From Stabilizer to Enhancer: Effective Engagement Strategies for Secondary Stakeholders in Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives targeting primary stakeholders are recognized for their potential to increase shareholder value (i.e., value enhancers). In contrast, CSR initiatives aimed at secondary stakeholders, such as local communities, are often regarded as value stabilizers—reducing variability in value without significantly boosting it. Drawing on instrumental stakeholder theory, we argue that community development initiatives (CDIs), an important CSR practice directed at secondary stakeholders, can enhance shareholder value when combined with effective engagement strategies. We posit that firms can strengthen positive shareholder value by engaging in long-term or business-related CDIs. Additionally, we propose that firms with strong social management capabilities can achieve greater increases in shareholder value through CDIs. Our findings suggest that secondary CSR, traditionally seen as a stabilizer, can be developed into an enhancer through effective stakeholder engagement strategies, providing clear and actionable guidance for managers to engage in secondary CSR in a financially effective way

Multifunctional PEEK implants via mussel adhesion-mediated assembly for osteoimmune regulation and antibacterial properties

IntroductionPolyetheretherketone (PEEK) is widely recognized for its exceptional mechanical properties and biocompatibility, making it a promising material for orthopedic implants. However, its inherent biological inertia—characterized by poor osteogenic potential, limited antibacterial activity, and excessive immune activation—compromises its clinical performance.MethodsTo address these limitations, we developed a multifunctional PEEK implant (PEEK-PDA-Sr/AMP) through a mussel-inspired self-assembly process, incorporating strontium ions (Sr2+) for dual biological functions and the antimicrobial peptide PMAP-36. A polydopamine (PDA) coating was first applied to enhance microscale surface roughness and hydrophilicity. Subsequently, Sr2+ and AMP were immobilized onto the PDA-modified surface.ResultsThe resulting PEEK-PDA-Sr/AMP implants significantly promoted the adhesion and spatial organization of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and macrophages (BMMs) in vitro. Furthermore, the modified surface facilitated macrophage polarization toward a pro-regenerative phenotype, thereby fostering an osteoimmune microenvironment conducive to osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. The functionalized implants also exhibited strong antibacterial efficacy against both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. In a rat model of osteomyelitis, in vivo evaluations via micro-CT, histology, and immunohistochemistry confirmed that the PEEK-PDA-Sr/AMP implants markedly enhanced immunomodulation, bone regeneration, and osseointegration.DiscussionThis study demonstrates a novel surface bioengineering strategy for constructing multifunctional PEEK implants with improved immunomodulatory, osteogenic, and antibacterial properties, offering a promising solution to meet complex clinical requirements in orthopedic applications

Tensions in sustainable supply chain management: instrumental, institutional, and paradoxical perspectives

In this thesis, we apply three theoretical perspectives to develop a thorough understanding about tensions in Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM). In Chapter 2, we apply the instrumental perspective to conduct a cross-country comparison on the relationship between corporate sustainability performance and corporate financial performance. We found that firms in countries with higher levels of sustainability performance generally find it more difficult to capitalize on corporate sustainability performance than do their counterparts in countries with relatively low levels of sustainability performance. In Chapter 3, we apply institutional theory to explore the effect of institutional pressures in driving firms to overcome temporal tensions in SSCM. In countries with low levels of sustainability performance, firms with considerable slack resources are more responsive to stakeholder pressures than their peers with limited slack resources. In contrast, in countries with high levels of sustainability performance, there are no significant differences between firms with and without considerable slack resources in their responsiveness to stakeholder pressures. In Chapter 4, we delve into the buying firm and apply the paradox theory to explore how purchasing and sustainability managers are coping with the tensions in SSCM in an emerging-market context. While we find strong evidence for a persisting instrumental perspective (in which financial goals are given higher priority over social and/or environmental goals) in both the sensemaking and practices of purchasing and sustainability managers, we also observe an alternative response, taken primarily by sustainability managers that we labelled as “contextualizing”