5.4 Research findings (Quantitative data)
5.4.4 Open ended questions
In order to further substantiate the results from the quantitative data collected, two open ended questions were asked of top management (WL2 and WL3 - managers and directors respectively). Ten responses were received. Respondents were able to offer more than one response to open-ended question one. The question was: “Who are the company’s
"stakeholders" and what is the strategy behind that?”. The responses indicate that the organisation’s main stakeholders are its shareholders, employees, suppliers, consumers. The
156 | P a g e responses also indicated that that the company strategy is built around internal alignment and a common understanding of stakeholder engagement. Responses about strategy were collated into 11 themes reflecting the key elements required to achieve organisational success. The responses collected indicate that the organisations main stakeholders are its shareholders, employees, suppliers, consumers. The responses further infer that the company strategy is built around internal alignment and a common understanding of stakeholder engagement. The organisation’s strategy aims to create and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders which enables an effective operational system in terms of networking and service delivery. In identifying the key stakeholders, the company may then determine what is needed to satisfy these stakeholder needs and work towards achieving this in order to create win-win situations, whereby all parties benefit. The following themes were identified, are listed below and are also presented in Table 22 below.
Internal alignment
Stakeholder engagement
Organisational growth
Environmental impact
Fair/ equitable trading
Employee satisfaction
Deliver quality
Uphold business principles and ethics
Drive awareness
Consumer focussed
Supply chain management
157 | P a g e Table 28: Stakeholders identified from open-ended question 1
Who are the company’s "stakeholders" and what is the strategy behind that?
The themes have been deduced as a result of respondent answers, of which the following company stakeholders have been identified:
Stakeholder Strategy
Shareholders Internal Alignment and Common Understanding Employees Employee satisfaction (well supported in all areas)
Suppliers Internal Alignment and Common Understanding Customers Drive Value through quality and price Government/ NGOs Instituting Sustainable living programs
Table 29: Themes identified from open-ended question 1:
Who are the company’s "stakeholders" and what is the strategy behind that?
Figure 25 below shows the themes for open ended question one as percentages of total responses. Four themes were fairly equally important, these being organisational growth (13%), environmental impact (11%), deliver quality (11%), uphold business principles (13%) and consumer foci (13%). In achieving a sustained, successful organisational strategy, the company must strive towards aggressively driving and achieving the elements given below.
158 | P a g e Figure 25: Key elements needed for organisational success
These themes, if translated into action effectively and collectively, have the ability to render great organisational success. As stated above, the responses indicate that the organisations main stakeholders are its shareholders, employees, suppliers, consumers and further infers that the company strategy is built around internal alignment and a common understanding of stakeholder engagement. Additionally, it is essential to ensure that the company is trading within a fair and equitable manner to help drive business. Employee satisfaction is imperative.
Delivering value to the end consumer is a key driver of success and attracting the greener consumer market. From a sustainability perspective all stakeholders above would have a vested interest but the advent of social media has changed the leverage of each group with arguably consumers benefiting the most. Consumer and customer needs are increasingly holding companies more accountable for how they affect communities and the environment.
Furthermore, as resources become scarce, companies are forced to engage suppliers particularly, but also regulators, to ensure that steps are taken now to protect availability of resources.
% Contribution 0%2%
4%6%
10%8%
12%14%
9%
4%
13%
11%
4% 7%
11% 13%
9%
13%
7%
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS
Fundamental driving elements required for
organisational success
159 | P a g e Table 30: Groups identified from open-ended question two: Which groups do the organisation need to partner with in order to gain further clout (within all facets)?
Respondents identified six main groups the organisation needed to partner with. These were:
Agricultural groups
Governmental agencies
Big retailers
Customers
General public
NGOs
The most frequent response was customers, with this group being mentioned 8 times or 32%
of total responses; the next most frequently mentioned group being the general public, with five mentions or 20% of total responses. These results indicate that the business needs to partner with suppliers and consumer groups and buyers (e.g. retailers) to build the ‘through the supply chain’ alignment. A loss in belief or inadequate commitment in any of the steps, could break down the prospect of strong partnerships being formed, especially since the customer is the ultimate route to market (direct or indirect) for company products and significantly influences organisational ability to execute in the market. Additionally, partnerships need to be created with Governmental agencies to influence legislation and the impact of sustainability related reforms as well as NGOs in the relevant areas to build a credible reputation as a sustainable organisation but also to secure the expertise to implement sustainability initiatives that the organisation may not have.
160 | P a g e In terms of the interpretation of qualitative data, there are three major factors to be noted:
Significance of the data set and its social or cultural place.
Sufficiency of the data, and coverage of the analysis.
Transparency and repeatability of the analysis (Creswell, 2013).
Respondents of the two open-ended questions had been selected from management functions within Unilever. This afforded the opportunity to acquire several responses from individuals with a wealth of differing expertise and background knowledge, assisting in providing a holistic view of requirements to progress the company further, within all facets.