Managing Shareholders in the Age of Stakeholder Capitalism

Shareholder cultivation in the age of stakeholder capitalism requires management to identify steward shareholders and then foster symbiotic relationships with them. The authors offer four sets of tools managers can use to cultivate steward shareholders. These tools are classified into four types based on two dimensions: time-to-efficacy, which refers to the time needed for the tactics to take effect, and implementation difficulty, which pertains to resource demands and potential resistance managers may face in carrying out the tactics. Using these four sets of tools, managers can build a base of steward shareholders that are sure to offer their support for companies’ stakeholder-centered initiatives.