In this assignment seven stakeholders of the two businesses chosen will be explained in terms of their interests in the businesses and to evaluate the influences that they have over the businesses in terms of the business running. The two companies in this case are Tesco and Children in Need.
The stakeholders for Tesco that will be assessed in this assignment are: Customers Shareholders Suppliers Employees Local Community Competition Sponsors
The stakeholders for Children in Need that will be assessed in this assignment are: Owners Trustees Media Donators Volunteers Accountants The Cause
Tesco
The customers of Tesco are the people who buy goods and pay for the services from Tesco and Tesco try to persuade them to be lifetime customers and not just one time by offering special deals and bargains for long-time customers and new customers, so they can beat the other supermarkets and be the best. They are an external stakeholder as they are not employees and are outside of the business. In return the customers would want low prices and good quality items, great customer service and for Tesco to listen to the community and change in favour of them so that it is more suited, for example changing packaging so it is more environmentally friendly. The customers probably have the highest influence in terms of Tesco as they are needed for Tesco to increase revenue and earn a profit. They also provide as a motivator for Tesco to improve and expand as they want Tesco to do well for the environment as well with cheap prices.
The shareholders of Tesco are the people that hold a share or multiple shares of the business meaning that they own a bit of it to themselves and can get a profit off of them if Tesco do well in the stock market. Shareholders can be both internal and external for Tesco as they own part of the business but are also outside of it as they do not do anything for them other than hold shares. Shareholders want high amounts of cash back with their shares in the form of dividends, meaning that they want Tesco to earn a huge profit so that they get as much money as possible and their share has been worthwhile. The shareholders influence in terms of the business running is not very high as people can sell their shares back to Tesco when they believe that they aren't getting their money's worth and Tesco could sell them on again when they start to do better so shareholders are not really needed to run the business.
The suppliers for Tesco are the individuals or other business that sell Tesco their products to sell for themselves. Suppliers are external stakeholders of Tesco as they supplier the outside products to them. Suppliers would like Tesco to have good employee relations and manners so that the transaction can happen happily, they would also want fair prices for the good they are providing for the organisation as that is the way they make their money and profits. The suppliers do not influence Tesco very much in terms of the business running as Tesco can always get new suppliers if they are being awkward, uncooperative or unreliable. This is because Tesco is monopolistic in the market it resides in so Tesco has great purchasing power over suppliers allowing them to alter the prices of their supply if not suitable to their required payments.
The employees for Tesco are the individuals within the business that work for Tesco; they are internal stakeholders as they work for and are inside of Tesco. Employees want a good working environment, a fair pay and working hours from Tesco in return for their labour and work that they do for them. The employees can be quite influential depending on their role for the business as the very minor roles with easy tasks can be filled easily but the major roles like district sales manager cannot be replaced easily as they need a lot of training and qualifications to do the job.
The local community are the civilians that live around the area of the business and are an external stakeholder to them as they are the community and do not work inside Tesco. They want Tesco to be an environmentally friendly business so that their living areas do not get polluted and for Tesco to bring more money in and represent them in a good way, they also want employment opportunities from Tesco so that they will not have to travel far to get to their workplace. The local community have a small influence as they are not strong enough to take on Tesco as they are huge. However they can affect Tesco and get them to work more on trying new things to be more environmentally friendly.
The competition can be described as the rivalling businesses that threaten Tesco success through stealing their customers which results in Tesco losing some of their profit an example of this could be ASDA as they are currently one of the more oligopolistic companies in the market. Obviously Tesco’s rivals want to steal their customers to make more sales. The influence of the competition is quite strong as it forces Tesco to work harder to retain their customers and to attract customers of their rivals, also the competition works in the same industry as Tesco meaning that if they give a negative point of view to the public about a product range then not only will it affect Tesco’s rivals but also Tesco itself as is aimed at the company and not the industry itself.
The sponsors of Tesco are the organisations that use Tesco as a sponsor for their product meaning that Tesco give them some money and help them earn money towards what they do as a business. Tesco have sponsored quite a few things in the past such as ‘Cancer Researches Race for Life’, ‘Pride London’, Britain’s largest gay pride event and now the Tesco Finest products sponsor Downton Abbey. These help Tesco get more media coverage and become more well-known over the world. The influence of the sponsors in terms of running the business can be quite high as if Tesco sponsor a charity where the money does not go towards the cause then they could get a bad name and people may refuse to shop there. However if Tesco sponsor a good cause like Pride London then they can get more media coverage and show that they support their customers and community whatever sexual orientation they may be.
Overall, in terms of influence, the most influential stakeholder of Tesco is the customers as without customers they cannot reach their profit goals and will not earn enough revenue to expand or develop into more markets; they also allow Tesco to train their staff with good manners to be polite to everyone that they meet. Another highly influential stakeholder of Tesco would be the competition, such as ASDA, as it means that Tesco need to work harder to keep their customers and to attract new ones, this could also be a motivator for Tesco to expand into new markets and sell different products along with the things they already sell. The least influential stakeholder is the suppliers as Tesco are such a big organisation they would have no trouble finding new suppliers for their products. Another stakeholder with a low influence on Tesco is the shareholders as they own part of the business that they paid for and if they want to get rid of it then it does not affect Tesco as they can just sell it back or to a different individual. Employees could be either high or low in terms of influence as the minor employees can be easily replaced or covered for, but the higher up employees cannot be replaced easily as they would need training and the right qualifications to prove that they can do their job.
