The Stakeholder Engagement Manual Volume 2 - AccountAbility

Stakeholder dependence on
the organisation
STAGE 1
Further to my points above, it's important to note that dialogue doesn't necessarily
stop or 'just' become formaised once an issue becomes inststutionalised.
Between defensive and opportunity focused companies, there is a spectrum
of approaches where companies take an increasingly proactive and embedded
approach to addressing issues raised by stakeholders.
Prioritising according to the infl uence and dependence of stakeholders
Another way to approach the question of strategic alignment is identifying those
stakeholders that are likely to have the greatest impact on the achievement of
your strategic objectives, and those stakeholders that will be most positively or
negatively impacted by the company’s operations. Th is will enable you to prioritise
your attention and action to ensure that you can achieve your strategic objectives,
while respecting the rights of signifi cantly impacted stakeholders.
In order to ensure this, a company might prioritise stakeholder groups in this way:
Stakeholder Infl uence and Dependancy Matrix
High
Low
Low
Treat fairly – honour commitments to
these stakeholders in line with company
policy, regulations and industry norms,
otherwise endeavour to keep stakeholders
satisfi ed insofar as balance of costs and
benefi ts allow.
Low priority - provide access to general
channels of information and feedback.
Stakeholder infl uence on organisation
Strategic threat or opportunity - invest in
engagement processes to understand
concerns and develop solutions.
High
Keep involved and informed, but ensure
balance between the concerns of high
infl uence stakeholders and those of people
actually impacted by decisions.
However, for any particular company or issue, such a matrix may need to be
adjusted to refl ect the most relevant prioritisation criteria in each case. For
example, instead of company dependence, one could consider the dependence
of specifi c strategic business objectives, or of specifi c business divisions on the
stakeholders, which would allow for a more specifi c prioritisation of stakeholders.
Also, it is important to be aware of the interactions between the diff erent
stakeholder groups, for example through lobbying or advocacy activities.
One key driver for corporate responsibility in recent years has been the
development of coalitions of diverse stakeholders around key issues. In particular,
high infl uence /low dependency stakeholders such as investors and consumers
have ‘lent their infl uence to low infl uence high dependency stakeholders such as
supply chain workers in developing countries, future generations and animals,
in order to focus corporate attention on issues such as supply chain labour
conditions, environmental care and animal welfare.
THE PRACTITIONER'S HANDBOOK ON STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT | 43