Stakeholder Analysis Methods Research Articles

Three component stakeholder analysis

Both public and private organizations are increasingly employing stakeholder engagement as an important strategy for improving external stakeholder relations. Incorporating stakeholders' opinions is valuable for improving decision-making processes and project implementation [Deelstra, Nooteboom, Kohlmann, van den Berg, and Innanen (2003) Using knowledge for decision-making purposes in the context of large projects in The Netherlands. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 23(5), 517-541]. Currently, the prevailing practice domain for stakeholder engagement is largely characterized by complex and dynamic environments containing a wide range of stakeholders, from hostile to conciliatory, from obstructive to collaborative [Crocker (2007) Organizational arrangements for the provision of cross-boundary transport infrastructure and services. Atlanta, GA: Georgia Institute of Technology]. This diverse range of stakeholders with different interests and expectations requires flexible and indeed specialized engagement tools [Shandas and Messer (2008) Fostering green communities through civic engagement: Community-based environmental stewardship in the Portland area. Journal of the American Planning Association, 74(4), 408-418]. Yet the practise of stakeholder analysis, a pre-requisite for successful stakeholder engagement [Clarkson (1995) A stakeholder framework for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 92-117; Reed et al. (2009) Who's in and why? A typology of stakeholder analysis methods for natural resource management. Journal of Environmental Management, 90(5), 1933-1949], has been insufficiently explored. At present, there is no integrated stakeholder analysis method that investigates the stakeholder sufficiently, i.e., from multiple space-time subjectivities, rather then from a single space-time representation. To arrive at an integrated stakeholder analysis methodology, Reed et al. (2009) have suggested investigating the potential for combining existing methods to derive more useful results. This article will therefore offer a new integrated framework, covering all components; salience, frames of reference and networks.

A Framework for Stakeholder Analysis of Forest and Wood-Based Industry Clusters – Case Study at the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Concepts and methods for stakeholder analysis in forestry need further development and refinement in the context of the cluster concept and there is a lack of suitable information concerning the communication and cooperation patterns between stakeholders of the different industry branches and along the chain of production and value-adding. Within this research project, a framework for stakeholders analysis of forest and wood-based industry clusters was developed and tested as a case study at the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in Germany. The study is based on methods of cluster and stakeholder analysis as well as the analysis and assessment of stakeholder and corporate networks. The case study was carried out based on a questionnaire survey among 632 stakeholder organizations (response rate 35.9%). The framework consists of three moduls: stakeholder identification, stakeholder analysis and assessment, and stakeholder networking and cluster management. The NRW forest sector is characterized by more than 630 stakeholder organizations, covering a wide range of industry branches and different spatial scales. The institutional characteristics vary highly. Stakeholder communication and cooperation mostly takes place between directly linked industry branches along the chain of production and value-adding. Recommendations for improved communication and cooperation include the establishment or further development of cooperation platforms or networks.

A theoretical and empirical study on China's transition to digital TV

This paper explores the impact of policies made by the State Administration of Radio, Film, and TV on China's transition to digital TV. The method of stakeholder analysis is used to present a theoretical study on the digital transition, with a quantitative model analyzing the welfare change of three segments of consumers. A simultaneous-equation model is used to study the characteristics of the demand and supply of digital TV in China. It is argued that the policy of uniform transition that ignores coordination among stakeholders does harm to consumers’ benefits, and the healthy and sustainable development of China's cable digital TV industry. In an introductory phase of digital TV, educating consumers with convenient and pleasing experience is essential, and restructuring cable operators in a market-oriented way is also critical for developing countries like China.

