A pioneer in the media industry.

A company’s success depends on many elements that are responsible for their success. One of the elements that I will be discussing is the person(s) or group(s) that affects an organizations decisions, operations and policies. An organizations stakeholder has an interest in the company, and plays a critical role in daily operations.
If I had to choose a company to assume an executive position in; it would be AOL. This company is was on the forefront of social media launching. They changed the way we communicate with one another and created a global community of collaboration. AOL began as a small, but passionate group of employees that had a vision about future encounters on the internet. Their sole purpose then and now remains the same; delivery of news, service and enhancing social activities for a consumers of all ages. AOL has many accomplishments, but one of the most outstanding of them all; is opening of their executive positions to all that qualify. They overcome the hurdles that most company is still having difficulties achieving. They empowered women in the corporate America arena; unlike any company in the world. This is a major competitive edge. Additionally, AOL’s compensation plans are very competitive in the media industry. “Their workforce consists of more than 13,000; with salaries of $50,000 to $200,000 per year.” (AOL Salaries, 2013) Among these salary lye many stakeholders, that perform their duties interactively to achieve company goals. Stakeholders each share different interest levels in an organization. For Instance, the primary stakeholders are referred to as the internal stakeholder. Primary or sometimes refer to as market stakeholders are those elements is the company’s path to success; that performs duties that is are direct reflections of the company’s vision and mission statements. AOL for instance, has many stakeholders. * account managers – they are responsible for acquire new accounts and maintaining current accounts; * financial officers – they are responsible for ensuring the company is earning according to forecast, the company does not suffer any losses and ensure they are reporting, tracking and recording all transactions within the guidelines of the law; * suppliers – that provide products and services to ensure an even flow of operation management * stockholders – that have a financial interest in the company’s revenue, that may provide guidance from time to time to ensure the safety of their investments
Then there are secondary stakeholders with consist of people or person external to that can be affect by or affect the operations of the company; especially within the society in which the company is operating. For instance if AOL failed to comply with governmental laws, economical laws or labor laws; they would be subject to scrutiny from special interest groups. The bottom line is that companies are realizing operating a business and ensuring its success requires the efforts of many team players. Studies have indicated that investing in the interest of your stakeholders may be the key to enormous growth. “The best companies must generate value not just for shareholders, but for customers, employees, and communities as well. Businesses that ignore these other stakeholders risk losing competitive advantage, and face dwindling shareholder returns.” (Lomax, 2011)

The stakeholders can influence the destiny of your business.

As we discussed, we learned that stakeholders may not necessary reap the benefits of all revenue; however they hold a position that allows them to make a difference in determining the fate of the company. We also learned that stakeholders have a few defined powers that create results: * Voting Power: primary holders in a company that have a financial interest in the company; possess the right to vote on decisions that affects’ the growth of the company in the best interest of their investment of course. * Economic Power: holders that possess the power to halt supplies refuse service or products are just as critical in the process. For example: suppliers, customers, or disgruntle employees. * Political Power: the government can intervene in operations if a company is not incompliance; advocacy groups or special interest group can exercise political powers as well is a company is not perform its corporate responsibilities. * Legal Power: this type of power can destroy a company if they cause harm or fail to consider human lives valuable. Lawsuits can be costly, and cause a financial downfall for an organization.
Encourage stakeholders to form a coalition.

As the new CEO of AOL I would want to achieve success in business and gain the hearts and minds of our stakeholders. A giant step for the company would be to create a plan that enables all key players and agencies that effect operations to communicate on a platform that is user friendly and allows all voices to be heard. In order to for this change to be effective we must create boundary –spanning departments. In order to implement a coalition among all stakeholders I would strategically plan utilizing my key leaders from all mission essential departments. We’re a part of a society of people that have innovative technology that allows billions of people to collaborate at once. As media company, we have decided to implement a social commerce feed that allows for immediate response to issues in the workplace. This platform will also be linked into a video conferencing platform that allows for instant video meeting when keep players are not collocated. The platforms of course will be controlled by the information technology group; they will include keyword that requires immediate action, while alerting the proper individual(s). Additionally, as the CEO I plan to encourage cooperation by creating a policy that rewards departments for meeting certain milestones. As AOL CEO, I would adopt the stakeholder’s engagement general concept and practice of PepsiCo as a guideline to our changes. PepsiCo says, “We touch the lives of millions of people through our businesses and welcome honest, open, transparent discussion with individuals, groups and advocates who represent community, environmental and social interests.” (Stakeholder Engagement, 2012)
Foreseen challenges in encouraging stakeholders.
Many challenges arise when change is necessary. My experience has led me to believe that change should occur in increments, prior planning with key leaders and everyone that will be affected by the change must be educated on how to accept the new idea. They must see the benefit of the new process. Some of the most common challenges could be information flow and available resources. We intend to eliminate these occurrences by creating an information platform that allows for all leaders to address issues instantly and ensure that decision makers are alerted immediately that a decision is necessary. Additionally, our IT section will managed the flow of information and ensure they categorized by levels of priorities. In order to cover day to day issues, I will make sure the following stakeholders are a part of the communication platform. * Company executives * Accounting leaders * Logistics leaders * Human resources
The leaders listed above will have the resources to execute their jobs proficiently. If there is an issue that slows the down the progress we all have eyes on the problem and can address decision maker instantly. The more responsible the corporation the more apt the stakeholders will be to support the company’s vision. A survey, conduct in the United Kingdom results indicated some of the same results. “Building on advances in the application of psychological theories to the field of management, the research develops and empirically tests a theoretical model of how CR-related experiences and beliefs drive stakeholder trust and positive intent. The research is conducted with customers (n = 708) and employees (n = 359) of a service organization in the UK that introduced a range of CR-related activities into their business. The findings contribute to literature by empirically demonstrating (a) the impact of CR-related experiences on the development of beliefs about, and trust towards, the organization; (b) the importance of 'others-related' CR experiences even in the presence of 'self-related' CR experiences; and (c) the role of beliefs as partial mediators in how experiences of CR, both 'self-related' and 'others-related', translate into trust and positive intent.” (Hillenbrand, 2013)

References
Stakeholder Engagement. (2012). Retrieved from Pepsico: http://www.pepsico.com/Purpose/Overview/Stakeholder-Engagement.html
AOL Salaries. (2013). Retrieved from Glassdoor: http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/AOL-Salary-E2151_P6.htm
Hillenbrand, C. (2013). Unpacking the Mechanism by which Corporate Responsibility Impacts Stakeholder Relationships. British Journal of Management, Vol. 24( Issue 1), p127-146, 20p. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.2011.00794.x
Lomax, A. (2011, 8 4). The Rise of Stakeholder Capitalism. Retrieved from Daily Finance: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/08/04/the-rise-of-stakeholder-capitalism/