The war is over. The largest corporations in the world are now committed to sustainability. But, behind the public relations gloss, corporate executives and managers are perplexed. The majority of them have a genuine desire to work in an ethical and sustainable manner. Yet, when they engage with their stakeholders for that purpose, they unexpectedly encounter a world of hardball politics full of hostile activists, self-interested elites and unpredictable attacks. Unfortunately, corporate management is too often unskilled in this rough-and-tumble world. While managers rely on facts and rational analysis, their self-appointed critics have mastered the arts of political discourse, issue framing and media manipulation. At the same time, as corporations extend their global reach, their third-world stakeholder communities are beset with a variety of poverty-maintaining and sustainability-thwarting conditions. In many parts of the world, communities suffer from entrenched divisions, exclusion from power, unpredictable violence and economic dependency. In order to both reduce reputational risk and to contribute to sustainable development, companies need the equivalent of roadmaps of the socio-political terrain in their stakeholder networks.

This book moves on to next challenge of giving companies what they need now: namely, 'how to' guides addressing the twin problems of firstly maintaining political legitimacy (talking the talk), and, secondly, promoting sustainable development (walking the walk). They need to learn how to both play stakeholder politics and collaborate with stakeholders towards sustainability goals. Most companies have already encountered or anticipated the barriers that this book addresses, and managers will recognise the dilemmas described.

Stakeholder Politics is the first book to offer a method for classifying and dealing with these socio-political problems.

The book presents a typology of stakeholder networks that will help managers and community leaders identify and improve the social capital patterns in their own networks. Once they know what patterns they have, they can move their networks towards those that foster sustainable community development. The author describes vivid cases in which managers and community stakeholders have already used the approach successfully. At the same time, managers get handy tools for predicting and avoiding community-level socio-political risk around stakeholder issues: most notably, the Stakeholder 360 which has been successfully used in Canada and Australia with large groups of managers learning about stakeholder engagement.

The book has been written for an audience of both managers and academics. Those working in developing countries with difficult stakeholder issues will find it indispensable.

This is a one-of-a-kind book that explores the politics of creating value for stakeholders from a unique and very practical perspective. Managers will gain much insight into their business models from reading and applying this book. Stakeholder Politics can make a real difference to your business.
R. Edward Freeman, Olsson Professor of Business Administration, The Darden School, University of Virginia

Stakeholder Politics provides a new roadmap for that dark and misty terrain called the "non-market environment." Corporations and their stakeholders can gain powerful insights that contribute to sustainable development and help them identify innovative solutions to shared problems. It is a book for these times.
Leeora Black, Managing Director, Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility

How can international companies that operate industrial projects in remote and impoverished regions of the world contribute effectively to sustainable development in communities around their operations? Failure to meet this challenge can heighten a company's political risk exposure, damage its local and international reputation, and alienate civil society organizations, including ethical investment funds. Robert Boutilier provides companies with a new approach to the developmental challenge through a pioneering application of social capital theory. Many community relations managers know from experience that the key condition for local economic growth and social progress is community coherence and resilience achieved through strong social networks of mutual support, communication, and trust. If social capital is underdeveloped, company expenditures on health, education, business creation, and physical infrastructure will only make communities more dependent on the company. What can companies do to build social capital in local communities? Boutilier offers a systematic framework for assessing a community's social capital and designing strategies to strengthen it. The book is well organized to provide easy access to key concepts and methodologies, through chapter synopses, graphs and charts, case studies, and key questions for managers. This book should be on the desk of every corporate community relations manager.
Jim Cooney, Retired Vice President, International Government Affairs, Placer Dome Inc.

Stakeholder Politics is an indispensable read for corporate leaders struggling with complex stakeholder interests and relationships. Robert Boutilier has produced a clear theoretical framework, supported by solid research and on-the-ground practice in tough environments. He has built a solid bridge between theory and practice, while contributing to the much-needed intensification of collaboration among the main actors in our economy.
Tony Dean, Former Cabinet Secretary, Head of the Ontario Public Service and Fellow-in-Residence, School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto

This is definitely the best book on stakeholder management ever written. Boutilier's remarkable 360° tool offers incredible insight to stakeholder networks.
Erwin Bendl, Think Tank for International Governance Research, Austria

Laying out an easy-to-follow guide on how to achieve and maintain political legitimacy on environmental matters, this title champions sustainable development and attaining good relationships in the process. Devised and written by a highly experienced researcher and environmental consultant, readers are presented with Robert Boutilier’s approach as he outlines ways in which to benefit from stakeholder networking and targeting sustainability. Case studies of companies that have followed the approach highlight the successes to be gained. This title is useful for environmental academics and managers alike.
The Environmentalist 77 (5 May 2009)

Many companies struggle with the many different, often conflicting, components of stakeholder politics and often suffer at the hands of cross plays within groupings and power structures. This book explains the “hows” and “whys” of those politics, with case studies, and empowers the reader to understand the dynamics and therefore be better placed to manage the dissent, disagreement and disillusionment.

I recall a particularly tough stakeholder meeting at mine where I was involved and an exasperated manager came out of the meeting and barked, “I’m a miner, not a b*!%^y social worker!”. His frustration came from a confusion and lack of understanding of the perspectives of his stakeholders.

Bouilier starts by asking why corporations should care about sustainable development and then gradually moves through sustainability performance measurements, stakeholder relationships, social capital explanation, through to the mapping of values, priorities and issues and finally arrives at “inter-sectoral complementarity” … (or, in plain English, stakeholders appreciating each others’ role, function and needs.) He uses physical networks to explain and understand conflict and cooperation between different stakeholder groups and uses some excellent case studies to illustrate his logic. He summarises each chapter carefully and poses some focussed and searching questions at the end of each chapter to enable the reader to take his own situation and experience and put it into perspective.

Recommended for Social responsibility, Community Affairs or Sustainable Managers. This may not be every sustainability or environmental practitioner’s “cup of tea” but for those who deal with community groups and political stakeholders, there will be many points that ring true and a few others which may cause “the little light bulb in the head” to go on with a distinct ping!
Arend Hoogervorst, Eagle Bulletin Vol 19 No. 1 (July 2009)

1. Why should corporations care about sustainable development?
2. The global regulation of corporations: coming soon or already here?
3. Sustainability performance measurement and stakeholder relationships
4. Multilateral 'messes' and the three types of social capital
5. Questions that measure social capital
6. Collecting and analyzing social capital data
7. Identifying barriers to sustainable development with the 3DSC framework
8. Predicting protests in Peru
9. Four years of stakeholder politics on Misima Island
10. Mapping the network's values, priorities, and issues
11. From social capital to inter-sectoral complementarity