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This study examines the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices on corporate financial performance in Zimbabwe's mining sector using a case study of Zimplats Holdings Limited. The main aim was to determine whether and to what extent ESG practices contribute to financial outcomes at the firm level. The objective of the study was to examine the overall ESG and financial performance relationship, to analyse the effects of individual ESG dimensions on financial performance, and to assess the moderating role of firm-specific factors on ESG practices. Informed by the stakeholder theory, the resource-based view, and legitimacy theory, a quantitative approach was adopted, using secondary data extracted from Zimplats' Integrated Annual Reports (2023–2025) through a structured data extraction template aligned with GRI standards. Key findings reveal a positive but lagged ESG and financial performance relationship. Governance emerged as the most stable and financially material ESG pillar, while environmental and social investments showed transitional efficiency deterioration before expected long-term gains. Firm-specific factors such as asset expansion, capital structure, production volume, and multinational ownership, significantly moderated the timing and magnitude of financial returns, compressing short-term profitability indicators such as return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). The study contributes firm-level empirical evidence on unlisted Zimbabwean mining firms, extending ESG theory to emerging market contexts. Recommendations include targeting governance enhancements for immediate financial returns, allowing longer investment horizons for environmental and social initiatives, and maintaining conservative capital structures to sustain ESG investment during earnings volatility.

The study aims to develop a framework for stakeholder management planning to guide entities in using holistic structured and tailored approaches that effectively guide stakeholder management. The study was inspired by perceived inadequacies of current frameworks to provide actionable solutions to stakeholder management planning. The study is underpinned by pragmatism and involves mixed methods research consisting of quantitative and qualitative approaches. A stratified random sampling method is used with the target population being 55 companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange covering the period 2019-2023. The theoretical framework was anchored on the stakeholder theory by Edward Freeman (1984).  Questionnaires (n=215) are analysed using SPSS version 26 while 12 semi-structured interview guides are analysed using NVIV0 version 14 with 10 local corporate governance practitioners validating the framework. The Quantitative techniques used are Cronbach alpha, exploratory factor analysis, regression and ANOVA.   Findings were that variables from the study namely the definitive / latent criteria, communication, engagement and collaboration sub-plans are sufficiently positively related to stakeholder management planning and several sub-themes emerged around them to produce a holistic framework of stakeholder management planning. The framework is expected to see the improvement of stakeholder management planning in practice.