For any business organization, stakeholders are of importance and are acknowledged as a person or group that has an investment, share, or interest in the business. This encompasses the shareholders as well as other individuals who are directly affected by the business. Apple Inc.’s employees are internal stakeholders, since they work for Apple and besides, they have a say in what happens as they are internal stakeholders. ASDA’s employees are like Apple’s; they are both internal stakeholders, due to the fact that they work for their company and have a say in what happens that affects them, this is good as if they don’t like what the others are thinking about doing then they have their own opinion.
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Apple Inc.’s customers are vital to the firm’s success in the computing world since they purchase Apple’s products which help the firm make huge profit; without the customers’ Apple would cease to exist. In this regard, Apple’s customers are external stakeholders, this is as they don’t have a say in what happens in the business and what specifications their products have. On the other hand, ASDA’s customers are as important to ASDA just like Apple’s; without the customers buying their products, they would not make profit and sell their products which translate into inability to maintain business operations. Though customers have little say on the firm’s products, they are critical to the firm’s success and their views are respected by the firm. As an example, ASDA’s customers have been complaining of high petrol prices which made ASDA lower fuel prices. This is good as more people will buy their fuel from there which helps them to keep an edge over competitors.
In addition, Apple’s suppliers are essential internal stakeholders to Apple and without their input into the company; Apple would be unable to make any products. ASDA’s suppliers on the other hand are internal stakeholders; without them ASDA’s products could not easily reach its numerous stores and sales would be impossible to initiate. In ASDA’s case, suppliers are placed on the same level as permanent workers and get equal pay rates as ASDA struck a deal with them. This is essential to ASDA as these suppliers will efficiently supply ASDA with their products quicker as they will all be happy and work the same.
Apples owners are internal stakeholders, this is as they have the last say on what happens at Apple, this is also as they put the most money into the business. Moreover, ASDA’s owners are internal stakeholders; this is as like Apple’s owners have the most important say of what happens in the business. The business owners are the ones responsible for employing new people into the workplace and act as overall supervisory organs within their firms.
Apple’s local community are internal stakeholders, this is as they have the rights to know what is going to happen to the business if it is going to affect the community such as if it is going to affect them by bringing more traffic. In this regard, Apple has influenced the local community by establishing an “Apple Day”; this influences the aims of Apple as it brings the local community together, which means they might buy Apple products. On the same note, ASDA’s local community is internal stakeholders, this is as people who live in the community could work for ASDA, also if it is going to cause problems for the community they will get a say in what is happening within the firm.
Apple’s national community is depicted as external stakeholders; this is so since they do not have a say in what happens in the business. The national community influences the aims of Apple due to the fact that without them buying Apple’s products, the firm would be unable to keep ahead of their competitors and making profit. ASDA’s national community is external stakeholders, and like Apple’s they have no say in what happens and what does not happen.
Apple’s local government is an external stakeholder, since it has a say in what happens in the business. The local government could influence the aims of Apple’s products by saying they are good and help peoples learning which would mean they would sell more. In addition, the local and national government is interested in the jobs that Apple brings to their stores. Furthermore, ASDA’s local government is an external stakeholder because they have no say in what happens in the business. Nonetheless, the local and national government is interested in the job opportunities that ASDA brings to their stores.
Stakeholder Mapping
Stakeholder mapping entails identification of the employees in an organization or a group of persons likely to influence or be affected by a proposed action, and sorting them according to their impact on the action and the impact the action will have on them (Mitchell, Agle, & Wood, 1997). The map thus assists in assessing how the interests of those stakeholders should be addressed in a project plan. In addition, this plan is mainly used during the preparation phase of a project to assess the attitudes of the stakeholders regarding the potential changes. Nonetheless, stakeholder mapping may be initiated at least once or on a regular basis to track changes in stakeholder attitudes over time.
Therefore, stakeholder mapping has the goal of developing cooperation between the stakeholder and the project team and, ultimately assuring successful outcomes for the project. In addition, mapping is conducted when there is need for clarifying consequences of envisaged changes, or at the start of new projects and in connection with organizational changes. On this note, it is essential to identify all stakeholders for the purpose of identifying their success criteria and turning these into quality goals.
The first step in building stakeholder map involves developing a list of the members of the stakeholder community. Once the list is complete, it is then possible to assign priorities in some way, and then to translate the highest priority stakeholders into a table. The potential list of stakeholders for any project will always exceed both the time available for analysis and the capability of the mapping tool to sensibly display the results, the challenge is to focus on the right stakeholders who are currently important.
Stakeholder
Contribution
Legitimacy
Willingness to Engage
Influence
Necessity of Involvement
SH1
High: Knowledge in X issue of value to the company
High: Directly affected by our company’s activity
High: Proactive group that is already engaging
Low: Relatively unknown group
Low: Not an outspoken stakeholder
SH2
Medium
Medium
High
Medium
Medium
SH3
Low
Low
Medium
Low
Medium
SH4
Low
Medium
Low
Medium
Medium
SH5
High
Medium
Low
High
High
SH6
Low
Medium
Medium
Low
Low
SH7
Medium
Medium
Medium
High
Low
Stakeholder Map for Apple Inc. and ASDA
Stakeholder mapping assist in the identification of the several aspects of the company’s stakeholders. These include,; stakeholders’ interests, mechanisms to influence other stakeholders, potential risks, key people to be informed about the project during the execution phase and negative stakeholders as well as their adverse effects on the project (Mendelow, 1991).
Corporate Social Responsibility
Both Apple and ASDA undertake tough ethos of corporate social responsibility. This is ascertained by the firms’ employment opportunities in communities, health initiatives and various charitable missions these organizations initiate (McGuire, Sundgren, & Schneeweis, 1988). These firms handle CSR carefully with the belief that helping sustainability can support to make more affordable products for customers, while helping people to protect the world where they live. In this line, these firms stipulate these principles to each business parts and believe that they must have an influence on everything from the colleagues and customers health to the work which they do with the local communities.
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