An empirical examination of the stakeholder strategy matrix

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine whether the stakeholder strategy matrix provides useful guidance for managers in dealing with stakeholders. The matrix suggests that strategies for dealing with stakeholders can be determined based on stakeholder ability to cooperate and threaten organisational outcomes.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a hypothetical scenario looking at the development of a new environmentally friendly product, where eight stakeholder groups and their influencing abilities are manipulated. Marketers reviewed one version of the scenario and were then asked the applicability of 13 strategies for each stakeholder group described. Mixed design analysis is then undertaken to examine the direct effects and interactions between the four combinations of influencing abilities, the stakeholder group examined or how the strategy suggested impacted on managers' views.Findings – The research found that there was an interaction effect suggesting that some strategies were more applicable...

[1]  R. Freeman.  Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach , 2010 .

[2]  A. Friedman,et al.  Developing Stakeholder Theory , 2002 .

[3]  L. Preston,et al.  Managing the Extended Enterprise: The New Stakeholder View , 2002 .

[4]  M. Hyman,et al.  Designing Vignette Studies in Marketing , 2002 .

[5]  Frans A. J. Van Den Bosch,et al.  Stakeholder Integration , 2002 .

[6]  Shawn L. Berman,et al.  Does Stakeholder Orientation Matter? The Relationship Between Stakeholder Management Models and Firm Financial Performance , 1999 .

[7]  Ronald K. Mitchell,et al.  Who Matters to Ceos? An Investigation of Stakeholder Attributes and Salience, Corpate Performance, and Ceo Values , 1999 .

[8]  Perry Sadorsky,et al.  The Relationship Between Environmental Commitment and Managerial Perceptions of Stakeholder Importance , 1999 .

[9]  Kathryn M. Kimery,et al.  Markets and Constituencies: An Alternative View of the Marketing Concept , 1998 .

[10]  Barrie Dale,et al.  The management and organisational context of new product development: diagnosis and self-assessment , 1998 .

[11]  Jacquelyn Ottman,et al.  Stakeholders' Contribution to the Green New Product Development Process , 1998 .

[12]  O. Jones.  From Maturity to Entrepreneurship: A Stakeholder Model of Innovation , 1998 .

[13]  Ronald K. Mitchell,et al.  Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts , 1997 .

[14]  Tim Rowley.  Moving Beyond Dyadic Ties: A Network Theory of Stakeholder Influences , 1997 .

[15]  J. Parnell.  New Evidence in the Generic Strategy and Business Performance Debate: A Research Note , 1997 .

[16]  Gordon R. Foxall,et al.  Multiple Stakeholder Orientation in UK Companies and the Implications for Company Performance , 1997 .

[17]  Michael Jay Polonsky,et al.  Stakeholder management and the stakeholder matrix: Potential strategic marketing tools , 1996 .

[18]  Gordon R. Foxall,et al.  Consumer and nonconsumer stakeholder orientation in U.K. companies , 1996 .

[19]  R. Nataraajan,et al.  Do source of mailing and monetary incentives matter in international industrial mail surveys , 1995 .

[20]  D. Wood,et al.  STAKEHOLDER MISMATCHING: A THEORETICAL PROBLEM IN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON CORPORATE SOCIAL PERFORMANCE , 1995 .

[21]  Gerald E. Fryxell,et al.  CEO Stakeholder Attitudes and Corporate Social Activity in the Fortune 500 , 1994 .

[22]  John A. Parnell,et al.  Generic Strategy and Performance: an Empirical Test of the Miles and Snow Typology , 1993 .

[23]  K. Peattie,et al.  Responding to the green movement , 1992 .

[24]  William F. Lewis,et al.  A Stakeholder Approach to Marketing Management Using the Value Exchange Models , 1991 .

[25]  Timothy W. Nix,et al.  Strategies for assessing and managing organizational stakeholders , 1991 .

[26]  M. Crask,et al.  MAIL SURVEY RESPONSE RATE A META-ANALYSIS OF SELECTED TECHNIQUES FOR INDUCING RESPONSE , 1988 .

[27]  P. H. Friesen,et al.  Porter's (1980) Generic Strategies and Performance: An Empirical Examination with American Data , 1986 .

[28]  T. Heberlein,et al.  Factors affecting response rates to mailed questionnaires: A quantitative analysis of the published literature. , 1978 .

[29]  L. Kanuk,et al.  Mail Surveys and Response Rates: A Literature Review , 1975 .

[30]  Richard A. Wolfe,et al.  How Tight Are the Ties that Bind Stakeholder Groups? , 2002, Organ. Sci..

[31]  M. Clarkson.  A Stakeholder Framework for Analyzing and Evaluating Corporate Social Performance , 1995 .