Shapeholders
Subtitle: business success in the age of activism
By: Mark R. Kennedy
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 281
ISBN-13: 9780231180566
Subjects: Moral and ethical aspects; Social responsibility of business; Public relations; Corporations; Strategic planning; Corporate governance
Description: "Today, all it takes is one organizational misstep to sink a company's reputation. Social media can be a strict ethical enforcer, with the power to convince thousands to boycott products and services. Executives are stuck on appeasing stakeholders, shareholders, employees, and consumers, but they ignore shapeholders, regulators, the media, and social and political activists who have no stake in a company but will work hard to curb what they see as bad business practices. And they do so at their own peril. Many international, multi-billion-dollar corporations fail to anticipate activism, and they flounder on first contact. Kennedy zeroes in on the different languages that shapeholders and companies speak and their contrasting metrics for what constitutes acceptable business practice. Executives, he argues, must be visionaries who find profitable, and probable, collaborations to diffuse political tensions. Kennedy's decision matrix helps corporations align their business practices with shapeholder interests, anticipate their demands, and assess changing moral standards so that together they can plan a profitable route forward" --Inside jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-268) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: From the heart of a businessman; title: Who are the shapeholders?; title: Shapeholders; title: Social activists; title: The media; title: Politicians; title: Regulators; title: Seven steps to shapeholder success; title: Align with a purpose; title: Anticipate; title: Assess; title: Avert; title: Acquiesce; title: Advance common interests; title: Assemble to win; title: Pope Francis, a CEO worth emulating.