Stakeholder Partnership Quotes

Growth equity funds invest in fast-growing, established companies in return for a minority equity share and make a concerted effort to establish a solid partnership with all company stakeholders (especially majority owners).

Announcements of collaboration create a mirage of progress, without necessarily furthering the resolution of underlying issues,” wrote scholar Evelyn Douek in a 2020 piece critiquing what she’s dubbed “content cartels,” or multi-stakeholder partnerships involving more than one company and, typically, state partners.

And an Executive Business Review? An executive business review (EBR) should present information at a much higher level, with a focus on executive leadership. It is one of the most influential meetings you will have with your customer all year, yet it’s the one most organizations tend to forget. QBRs happen frequently, across the industry, but EBRs? Not so much. Less tactical and less operational than a QBR, an EBR is typically reserved for your customer’s executive leadership team because it’s a high-level review of the value your product is providing the customer. When you draft an EBR, you should be thinking along the lines of, Who is my stakeholder’s boss? How do I co-present to my stakeholder and their boss the value my product has offered and will continue to offer them? An EBR is a way to move up the value chain, promote your stakeholder’s brand inside their own company, and share wins with the executive leader. It’s a strategic meeting that should focus on reinforcing the value in your customer ROI. It should also validate the goals of the organization, because like you did with your QBRs, you’re building a partnership through open dialogue. The only difference is now you’re doing it at an executive level. EBRs should be scheduled twice a year. I typically recommend scheduling one at least three months before the customer’s renewal because if the meeting goes well, it may help move the renewal along faster. I have seen executives stop pushing on price when they’re negotiating terms, and I’ve even seen some CSMs contact a stakeholder’s executive directly to ask for their help. “We’re having trouble with this renewal. Can you step in and assist?” More often than not, the executive will call whoever they need to call and say, “Just get it done.” Plus, when you reach out and ask for help, you’re engaging executive-level advocates, which is always a good thing.

Many companies contemplating where to play in the ecosystem economy have incredible, innovative ideas for expanding their proposition. But what they oftentimes fail to realize is that unless their ideas can achieve a quantum leap of customer experience improvement, they won't be successful. You need to not only make life easier for your customer—you need to make life vastly easier. The same is true of other stakeholders in your ecosystem. Adding a few superficial partnerships, or an additional service here, or a new form of connectivity there—this most certainly will not be enough to make a meaningful difference in customers’ lives.

Contentious social issues like racial justice, income inequality, gun violence, immigration reform, gender equality, and climate change have all become part of many corporate agendas. Silence and indifference are becoming less the norm. The days of simply ignoring social issues or writing a check are gone. Corporations are now frequently expected to engage in social issues through public statements, sponsorships, partnerships, and policies supporting a position or a cause. Being a socially responsible corporation now also means being a socially active corporation.