The Stakeholder Balance Sheet

This simple tool provides self-testing checklists at the end of each chapter that enables managers to look at stakeholder-sensitive issues in the same way that they might scrutinise financial statements (hence it will not seem alien to most managers). A review of how well your organisation has fared on the questions will tell you how healthy your 'balance sheet' is in relation to the topic of each chapter, and it will provide you with the basis for an overall enterprise balance sheet that aggregates the scores you have achieved in each topic area.

Lessons to learn from application of the Stakeholder Balance Sheet are:

• What appropriate tools are still required to enhance their understanding of the market place, and how these should be utilised
• How to maximise commercial success through understanding the market place
• And, find effective ways of being a truly stakeholder-sensitive enterprise

In a nutshell, a genuine understanding of how customers and other stakeholders think, feel and behave offers the essential starting point for any general manager - not just the marketing or sales specialist - seeking to determine the direction of his organisation.

For the purpose of the book, stakeholders are described as: the direct stakeholders in the market place - customers and prospects (including both the key contacts with whom you interface and others who may influence the final decisions made); the internal stakeholders - staff; other external stakeholders - pressure groups, local community, government, intermediaries, banks, etc.

'My 40 years of international business experience would completely endorse this total focus on the stakeholder balance sheet.'
-Sir Peter Bonfield CBE FREng, Chairman of NXP Supervisory Board and formerly CEO of BT Group plc and ICL plc

'The Stakeholder Balance Sheet is an excellent and highly practical framework...This book is a must-read for decision makers in any organization, regardless of level or function.'
-Professor Sharan Jagpal, Professor of Marketing, Rutgers Business School & author of Fusion for Profit

Prior to this Farrokh had over thirty year's experience, mostly in business development and marketing research consultancy undertaken for a range of blue chip multinational companies. His assignments covered topics ranging from market segmentation and product development to market drivers and customer loyalty. Over the years these topics have also been the subject of articles, international conference papers and in-house seminars and workshops which he has led.

Farrokh has a BSc(Econ) from the London School of Economics and an MBA from the Columbia Business School in New York. He is a member of the CIM Learning & Development faculty.

Dr John A Murphy, Telefonica O2 Professor of Customer Management and Head of Corporate Relations at Manchester Business School, combines the roles of academic and international consultant, specialising in customer management and service quality. He has held a series of senior management positions both in Ireland and the UK.

At Manchester Business School he has established a unique cohort of PhD scholarship students in conjunction with leading UK companies. This is the largest doctoral research group in this specialist area in Europe. He is a regular contributor to the programmes at the MBS Executive Development Centre. He chairs and directs the Customer Management Leadership Group.

John holds four professional fellowships and is a member of the International Academy for Quality, whose members are chosen from the most active protagonists of quality in the world. He is the author of five books, the most recent of which, Converting Customer Value: From Retention to Profit, was published in 2006.