Title: Corporate social responsibility: the natural environment as a stakeholder?

Authors: Damien Bazin, Jerome Ballet

Addresses: C3ED (The Centre for Economics and Ethics in the Environment and Development), University of Versailles – St Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), 47, Bd Vauban, 78047 Guyancourt cedex, France. ' C3ED (The Centre for Economics and Ethics in the Environment and Development), University of Versailles – St Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), 47, Bd Vauban, 78047 Guyancourt cedex, France

Abstract: Societal responsibility is a much discussed topic today. However, this concept has undergone several developments. Currently, it is based on the theory of ||stakeholders||. Nevertheless, this approach becomes complicated when we take a company|s responsibility vis-à-vis nature into account. This paper treats this problem and proposes a new interpretation of the stakeholder theory. The distinction between the interest in achieving a particular goal through a certain action and the interest in carrying out the action itself is at the heart of our discussion.

Keywords: anthropocentrism; bio-ontocentrism; company; nature; responsibility; stakeholders; corporate social responsibility; environment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSD.2004.004981

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2004 Vol.7 No.1, pp.59 - 75

Published online: 04 Aug 2004 *

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