This simple tool provides self-testing checklists at the end of each chapter that enables managers to look at stakeholder-sensitive issues in the same way that they might scrutinise financial statements (hence it will not seem alien to most managers). A review of how well your organisation has fared on the questions will tell you how healthy your "balance sheet" is in relation to the topic of each chapter, and it will provide you with the basis for an overall enterprise balance sheet that aggregates the scores you have achieved in each topic area.
Lessons to learn from application of the Stakeholder Balance Sheet are:
- What appropriate tools are still required to enhance their understanding of the market place, and how these should be utilised
- How to maximise commercial success through understanding the market place
- And, find effective ways of being a truly stakeholder-sensitive enterprise
In a nutshell, a genuine understanding of how customers and other stakeholders think, feel and behave offers the essential starting point for any general manager - not just the marketing or sales specialist - seeking to determine the direction of his organisation.
For the purpose of the book, stakeholders are described as: the direct stakeholders in the market place - customers and prospects (including both the key contacts with whom you interface and others who may influence the final decisions made); the internal stakeholders - staff; other external stakeholders - pressure groups, local community, government, intermediaries, banks, etc.
"My 40 years of international business experience would completely endorse this total focus on the stakeholder balance sheet."
—Sir Peter Bonfield CBE FREng, Chairman of NXP Supervisory Board and formerly CEO of BT Group plc and ICL plc
"The Stakeholder Balance Sheet is an excellent and highly practical framework...This book is a must-read for decision makers in any organization, regardless of level or function."
—Professor Sharan Jagpal, Professor of Marketing, Rutgers Business School & author of Fusion for Profit