Who's in and why? A typology of stakeholder analysis methods for natural resource management

Stakeholder analysis means many things to different people. Various methods and approaches have been developed in different fields for different purposes, leading to confusion over the concept and practice of stakeholder analysis. This paper asks how and why stakeholder analysis should be conducted for participatory natural resource management research. This is achieved by reviewing the development of stakeholder analysis in business management, development and natural resource management. The normative and instrumental theoretical basis for stakeholder analysis is discussed, and a stakeholder analysis typology is proposed. This consists of methods for: i) identifying stakeholders; ii) differentiating between and categorising stakeholders; and iii) investigating relationships between stakeholders. The range of methods that can be used to carry out each type of analysis is reviewed. These methods and approaches are then illustrated through a series of case studies funded through the Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme. These case studies show the wide range of participatory and non-participatory methods that can be used, and discuss some of the challenges and limitations of existing methods for stakeholder analysis. The case studies also propose new tools and combinations of methods that can more effectively identify and categorise stakeholders and help understand their inter-relationships.

Interactive Actor Analysis for Rural Water Management in The Netherlands: An Application of the Transactional Approach

Recent developments in the policy sciences emphasize the social environment in which decisions are made. The ‘network metaphor’ is often used to describe the key role of interactions between interdependent actors involved in decision making. These interactions take place in a policy arena drawn up by actors with an interest in and control over decisions on the issues addressed. Interdependencies, caused by the need for actors to increase their means of realizing objectives, are the driving force behind these interactions. Dependency relations are of special interest to water management and river basin management because of the fundamental asymmetrical interdependencies that exist in river basins between upstream and downstream stakeholders. Coleman’s linear system of action models decision making process involving dependencies between multiple stakeholders as exchange of control over issues, while interactions are required to negotiate exchanges of control. We developed an interactive method for actor analysis based on Coleman’s linear system of action and applied it to the national rural water management policy domain in The Netherlands. The method is firmly rooted in mathematical sociology and defies the criticism that methods for actor and stakeholder analysis do not specify a theoretical basis explaining the causal relations between the variables analyzed and policy change. With the application to the rural water management policy arena we intended to increase our insight into the practical applicability of this analytic method in an interactive workshop, the acceptability of the approach for the participating actors, its contribution to the process of decision making and our understanding of the rural water management policy arena in The Netherlands. We found that the Association of Water Authorities, the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Agriculture are the most powerful actor in the policy domain, while governance and cost and benefits of rural water management are the most salient issues. Progress in policy development for rural water management is probably most promising for the issues governance, costs and benefits, safety and rural living conditions through improved interaction between the Association of Water Authorities, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Rural Credit Bank. Besides these analytic results the interactive approach implemented increased the participants understanding of their dependency on other actors in the rural water management policy domain and supported them in developing a sound perspective on their dependency position. We concluded that the method developed is acceptable to real-world policy decision makers, can successfully be applied in an interactive setting, potentially contributes to the process of decision making by increasing the participants understanding of their dependency position, has the potential to delivers valuable advice for future decision-making and increases our understanding of policy development for rural water management in general.

Visualising e-business stakeholders on the Web: a methodology and experimental results

Competition among e-businesses has become ever more fierce as electronic commerce is gaining wide acceptance. Meanwhile, effectively collecting and analysing competitive intelligence has challenged researchers and practitioners. This research proposed and validated a new methodology for developing competitive intelligence tools to support e-business stakeholder analysis. We developed a prototype that supports collecting, analysing, and visualising stakeholder Web pages and relationships. Experimental results show that the prototype significantly outperformed a traditional method of stakeholder analysis in terms of user satisfaction and effectiveness on certain task types. This research thus provides a useful methodology and new empirical findings for e-business stakeholder analysis.

Stakeholder analysis in project planning: origins, applications and refinements of the method

Stakeholder topics are one of the main ideas in development thinking that have been introduced in recent years. Based on methods for stakeholder analysis given by the Overseas Development Administration and Team UP software, a combined method was used to analyse two projects, one in India the other in Nigeria. The results are discussed and a revised method for stakeholder analysis is proposed.

Archetypal Social Systems Analysis: On the Deeper Structure of Human Systems

This paper extends the concept and method of stakeholder analysis, showing that the deeper symbolic aspects of human systems can be understood in terms of a special set of stakeholder entities known as archetypes. Archetypes are the most basic symbolic images that the human mind is capable of having and of experiencing. Archetypes and their associated properties are radically different from the kinds of stakeholders that are discussed in the typical analyses of social systems.