ASSIGNMENT

Managing Stakeholder Expectations: A Case Study of Kellogg's

Managing Stakeholder Expectations: A Case Study of Kellogg's

Introduction

Kellogg is a global household brand known for its various varieties of breakfast cereals. The Kellogg Company was first established in 1898 by the founder W.K. Kellogg and his brother, through a fluke experiment which resulted in the recipe for Kellogg's Corn Flakes. Today, now over a century old, Kellogg has grown from strength-to-strength over the years and now operates in over one hundred and eighty countries around the world. The company began its operations in the UK over ninety years ago itself. Moreover, Kellogg boasts of an inclusive culture where it claims that along with the company's growth, its people have too grown and working in an integral value based culture and passion for innovation have geared The Kellogg Company to strive towards a stronger future with each day (Kelloggs.co.uk., 2013).

This paper highlights answers to certain questions related to the topic of managing stakeholder's expectations. Through the discussion of these questions in the following section, the analysis relevant to the chosen case organization is also provided.

Discussion

Q1. Differentiate between an organisational customer and organisational stakeholder?

To begin with, a brief discussion regarding the two key concepts stated in the question is essential to best address this question.

Organizational Customer

According to Shanks & Tay (2001) managing and improving the business organization's relationship with the customer is critical for its success. Today, many small and large business organizations have become more customer-oriented. This transformation is due to the changing technological trends, market dynamics and increased use of various communication techniques. Similarly, any business organization is composed of different stakeholder groups, which can be classified as internal and external. Customers are known as the internal stakeholders, people who are directly involved with the operations and functions of the company. Hence, from the term customers it can be stated that this is particular base of individuals that plays a key role in generating revenues for a company. Thus, these are the purchaser's of the products and services of an organization. Other internal stakeholder's include employees, investors and local communities.

Organisational Stakeholder

According to Goodpaster (1991) a responsible management of a business organization is not only devoted to the best interest of its shareholder's but also towards all its stakeholder's, especially in its decision making process. The term stakeholder reflects the other parties that have a stake; claim or interest in the company's decision making process. These include both internal and external stakeholders of an organization. For example, the internal stakeholder of an organization includes employees and stockholders.

Therefore, from the above discussion a clear idea regarding the subtle distinction between organizational customers and stakeholders, where customers is usually considered as the internal stakeholder of a business. Similarly, Kellogg's like any other business organization too have both external and internal stakeholders, while the organizational customer includes a base of millions of consumers of its wide variety of food products around the world.

Q2. Distinguish primary and secondary organisational stakeholders?

According to Partridge ...