Scientific article
OA Policy
English

The structure and dynamics of the ceo's “small world” of stakeholders. An application to industrial downsizing

ContributorsFerrary, Michel
Publication date2018
Abstract

Stakeholder theory highlights that a CEO must perform a social responsibility towards multiple stakeholders (employees, politicians, journalists, citizens, etc). These stakeholders constitute a political system and the CEO develops a political strategy to deal with the claims of the different actors. This article mobilizes social network analysis and the complex networks theory to build a dynamic theory of stakeholders' networks. To varying degrees corporate leaders are embedded in a network of stakeholders, and this network is subject to systemic shocks that can be random or intentionally provoked by the CEO. This framework is used to analyze the evolution of the employment relationship during an industrial restructuring. The employment contract is not limited to a relationship between an employer and an employee. Rather this relationship is embedded in a network that may involve several stakeholders. The strategic decision to downsize an organization in response to a systemic shock destabilizes the network of stakeholders and leads the CEO to define a political strategy to manage the layoff crisis.

Keywords
  • Employment relationship
  • Complex networks theory
  • Industrial restructuring
  • Stakeholder theory
Citation (ISO format)
FERRARY, Michel. The structure and dynamics of the ceo’s “small world” of stakeholders. An application to industrial downsizing. In: Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2018. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2018.04.006
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Article (Published version)
accessLevelPublic
Identifiers
Journal ISSN0040-1625
530views
358downloads

Technical informations

Creation04/09/2018 20:37:00
First validation04/09/2018 20:37:00
Update time27/06/2025 11:44:06
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