This report focuses on Snap Inc.'s stakeholder view of the organizational model and stakeholder analysis for four selected stakeholder groups. It includes strategies for managing shareholders, competitors, consumers, and the general public. The report also discusses the recommended strategic program for each stakeholder group.
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Running Head:BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 1 Business level Strategy / Generic Strategies Students Name Institutional Affiliation Date
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BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 2 Executive Summary According toLienert et al. (2013 p.134)Snap Inc. is a camera company founded in 2010, with its focus on camera technology. The founders of the company include three college students; amongst the three founders is the Snap CEO, Evan Spiegel. The company’s main ideas embody the use of camera technology by reinventing the camera hence enhances how people communicate (Fernandez-Feijoo, Romero & Ruiz, 2014, p.53). The company is built on three main pillars, firstly, the camera which is their greatest concern, then secondly, the aspect of communication where the Company has invested a lot in social engagement through various mediums such as video calling ("Snap Inc.", 2018, p.45). The third factor of their business foundation is content business, this a major field that the company is planning to invest heavily on, this aspect will majorly focus on content generation, by the involvement of stories to aid social engagement, additionally the CEO stated that the company might have an editorial approach, which has immense potential on the success of the organization in future. A.Snap Inc. Stakeholder View of the Organisation Model Snap Inc. has had its success build on the basis of good stakeholder relations. The company has the interests of its stakeholders at heart, therefore it has thrived to build a long-term and mutually beneficial stakeholder relationships that focus on collaboration (Geneletti, 2010). Its recent move on innovating its operations to content publishing will see it join forces with publishing companies hence have a mutual benefit. More emphasis is being placed on the company’s relations with government and community stakeholders, this kind of investments will provide the organization with a platform to build a good reputation since work for them in the future. In this paper I am going to prepare and focus on the Snap Inc. stakeholder analysis and
BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 3 Strategy program report, delineating factors of stakeholder relations and the kind of stakeholders that Snap Inc. has collaborated with (Sironi & Resti, 2007, p.78). Snap Inc. Stakeholder View of Organizational Model Shareholders Fundamentally, shareholders are individuals, institutions or government entities who own shares in an organization. The entities have rights that they are entitled to hence they are part of the organization. Shareholders have a very active role in the organization. One of the major roles that shareholders play in this particular organization is supporting the company financially, additionally, shareholders can have the right to make certain decisions. Below is a list of shareholders that have bought Snap. Inc shares: 1.Fidelity - at some time back the company owned the most shares with a total of 33.4 million shares. CompetitorsCustomers General PublicShareholders Snap Inc.
BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 4 2.Another company that bought its shares from Snap Inc. is Vanguard with a total of 6.7 million shares. 3.Och’s-Ziff Capital Management (OZM.N) - the company is focused on providing solutions to the greatest investors globally. The company trains talented people and therefore creates a collaborative workgroup that provides experts and professionals in different fields. The company has bought Snap Inc. shares (Reed et al, 2009, p.1933). 4.BlackRock Inc. – this is a company that is built with an aim of managing assets from other companies globally. The company has become popular over the first years since becoming the world’s largest asset manager (Bryde, Holloway, & Dalcher, 2015, p.56). The company bought 9.4 million shares from Snap Inc. becoming one of their most valuable shareholders. Customers Snaps clients are one of their largest stakeholders, demographic wise snap Inc. targets customers with no selection of age, gender, or cultural differences. By so doing the company has preferably gathered the client’s from all walks of life (Grant, 2016, p.89). The company customers can create Snaps using Sponsored Creative content; due to these advancements the company is able to provide quality software products to the following customers. 1.College students 2.Teens 3.Millennials 4.Middle-aged people Competitors
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BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 5 Competitors are considered major stakeholders of any organization. Their roles might be to the benefit of the organization or to its failure. Competition is inevitable for any business, in this context it is important to have competition, competitors can enable an organization to improve their products and their services and become better than their competitors, in addition, and competitors provide an organization with reassurance hence giving customers an option to choose you over others. Snap. Inc as a company established on the basis of the current technological advancement has many competitors, their competitors include: 1.Google – Google is ranked one of the fastest growing companies that have brought in to place other many social media and social engagement companies (Bowen, Newenham-Kahindi, Herremans, 2010, p.297). Google specializes in internet related services as well as Snap Inc, the target market of the two companies is similar since they deal with online affiliated services. 2.Facebook- since it was founded in 2004, Facebook has been one of the leading social media company. Other contemporary social media advertising and social engagement companies that have been founded after Facebook have been inspired by Facebook, with a similar concept in mind Evan Spiegel came up with an idea of enabling people socialize using the camera, and that was the birth of Snap Chat under the Snap Inc. However, the snap has faced immense competition from Facebook hence Facebook has established a wide customer base. 3.Apple – the company is popularly known for the development of Apple gadgets and the iPhone, the company, in addition, is a major software provider. Sometimes back Snap Inc. admitted that Apple has become one of their biggest competitors since the company develops features on their largest product iPhone, which is similar and advanced to that of Snap Chat a widely used social media platform developed by Snap.Inc(Smith, Smith & Smith, 2018, p.78).
BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 6 4.Instagram – Instagram was founded with an aim of providing a platform for video-sharing, However the company is owned by Facebook Inc. with its recent feature Instagram stories, the software has posed a huge threat to Snap Chat since most number of people have been seen to enjoy Instagram’s new feature which is not the case on Snap Chat. General Public The general public must not be the consumers, they are considered as stakeholders but they indirectly contribute to the success of the organization. Their role is to promote the organization in terms of providing a skilled workforce, perpetuating the existence of the organization and keep the organization on their toes. B.Stakeholder Analysis for four selected stakeholder groups Different stakeholders have different behaviors and motives that impact the organization either negatively or positively. The company’s main agenda that inspired the collaboration with Snap Inc (Darnall, Henriques and Sadorsky, P., 2010, p.1072). is to enable the company to achieve its objectives by managing their assets, their motive, in addition, lies on the periphery of acquisitive motive; the motive directs the company and drives it with an aim of enabling Snap Inc. to acquire more property. The company’s corporate behavior is built on sufficient strategies tocreatesustainablevalue(Freeman,2010,p.39).Thecompanyfurtheremphasizeson contribution to the society in order to gain more support from the general public, the strategies involve participation in community projects and involvement in corporate social responsibility (Bruno, 2011, p 35). of the most significant concepts of Black Rock Inc. is the use of investor relations that acknowledge communications with companies that they have collaborated with, the strategy in
BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 7 place that contributes to their astound organizational behavior is the use of disclosure and engagement communication strategies that enable SnapChat and Black Rock to communicate strategies to accomplish their objectives and benefit mutually. The organizational behavior of Facebook Inc. is structured with a unique approach that enables the organizations to stand amidst giant and contemporary Social media organizations. Facebook Inc. organizational culture allows its employees to have a platform to promote creativity and innovation, this provides the company with a sustainable competitive advantage, and its organizational and corporate culture is linked to online market dynamics that enable it to adapt with the ongoing technology advancements. The motive of Facebook is to provide people with a platform that enables social engagement at its maximum (Miller, 2012, p.89). The core concept of founding Facebook was to be entertaining and informative. The company has been seen to even move further and advance to provide its users with content based platforms as well as business based platforms that comprise advertising features. The company, therefore, targets the satisfaction of its users from corporate organizations to individuals. The concept of behavior and motive on use of SnapChat by college students is based on stimuli. College student’s behaviors can be explained by the cognitive behavior of any consumer of any good (Jepsen & Eskerod, 2009, p.335). The consumer behavior of college students towards SnapChat can be influenced by group influence, the aspect of group influence is known to affect consumer decisions, in this context group students are likely to exposed to group influence from other students, in so doing the students will have positive or negative attitudes towards the use of Snap Chat. The second aspect that might affect college students that lies on behavior is the purchasing power, students come from various backgrounds some will have the
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BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 8 financial ability to buy devices that support the camera software and others might not (Bruno, 2011 p.45) C.Stakeholder category identification and generic strategic programs for each of the four selected stakeholders Black Rock as a stakeholder in Snap Inc. can be categorized as Shareholders; these are entities in an organization that own shares in a different company. Shareholders have an obligation of holding the organizational objectives at heart even if they exist as an independent organization (Grant, 2016, p.58). However shareholders do not own the organization, therefore managing the stakeholders can be difficult. The strategiesthatcan be sued by managementshareholdersis straightforwardhowever complex. The following are effective strategies to manage shareholders: 1.Communicate with the right people 2.Listen to every shareholder and do not take orders 3.be inclusive 4.Have a background check on your investors Facebook is a stakeholder that has been categorized under competitors because its corporate objective aligns with that of Snap Inc. further the two companies operate in the same target market. Managing competitors is one of the most difficult functions that an organization needs to come up with permanent and astound strategies (Aaltonen, 2011, p.165). The following are generic strategies to manage competitors: 1.be creative and innovative
BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 9 2.Focus on your objectives and customer base 3.Play safe 4.Analyze and understand your competitors College students are placed in the category of consumers in the stakeholder’s context. This is a highly applicable concept in any business either small and medium-sized businesses as well as large enterprises (Sethna & Blythe, 2016, p.70). Managing these kinds of stakeholders might seem the simplest thing but if handled lightly especially in the field of technology and innovation it might cost the organization a dime. These are strategies to manage the consumers: 1.Discuss solutions with the target consumers: know what they want 2.Maintain transparency 3.Follow up on the services you provided: did they meet the consumer’s need, what must be added, what should be removed. The general public as stakeholders is categorized under the civil society. The strategies for managing the general greatly impact the organizational success. The best way to manage the society is by: 1.Participating in community programs 2.Providing auxiliary services to the general public 3.Corporate social responsibility D. Recommended strategic program for each of the four selected stakeholder groups including reasons for recommendations
BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 10 TheappropriaterecommendationstrategyformanagingBlackRockInc.asa shareholder is to have clear information on their background. Most corporate organizations have established shareholder engagement programs which focus on communicating with different shareholders (Bryde, Holloway, Joby & Dalcher, 2015, p.45). Some of the companies even vet potentialshareholdersbymeansofvotinginordertohavecompetentandtransparent shareholders whose objectives align with that of the organization. On Facebook, the perfect strategy to manage the company as a competitor is to be creative. As mentioned earlier managing a competitor can be extremely difficult especially in the foiled of technology. These companies are innovating new and better software’s each day, however this risk can be managed, companies such as Snap Inc. need to employ technical experts who will enable them to develop creative software’s that are unique and different from those of their competitors, by so doing the company will maintain a sustainable competitive advantage and create a large client base which will be very loyal (Miller, 2012, p.67). Conclusion Competitors and consumers can utilize the same strategy of management, therefore developing software’s that meet the consumers' needs and are of quality will maintain the consumers, this can be complemented by the often improvement of various features that will keep surprising the consumers and keep them entertained. These features can, in addition, enable the company to develop a different kind of target market. For instance, the introduction of business content in Snap chat can attract business and large corporations to use the software. The most effective strategy of maintaining and managing the general public is by the maintenance of a clearly established cooperate social responsibility. Over the past years, most
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BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 11 organizations have failed due to lack of the social interest s at hear, these organizations do not mind the welfare of the society that provides the organization with a large portion of the resources.Consequently,theorganizationsdevelopaverybadreputationandthenfail. Cooperatesocialresponsibilityisestablishedbytheorganizationwhentheyprotectthe environment and provide goods and products that are fit for human consumption. References
BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 12 Aaltonen,K.,2011.Projectstakeholderanalysisasanenvironmentalinterpretation process.International journal of project management,29(2), pp.165-183. Bowen, F., Newenham-Kahindi, A. and Herremans, I., 2010. When suits meet roots: The antecedentsandconsequencesofcommunityengagementstrategy.JournalofBusiness Ethics,95(2), pp.297-318. Bruno, S. and Ruggiero, E. eds., 2011.Public Companies and the Role of Shareholders: National Models Towards Global Integration(Vol. 8).London: Hodder Education. Bryde, D., Holloway, J., Joby, R., & Dalcher, D. (2015).A Practical Guide to Dealing with Difficult Stakeholders. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. l, N., Henriques, I. and Sadorsky, P., 2010. Adopting proactive environmental strategy: The influence of stakeholders and firm size.Journal of management studies,47(6), pp.1072-1094. Fernandez-Feijoo, B., Romero, S. and Ruiz, S., 2014. Effect of stakeholders’ pressure on transparencyofsustainabilityreportswithintheGRIframework.Journalofbusiness ethics,122(1), pp.53-63. Freeman, R.E., 2010.Strategic management: A stakeholder approach.London: Business Education Publishers Limited. Geneletti, D., 2010. Combining stakeholder analysis and spatial multicriteria evaluation to select and rank inert landfill sites.Waste Management,30(2), pp.328-337. Grant, R.M., 2016.Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley & Sons publishing Ltd.
BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY / GENERIC STRATEGIES 13 Jepsen, A.L. and Eskerod, P., 2009. Stakeholder analysis in projects: Challenges in using current guidelines in the real world.International journal of project management,27(4), pp.335-343. Lienert, J., Schnetzer, F. and Ingold, K., 2013. Stakeholder analysis combined with social networkanalysisprovidesfine-grainedinsightsintowaterinfrastructureplanning processes.Journal of environmental management,125, pp.134-148. Miller, M. (2012).Facebook for grown-ups. Indianapolis, Ind.: Que Publishing. Reed, M.S. et al, 2009. Who's in and why? A typology of stakeholder analysis methods for natural resource management.Journal of environmental management,90(5), pp.1933-1949. Sethna, Z., & Blythe, J. (2016).Consumer behaviour. Los Angeles:Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being. Vol. 10.London: Hodder & Stoughton. Sironi, A., & Resti, A. (2007).Risk Management and Shareholders' Value in Banking: From Risk Measurement ,M. John Wiley & Sons. Smith, C., Smith, C., & Smith, C. (2018). Snap sees Apple as a significant competitor ahead of its big IPO.Long range publishing press,33(1), pp.35-54.