While doing your business management degree, it quickly becomes clear how important stakeholders are towards business operations. Every business depends heavily on its stakeholders, thus making it important to understand each stake holder’s role and how the business can maintain positive relations with the stakeholder to boost business performance. Underestimating a stakeholders role will only result in the business affecting its performance negatively thus it’s important to review each stakeholders contribution thus helping the business develop suitable policies that address the individuals or company’s needs. It’s important to determine each stake holder’s needs as this helps map the requirements based on which further expansions and development can be designed.
Important business stakeholders
If you own a business, you are likely in communication and dealing with suppliers, employees and customers who all fall under stakeholders. Each one plays their role towards ensuring smoother business operation thus it’s critical to ensure they have access to top-quality facilities and features which would help improve their level of satisfaction thus improving performance and outputs. Undertaking stakeholder analysis will help determine important issues each stakeholder is facing thus helping improve the stakeholder attitude and perception towards work and performance.
Consumers
The consumer is considered as being among the most important stakeholder mapping as they purchase products and services supplied by the company. This makes it important for the consumer or customer interests and requirements to be assessed and addressed. Consumer needs need to be identified to develop products and services as per the consumer needs. It is essential to assess the consumer needs and requirements based on which products and services can be developed as this ensures consumer market availability and fast product turn over. Turnover rates play an important role in determining the businesses or products performance and profitability as slow-moving products and services are likely to report lower profits and higher expenses. It is also important to ensure consumer expectations are being addressed with relation to product and service innovation and improvement. Consumers require observing constant development, failure of which the brand is likely to lose consumer interest and confidence.
Suppliers
The supplier is an important stakeholder as they produce and manufacture raw materials to finished products that supply the products to the retailers who then sell the finished products to the consumer. The suppliers play an important role as they are expected to adhere to product specifications to deliver on the product quality and specifications as per consumer specifications. The suppliers must have the correct equipment, qualified staff and policy parameters which would ensure they produce, process and manufacture products and services are per set parameters. Keeping the supplier happy and taking their needs and requirements into consideration plays a huge role towards brand development and stable supply of top quality products thus making supplier management critical towards the businesses development, growth and expansion.
Staff
Staff members are in charge of managing the business ethics on stakeholder, making them a critical player towards the businesses smooth operation as they monitor and coordinate transactions between the consumers, company, suppliers and continually monitor the competitors. This makes the staff of a company take on the role of a reviewer who constantly monitors the business operation to increase the number of customers, sales and overall turn over which would have a direct effect on the businesses growth and performance. Staff members are an integral part of the business operations, so it’s important to ensure staff members are protected by policies which take their interest and concerns into consideration thus ensuring positive attitude towards brand development. staff members who lack drive and interest in their work will face complications adjusting to the organisation which would result in the business facing a higher risk of failure thus its essential to build trust among staff members to ensure their contributions are being documented thus allowing the business administration develop suitable policies and strategies that keep the staff happy and willing to contribute towards the business development.
Competitors
Competitors are viewed as industry rivals and many businesses will focus on developing products and services that are better than their rivals. Competitors play a major role in brand development as they help deliver important standards and parameters based on which existing and new products and services are developed. For a strategic business manager or entrepreneur, competitor analysis is critical towards developing an effective marketing strategy, product and service design and improvement strategies. It’s critical for the business to constantly review competitor strategies and product/service specifications, which would ensure the product retains a competitive edge in the market. With competition intensifying, brands are growing more venerable to developing new products/ services that will retain consumer interest. Failing to be innovative and incorporate new features to smartphones which only result in consumers simply turning their attention to other brand products and services which offer the feature. Competitor analysis also helps determine important design and production strategies which are critical towards ensuring the brand maintains low production and processing costs thus maintaining a competitive price in the market.
Conclusion
Every Stakeholder plays an important part towards a business’s development making it a priority for every business owners to develop a stakeholder management policy. This would help determine important parameters on which a business needs to design stakeholder policies. Policies but offer benefits for the stakeholder and the business which would ensure all interests of individuals and company are considered thus building stakeholder trust and participation towards the businesses development.
