The Contribution of Stakeholder Theory to Supply Chain Management: A Theory Evaluation

As the attention to supply chain management (SCM) increases, practitioners seek new ways of enhancing their processes. At the same time stakeholder theory has become a central theorem in management literature and practice, and empirics show its relevance to SCM. This paper brings stakeholder theory and SCM together by focusing on the major decision points in supply chain management and evaluating on how stakeholder theory does impact these decisions. The literature on stakeholder theory is reviewed. Then, stakeholder theory is evaluated and positioned within the Life Cycle of Theories. Afterwards, stakeholder theory is applied to the make-or-buy, sourcing strategy, supplier strategy, and contracting decisions. It is found that stakeholders are part of any SCM decision and that the concept of stakeholder salience can act as a junction between stakeholder theory and SCM decision making.