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The Stakeholder Model

This resource is designed specifically for Units 1 and 29 of the Edexcel BTEC National qualification, 'Introduction to Business' and 'Business and Markets'.

Aim

The aim of this resource is to enhance your understanding of corporate responsibility and stakeholding in business. By the end, you should be able to:

  • Identify the reasons for a new approach to business responsibility
  • Understand the different forms of inclusivity that firms can adopt
  • Identify and analyse the use of benchmarking in the real world
  • Understand how businesses can benefit from the stakeholder model

Resources

Activity

Task 1

Business in the Community(http://www.bitc.org.uk) produce an annual Global Stakeholder report [PDF, 650 KB](http://www.bitc.org.uk/docs/ECCFH_stakeholder_report_03_en.pdf).

  1. Go to page 14 of the report to see the list of types of stakeholder who were invited to take part in this global survey. Page 16 shows the proportion of respondents who actually participated. Make notes on what you find.
  2. Go to pages 20-21 to learn more about the use of benchmarking. Why might benchmarking be useful to all companies in a market?

Task 2

John Lewis Partnership is one of the organisations identified as demonstrating an effective corporate social responsibility programme. Read the Guardian article John Lewis gives staff £87m bonus and make notes on some of the benefits that may result from their activity in this area. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1167645,00.html)


Task 3

Go back to the Business in the Community(http://www.bitc.org.uk) Web site. Navigate your way to find and note down the arguments in favour of a business taking seriously its corporate responsibility. Some useful material is contained in the report The Business Case for Corporate Responsibility [PDF, 1.1 MB](http://www.bitc.org.uk/docs/aurr_A4__The_Business_Case_2003.pdf). This report outlines four case studies indicating the benefits that business can expect to accrue from their corporate responsibility actions. Again, make notes on what you find.


Task 4

There is a certain amount of scepticism surrounding the use of corporate and social responsibility (CSR) reporting by firms. Use the information you gathered from the above research tasks to draw up a short formal report which:

  • Explains the meaning of CSR
  • Gives examples of firms' CSR activity
  • Outlines the benefits of CSR programmes to stakeholders
  • Gives examples of the benefits that firms can gain from CSR activity