The Role of Stakeholders in Strategic Planning

Individuals and Stakeholders in Decision-Making

Individuals often involved in the decision-making process tend to the outcome of a process while also encouraging their sense of ownership to the idea. The same concept applies in strategic planning as high involvement of stakeholders tend to generate a better outcome, and they gain a sense of ownership to a product, idea or a brand in general (Legacy, 2010). Stakeholders in the technology industry today play a crucial role in determining how successful a product will perform in the market. The success of Nokia relies on how much they involve the decisions and suggestion of the stakeholders. Previously, the downfall of the company stemmed from the idea that the organization neglected to understand what the consumers needed. However, paying attention to the demands of the stakeholders gave the company a second chance, and so far Nokia is performing at a competitive standard.

Consumer Group as a Key Stakeholder

One of the key stakeholders in the selected case study is the consumer group. Consumers refer to the individuals who will be willing to purchase the product. As a result, there are certain things that they will be looking for when deciding to choose one product over another. Consumers will determine whether there will be a purchase of the mobile phone thus influencing the organization’s competitive advantage. It is the features and the user experience that will determine their level of engagement with the product. Most time mobile phone consumers will be seeking an innovation that will make them want to spend more time with the cellphones instead of only using it for utility purposes.

Effective Communication Strategies with Consumers

It is essential to establish effective communication strategies that will allow the company to engage with the consumers. The most prevalent approach is social media platforms. Approximately everyone today with a smartphone is on one or more social media platforms (Moreno, Navarro, Tench, & Zerfass, 2015). It is on these platforms that consumers get to learn about new products or even interact with customer care in case they have issues (Moreno et al., 2015). It is essential to have an active and interactive business page that will allow these stakeholders to interact with the company.

References

Legacy, C. (2010). Investigating the Knowledge interface between Stakeholder Engagement and Plan-Making. Environment And Planning A, 42(11), 2705-2720. doi: 10.1068/a43164

Moreno, A., Navarro, C., Tench, R., & Zerfass, A. (2015). Does social media usage matter? An analysis of online practices and digital media perceptions of communication practitioners in Europe. Public Relations Review, 41(2), 242-253. doi: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.12.006