A brand, in order to survive and be able to operate in the market in the long term, must meet specific needs. On the one hand, the needs of customers are crucial, since it is they who, by purchasing products or specific services, provide the company with the money it needs to function. On the other hand, however, increasingly, market success can only be achieved by those companies that have a broader perspective, taking into account the needs and expectations of all audiences – stakeholders.
As early as the early 1980s, managers also began to recognize the correlation. As more and more local communities, employees, local authorities have a voice in the future of an organization, they expect certain attitudes and even want to be in the circulation of information sent by the brand to the environment. Successively we see more and more pressure on corporations from NGO’s, Associations fighting for business transparency.
Currently, there are a number of industry- and community-based initiatives, at national and international levels, that have been established by various stakeholder groups to push for more ethical business conduct and to define greater organizational responsibility. Among the most important would be:
Types and stakeholder mapping
One can find various approaches to defining stakeholders. A stakeholder is any person or group that affects or is influenced by the goals and plans of an organization[1]. How different approaches to the concept of stakeholders can be is shown by the fact that no single universal definition has been developed so far. Stakeholders can be divided and classified in at least several respects: influence, legitimacy, expectations, modes of action, territory.
It is important to remember that there is no single recipe or model for stakeholder mapping, just as there is no universal stakeholder list that fits every company. A company’s stakeholder list depends on many variables: the industry in which it operates, the specifics of the company itself, the city in which it operates, or the country. Only after reflecting on this do we superimpose another variable, which is the particular problem or challenge facing the organization. When changing the company’s strategy, it may also happen that the “actors” to whom we direct messages will change. The same if the conditions in which the entire sector operates change: new regulations, entry of a large company into the market, market takeovers, bankruptcies of competitors, etc.
Dialogue with stakeholders (engagement and collaboration)
Stakeholder engagement can have many sources and reasons. Any organization that wants to operate in a transparent, sustainable manner, respecting the interests of the various groups with which it interacts can benefit from a whole range of codes and norms that have been developed. Analyzing stakeholders and then putting in place strategies for involving them in the development of the company are well described both in the literature and by external entities. In 2015, the ISO international standard was supplemented with issues related to stakeholders (engaging them) and corporate social responsibility. For brands that want to strengthen their reputation in the area of social and environmental responsibility, a number of documents have been created by internationally recognized entities: Business for Social Responsibility, CSR Europe, The Future 500 initiative, or the International Association for Public Participation. Focusing on one of the internationally relevant standards of the AA 1000 series:
Methods of involving stakeholders in the company’s development process are numerous and are not the subject of this publication. Among the main techniques and methods of activating stakeholders by the organization we can include:
[1] Freeman R.E., Strategic Management: A stakeholder approach, Pitman, Boston 1984, str. 6
[1] https://www.globalreporting.org/information/about-gri/Pages/default.aspx, stan na: 07/05/2017
[2] http://ungc.org.pl/, stan na: 07/05/2017
[3] http://www.oecd.org/corporate/mne/1922428.pdf, stan na: 07/05/2017