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Week 5


The last week dealt with the topic of stakeholders and their importance. We started with the stakeholder theory model, in which four large interest groups (shareholders, customers, suppliers and employees) have an impact on the company, and then we expanded it by four additional groups (government, political groups, trade associations, communities). We emphasized that stakeholders are not the same as shareholders. Although shareholders are always stakeholders, stakeholders are not necessarily shareholders. It is also very important to assign different importance to different stakeholder groups, depending on how the stakeholder group influences the company. Stakeholders always have some power over the company, but the company also has some power if it knows its stakeholders and can manage them accordingly. These two powers have to be properly linked to create a tension between the company's own internal power and the power of interest groups. 

I think that it is very important to know the stakeholders of a company and to realize their power on the success of the company. Often very small stakeholder groups are underestimated and big projects or whole companies fail because of them. I, therefore, think that conscious interaction and direct contact with these groups is of great importance.

In the lecture, we watched a very exciting video, which describes this process very well. After identifying the groups it is important to analyse them, evaluate their power and influence and find out their attitude towards the company through direct contact. In the following, plans can then be made on how to deal with each group and how to reduce their power or improve their attitude. These plans are then put into concrete terms and their success is evaluated. 

I think this process supports a conscious approach to stakeholder groups. I think that unfortunately far too few companies know their interest groups, clearly define them and consciously think about a handling strategy. Nevertheless, many crises in companies could be avoided in this way. The basis of every company is the question of profitability and therefore, in many approaches, the shareholders are assigned a very large influence. Nevertheless, this profit can only be generated if a good relationship and "cooperation" is maintained with the other interest groups. If, for example, customers are dissatisfied with the company's actions or the company does not respond to them as a stakeholder group, profits will very quickly collapse as a result. It is therefore important to regard a company and all its stakeholders, including shareholders, as a linked network in which the links vary in thickness depending on their influence. 

In the seminar, we then continued to work on our case study. In groups, we worked out possible strategies to increase the company's profits so that the father can successfully hand over in two years and retire. We as a group have decided to expand into the cat food market and have worked out possible advantages and disadvantages. We have discussed a lot and then tried to underline our thoughts with a profitability calculation. I always find it very exciting to work on concrete examples, because it is possible to apply what we have learned. In the seminar, we discussed a lot back and forth within the group and although we had very different approaches and opinions at the beginning, we worked out a common solution in which all approaches were brought together. I find the working method very efficient and it makes it possible to achieve a much more well-thought-out solution.

Picture Source: https://www.toolshero.com/project management/stakeholder-management/ [27/10/2019, 11 am]

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