Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Doctor of Business Administration
Major
Business Administration
Date of Defense
2-22-2024
Graduate Advisor
Bindu Arya, PhD
Committee
Ekin K. Pellegrini, PhD
John P. Meriac, PhD
Abstract
As social and environmental challenges become increasingly dire, organizations are focusing on creating positive social impacts beyond generating profits. Traditional strategic planning tools were originally created for the purposes of profit maximization and are not sufficient for organizations with the aim of addressing complex social issues. Open strategy offers a promising alternative by increasing multistakeholder involvement in the formulation of organizational strategy. Existing research has supported the idea that multistakeholder collaboration is an effective means for creating positive social impact since societal challenges are too complex for any one organization to sufficiently address. Despite these promises, there are risks and challenges inherent in the process of bringing together multiple stakeholders with divergent interests in an open strategy planning process. This action research focused on the process by which a nonprofit organization opens the idea generation phase of their strategic planning process to engage multiple stakeholders in order to increase their positive social impact. This study was informed by stakeholder theory, which offers the theoretical grounding to understand how organizations identify and engage stakeholders.
Recommended Citation
Pang, Jo, "Open Strategy for Social Impact: An Action Research Study of a Multistakeholder Open Strategy Planning Process" (2024). Dissertations. 1415.
https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/1415