Management : Sustainability and Stakeholder Marketing

Running Head: MANAGEMENT 0
SUSTAINABILITY AND
STAKEHOLDER MARKETING

MANAGEMENT 1
Q1. REFLECT on the meaning and the importance of STAKEHOLDERS. Provide
EXAMPLES of how a named organisation deals effectively with its multiple
stakeholders.
Answer 1. A stakeholder is known to be as individual, group or an enterprise who is
impacted by the outcome or decision making of an organisation. Stakeholders have a
substantial level of interest in the success of the organisation project and may cause positive
or negative influence on the same (Davis, 2014). Some of the general examples of
stakeholders include customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, communities and
governments. However, each stakeholder differs from one another in terms of interest, unique
needs and objectives. For example, customers may have significant interest in product or
service quality and at the same time, an employee can have a stake in its income and job
security. The investors, on the other hand, have stake in company financial returns and
similarly, the government can showcase its stake in taxes and GDP. However, many times a
company faces difficulties and challenges in dealing with these stakeholders effectively due
to their demands and request.
For business to grow, it requires to keep in innovating, doing new things, forming new
projects and attracting stakeholders including consumers. With the development of a new
project or at the time of developing any strategic plans, - the first step of any business is to
discover that which stakeholders get directly or indirectly affected by the decision and
business function. In simple words, organisation required to identify all key stakeholders
related to their decision or projects so as to ensure the project success. Engaging stakeholders
before the planning and during the decision or project will help in reducing various risks in
both internal and external environment (Davis, 2016).

MANAGEMENT 2
Stakeholders make offers the business practical and financial support ranging from
employees to loyal consumers to the investors. A successful association between the business
and its stakeholders develop on working jointly towards the common objectives. When a
business engaged with the community of these stakeholders, it is possible for them to reap
financial gains from such association and further beneficial for businesses in their expansion
projects either domestically or internationally. Wang and Sengupta (2016) also stated that
cultivating relationships with the stakeholders is long term viability and practice rather than
short term dividends.
The more business consistently engages with the stakeholders, the more likely, they will
receive positive project conclusion. In other words, effective engagement with all the
stakeholders helps in translating their needs into organisational goals and creates the basis of
effective strategy development and according to Luo and Du (2015), a shared understanding
is also necessary to develop a cohesive vision for the future and it can be accomplished by
clear and consistent communication. Hence, a more integrated approach to stakeholder
engagement can help the businesses in proactive response to the emerging needs with
considering of political risks, societal transformations and dramatic moves in perception at all
levels.
Taking example of one of the famous company Alibaba and its CEO Alibaba, the
stakeholders are ranked in a specific priority sequence i.e. – 1. Customers, 2. Employees and
3. Investors. He explained the reasons behind this during a conference in 2012 that – “if the
consumer is happy, the business is happy and the shareholders are happy”. Jack Ma also
wrote this thing in a letter to investors in advance of companies recording breaking $25
million IPO (Trammell, 2014). However, in my opinion, I consider the balance of these three
constituents and this makes everyone in the company to consider the interest of all three
constituencies when making any plans or decisions.