Harvard Business Review

How to Create a Stakeholder Strategy

A data-driven approach to design, measurement, and implementation.

By Darrell Rigby, Zach First, and Dunigan O'Keeffe

First published on abril 12, 2023
min read


This article originally appeared in Harvard Business Review. Most people will readily agree that the first responsibility of business leaders is to grow the long-term value of their companies. But that’s where the agreement ends and the debate begins: What is value, and how should it be measured and managed? Is a company’s value maximized by being shareholder-centric, customer-centric, employee-centric, or some-other-stakeholder-centric? In a complex system where every stakeholder influences other stakeholders’ outcomes—highly engaged employees improve customer satisfaction, which in turn helps accelerate profitable growth, and so on—are any stakeholders safe to neglect? Read the full article on HBR.org (subscription may be required).

This article originally appeared in Harvard Business Review.

Most people will readily agree that the first responsibility of business leaders is to grow the long-term value of their companies. But that’s where the agreement ends and the debate begins: What is value, and how should it be measured and managed? Is a company’s value maximized by being shareholder-centric, customer-centric, employee-centric, or some-other-stakeholder-centric? In a complex system where every stakeholder influences other stakeholders’ outcomes—highly engaged employees improve customer satisfaction, which in turn helps accelerate profitable growth, and so on—are any stakeholders safe to neglect?

Read the full article on HBR.org (subscription may be required).