Integrating Insights From the Resource-Based View of the Firm Into the New Stakeholder Theory

A powerful new stakeholder theory (NST) of strategic management is emerging. The theory, which is yet incomplete, offers novel and precise tools for understanding stakeholder involvement in organizations. This article identifies open questions in the NST in five areas (organizational formation, resource development, claims on value, governance, and performance) and suggests ways in which insights from the resource-based view of the firm advance answers to these questions. The conclusion emphasizes that because stakeholders bind resources to organizations, neither the resource-based view nor the new stakeholder view is complete without the other.