GMGT 5950 - Stakeholder Management

Credits: 4

Strategic analysis models assume that firms should leverage sources of sustained competitive advantage to be competitive in the marketplace and enjoy superior performance. However, this mark-based approach provides an incomplete picture of how firms actually compete. With the stronger influence of governments in the business environment, and the mobilization power of social media and the Internet, organizations, global institutions, and media organizations are some of the salient stakeholders present in nonmarket arenas that have potential effects on businesses’competitive advantages. Firms engage with these stakeholders, aiming to influence or react to their demands, by deploying strategies such as lobbying, campaign contributions, grassroots mobilizations, partnerships with non-governmental organizations, prevention and reaction to crisis, boycotts and social movements through media or other actions. This course examines how managers can use stakeholder models to identify salient groups, their demands and issues, and inform the best course of action to integrate market-based and nonmarket strategies.