Children in Need
The owner is the person who founded the charity and is therefore an internal stakeholder, for Children in Need the owner is Sir Terry Wogan. He founded the charity so his interests are for the success of the charity and for many donations to be made by the public across the UK, to help the cause which is to help the less fortunate children in the UK. He also has to look after everything in the charity and make sure the donations go to the right places and not to the wrong charities. In return from the charity the owner would mainly like all of the support they can get by the other stakeholders of the organisation. They have a strong influence as they own the charity and determine the strategic direction of the charity, although they do not have control over people’s opinions. In terms of Children in Need, the influence of the owner is not the strongest stakeholder to have in the charity but is not the weakest either; this stakeholder would be quite high up in the importance of the charity.
A trustee is an individual person or a member of a board that has been given control or power of administration of property in the trust with legal obligation to administer it solely for the purposes specified as they work inside the organisation they are an internal stakeholder. A trustee wants the charity to do well in order to achieve their goals in the business, they are not motivated by pay as they are motivated solely by the cause of the charity, which in terms of Children in Need is to help under privileged children in the UK. In return a trustee wants the general support of the people for the charity to help it succeed in the long term and help the cause as much as it can. A trustee has a very strong influence in terms of the direction of the charity; however they are only a tool to the charity trying to get more donators to donate towards the cause, and for this reason lowering their influence on the charity.
The media are businesses that report on the charity, this could be by any platform like TV news or radio like what BBC do as they are a part of the charity and even newspapers like ‘The Sun’. The media work outside of the business so they are an external stakeholder. The media’s interests are that they want the information of whatever the charity are doing, whether it be a success or a failure, to inform the public on whether their donations will be put to good use and towards the cause. In return they would like the charity to give as much information as they can to the media so that they have something to do reports and articles on and do not lose their viewer’s support. They are very influential as the feedback they give will tell the public and their viewers whether it is good to donate to the charity or to not donate if they believe that it does not go to the cause completely, by giving a negative comment in their feedback. They will determine the amount of donations that are made by the viewers.
Donators are the individuals or organisations that support the charity with donations in the form of financial support to ensure that it proves successful in aiding the cause. Donators tend to be outside of the organisation, although some workers can be donators as well, so they are external stakeholders. The donators want to be able to help the charity and the cause through their donations and they want the charity to do really well and actually change the children’s lives. In return donators want the charity to do really well and put the donations to good use and actually help the people that they plan to. Donators are the strongest form of influence any charity can have as if there were no donators then no money would be raised for the cause and the charity would not be able to help anyone and be forced to shut down due to the lack of donators. For example, this year (2014) on one day the public helped Children in Need raise over £32 million during a seven hour telethon on BBC ONE.
The volunteers are the unpaid workers who voluntarily work for a business or charity to benefit themselves by giving themselves a look at what it is like in a business environment and giving them a good working experience that will help on their CV and the organisation they are working with. Volunteers are working inside of the business and are therefore internal stakeholders. Volunteer workers want do it for the experience they will gain whilst working for the charity and sometimes they do it as they believe in the cause and want to help it in a better way than just donating, it would look really good on anyone’s CV to have volunteer work for a charity as it shows that the person will happily work without the motivation from money and that they will work just to help people and a cause. Even though they help with aiding the business, they are not very influential as they do not do anything to further the help of the cause in a unique and innovative way. This makes them one of the least influential stakeholders going.
Accountants are the individuals within the organisation who maintain the financial records with high accuracy to make sure the money raised for the cause it budgeted and given out to the included charities fairly. The accountants’ are hired to help the organisation from the inside so they are internal stakeholders. They are generally motivated by profit but they may be helping the charity as they feel for the cause and want to help it in any way they can. In return, they want the charity to pay them a fair wage and a good working environment and reasonable times and breaks. They are not very influential in raising money for the cause or charity but are essential in terms of controlling the money and helping with the distribution of the raised money.
The cause is the people or thing that the charity is working towards saving or getting rid of so that everyone can have a better life that they help. The cause is an external stakeholder as they are not directly working with the charity or involved anyway although the charity is the main reason the charity is running, to help them. In return from the charity this stakeholder would like the donation money to go towards the cause and for it to actually help the cause at hand, in this case the cause is the under privileged children in the UK. Although the cause is the reason the charity exists and is running they are not really a high contester in terms of influence to the charity as they do not support the charity in any way and they are only interested in the charity as they are getting helped by it, they are not helping it in any way.
Overall, in terms of influence the most needed and influential stakeholders of the charity, Children in Need are the donators as they are needed to fund the running of the charity and to help the cause they were also the main force behind the £32 million raised in the BBC telethon, and the media as they will determine the amount of donations that are made by the viewers by the feedback they give on the charity. The least influential and needed stakeholders of the charity are the cause as they do not help in any way as they are the ones getting helped, and the volunteers as they do not provide any help to the cause and are only providing a little help to the charity so that they can further their own needs and benefit themselves.