Identification of enterprises’ stakeholders and assessment of their influence: theoretical aspect

Abstract

The identification of stakeholders and the assessment of their influence is the enterprises’ important management constituent, as it does not only decrease the risk of emerging a destructive comflict when the interests and expectations of sepatate stakeholders’ groups are ignored, but it also contributes to the establishment of partnership, building a business reputation and enterprises’ entering international markets. According to АА1000SES standard (Accountability Stakeholder Engagement Standard) the enterprise’s obligation is to take into account such a basic principle as participation, which means the involvement of all the interested parties, their right to espress their requirements, thoughts and be heard. The participation can be reached when such principles as importance, completeness, and response are followed.Scientific societies study various approaches, criteria, and instruments to define the interested parties; on the basis of the conducted investigation, the author proposes to focus the attention on two factors of their potential influence: resources and power. Correspondingly, it is substantiated that the identification of stakeholders and the assessment of their influence is reasonable to accomplish in the so-called «force field» between the parameters of resource formative and authoritative potentials conditionally dividing it into three levels of influence: low, middle, and high. Based on these parameters, it is proposed to unite the groups of the interested parties into four role categories: main stakeholders, business partners, observers, and regulatory institutions and this will facilitate the further process of choosing the strategy of establishing the partnership with the stakeholders. In addition, the article presents the general description of stakeholders’ basic groups including their interests and expectations, and the pattern of their influence upon the enterprise.