)low strategic relevance and institutionalized issue

Question 15

When prioritizing stakeholders, firms may consider which of the following factors?

A)employee happiness
B)community desires
C)supplier demands
D)all of these

Question 16

As CEO of a manufacturing firm, you introduce a standardized process to measure the carbon footprints of your entire product line and report the information on the labels of your products.In Zadek's corporate responsibility model, you are in ______ mode while facing a(n) ______ issue.

A)defensive; latent
B)civil; institutionalized
C)managerial; latent
D)defensive; emerging

Question 17

Why do young children not meet the textbook author's definition of stakeholder?

A)They are not of legal age.
B)They do not have capacity to affect the firm's operations.
C)They are not interested in stakeholder issues.
D)They are not consumers.

Question 18

______ stakeholders are internal to the firm.

A)Organizational
B)Economic
C)Societal
D)Personal

Question 19

As an owner of a coal mine, you have not had to pay any fines for not failing to meet federal worker safety guidelines, but you do no more than meet the federal requirements.In Zadek's corporate responsibility model, you are in ______ mode.

A)civil
B)compliance
C)defensive
D)managerial

Question 20

According to Simon Zadek's corporate responsibility theory, a company faces the greatest danger when it is in ______ mode while facing a(n) ______ issue.

A)defensive; institutionalized
B)compliance; latent
C)defensive; consolidating
D)compliance; emerging

Question 21

Being able to prioritize among stakeholder groups is important because ______.

A)managers should satisfy the interests of all stakeholders
B)the interests of most stakeholders will ultimately align
C)the interests of different stakeholder groups often conflict
D)doing so provides the greatest opportunity to meet all societal needs

Question 22

Which of the following is an example of organizational stakeholders?

A)competitors
B)consumers
C)employees
D)shareholders

Question 23

A CEO has told you that the needs of the firm's different stakeholder groups do not align; that is, what is best for organizational stakeholders is not what is best for economic and societal stakeholders.She has asked for your advice on prioritizing the stakeholder issue.You advise her that the general rule is to prioritize the ______.

A)organizational stakeholders
B)economic stakeholders
C)societal stakeholders
D)economic and societal stakeholders regardless of the impact on organizational stakeholders

Question 24

Maximum risk arises when a firm is ______ in relation to an institutionalized issue because it is resisting a potential threat about which everyone agrees.

A)ambivalent
B)offensive
C)defensive
D)conservative

Question 25

What is the first step in stakeholder prioritization?

A)act as quickly as is prudent to satisfy as many stakeholders as possible
B)analyze the nature of the issue
C)identify and engage the set of stakeholders that are relevant to the firm
D)prioritize among competing stakeholder interests and demands

Question 26

Why does the textbook's author not consider the natural environment a stakeholder?

A)The natural environment lacks agency.
B)Scientists have not presented enough evidence for human-caused global warming.
C)NGOs do not lobby for the natural environment.
D)Other stakeholders do not support the natural environment as an issue.

Question 27

In 1994, top executives of the seven largest tobacco companies testified in Congress that they did not believe that cigarettes were addictive.What stakeholder was prioritized the least due to this action?

A)shareholders
B)employees
C)the media
D)customers

Question 28

While all stakeholder types may be considered important, what is the stakeholder order of importance for the firm (from most important to least important)?

A)organizational, societal, and economic
B)economic, organizational, and societal
C)societal, economic, and organizational
D)organizational, economic, and societal

Question 29

______ stakeholders are relatively easy compared to ______ stakeholders.

A)Prioritizing; identifying
B)Identifying; prioritizing
C)Developing; sustaining
D)Sustaining; developing

Question 30

At the United Nations COP21 meeting that took place in Paris in 2015, companies such as Alcoa, Apple, Bank of America, Cargill, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Google, Microsoft, and Walmart committed significant resources to cutting carbon emissions.Such recognition of the reality of climate change indicates that this issue is in the ______ stage.

A)latent
B)manifest
C)emerging
D)institutionalized

Question 31

As the owner of a local restaurant, you initiate a practice of composting all disposable food products and donating edible leftovers to a local homeless shelter.In Zadek's corporate responsibility model, you are in ______ mode while facing a(n) ______ issue.

A)defensive; latent
B)civil; institutionalized
C)managerial; latent
D)managerial; consolidating

Question 32

Although CSR is important, it is not central to running a business.

Question 33

Prioritizing stakeholders is easy because it is obvious which stakeholders are most important to a firm.

Question 34

Increasingly, managers will be required to address the competing interests of______.

A)a narrow group of stakeholders
B)a wide range of stakeholders
C)a shrinking group of stakeholders
D)governmental stakeholders and regulators

Question 35

In 1994, top executives of the seven largest tobacco companies testified in Congress that they did not believe that cigarettes were addictive.In Zadek's corporate responsibility model, the executives were in ______ mode while facing a(n) ______ issue.

A)civil; institutionalized
B)civil; latent
C)defensive; institutionalized
D)defensive; latent

Question 36

You are the owner of a local bakery.You recognize that by paying your hourly employees a living wage, you will serve the interests of the employees as well as maintain a more stable workforce in your firm.In Zadek's corporate responsibility model, you are in ______ mode.

A)civil
B)compliance
C)defensive
D)managerial

Question 37

Societal stakeholders are the least important group of stakeholders.

Question 38

Which of the following is NOT an example of economic stakeholders?

A)competitors
B)consumers
C)employees
D)shareholders

Question 39

Which of the following is NOT an example of societal stakeholders?

A)employees
B)the media
C)government agencies and regulators
D)local communities

Question 40

Societal stakeholders are the largest group of firm stakeholders.

Question 41

In what ways are the media a stakeholder? Please consider the definition of a stakeholder in your answer.

Question 42

Ed Freeman famously defined a stakeholder as "any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives." Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this definition, providing examples to support your argument.

Question 43

How is the concept of stakeholder related to the five driving forces of CSR? Provide examples in your answer.

Question 44

Simon Zadek identifies five stages of learning that organizations go through in developing a sense of corporate responsibility and four stages of intensity to measure the societal issues and public's expectations around the issues.Describe Zadek's model and use the model to analyze a real-life firm facing a corporate responsibility issue, clearly identifying the firm's location and the issue's location on each axis of the model.

Question 45

A firm continuing to publicly deny the existence of global warming is in defensive mode.

Question 46

Customers want lower prices and higher quality; employees want higher wages and better benefits and better working conditions; suppliers want to give fewer discounts and want you to buy more of their products; communities want more donations; governments want higher taxes; investors want higher dividends and higher stock prices.Present an economic situation that has recently been in the news and justify how/why each of the stakeholders listed above should have their priority met or not met.

Question 47

Putting yourself in the role of a CEO, describe the five steps of stakeholder prioritization, giving examples from your fictitious firm.