Environmental stakeholder management as business strategy: the case of the corporate wildlife habitat enhancement programme

A new management approach and conservation process is the corporate wildlife habitat programme. This programme, co-ordinated by the non-profit-making Wildlife Habitat Council, encourages corporations to voluntarily manage lands for wildlife and biodiversity protection. This case study examines the benefits to corporations from participating in this programme in terms of the programme's influence on relationships with key corporate stakeholders including employees, host communities, environmental groups and regulators. The method of the study was a survey of individuals responsible for wildlife habitat enhancement programmes at 164 sites in the United States. Ninety-five percent of respondents indicated that wildlife habitat programmes led to improved employee morale. Seventy-two percent indicated improved relationships with environmental groups. Sixty percent of respondents noted a positive effect of the programme on community relations. Forty-nine percent of respondents reported an improved relationship with regulators. These benefits were in addition to the 50% of programmes that reported annual cost savings. The study also identifies specific benefits to the wildlife programme as a result of outside group involvement. Relationships with community, Government, and environmental groups led to better wildlife programmes due to increased expertise. Furthermore, 24% of the wildlife monitoring was done by outside groups. These results are useful, both for aiding managers to identify the range of benefits the wildlife habitat enhancement programme can provide to their companies, as well as to improve their organization's wildlife and biodiversity protection. Furthermore, this case provides a tangible example of where business and the environment can be mutually compatible. (C) 1998 Academic Press Limited.