Identify the stakeholders you feel will have an interest in the business.

Internal stakeholders:

Employees, managers and directors have a large influence on the business in their large numbers, and their unions. They may not have any influence on how Coca Cola is run, but they have an influence on how they are treated. For example if they think that they don’t work for fair wages then they can go on strike, which would eventually pressure the financial director to pay those wages.

External stakeholders:

• The Community: Business as are an important part of the community. Coca Cola’s factories can provide work for the local community, and to other part of the United Kingdom. They also offer work to other business, such as suppliers. If Coca Cola was doing well they would sponsor events within the community.

• Pressure Groups: These are organisations that exist to protect the environment; there are quite a few of them around. For example Greenpeace is a pressure group; they are usually involved in conservationist matters. They can influence Coca Cola largely, either by protesting or taken direct action.

• Government Agencies: Government agencies collect tax and corporation tax. They are usually involved in the financial affairs of Coca Cola. Government agencies also collect value added tax. Before they collect any tax they usually collect large amounts of information, so that they can collect the right amount of tax.

If Coca Cola is doing well the employees would usually be rewarded with either bonuses, pay rises or an increase in holidays. If Coca Cola is losing money and cant keep paying wages. Some employees might need to be fired and replaced by machinery.  So their well being is the hands of the businesses doing well.

Connected stakeholder:

• Customers:  Customers are also stakeholders. Their stake in Coca Cola is mainly for the quality, and the price of a Coca Cola’s beverage. They do not have to remain loyal to Coca Cola they can buy any beverage they like. They can easily affect the well being of the Coca Cola. They can be very powerful. They can be a retailer themselves, i.e. supermarkets buying from the Coca Cola company. If Coca Cola was failing as a business they might decide to sell their product for a low price, meaning that the customer would have to pay less. Not all business’s would lower their price some would even raise the price this is bad for the customer.

• Bankers: Their stake in Coca Cola is about how quickly the money they have lent out is repaid. So, they have to monitor how well Coca Cola is doing, they do this because they know that the more money the business makes the quicker they will be repaid.

• Shareholders: This main group of stakeholders usually have a financial interest in the business; their main stake in the business is that they want to receive a large amount of dividends from the company. Their main stake in  Coca Cola  is in the form of their shares (money, ownership).If the business is being run in an unproductive manner the stakeholders would be upset because they would be losing money, this would cause them to hire a new head director. If the opposite occurs and the shareholders receive a large amount of dividends they would be extremely happy with this result.

• Suppliers: Their stake in Coca Cola is largely about the size and quantity of the supplies. They also expect a loyal customer, who will continue to purchase there products. The suppliers that supply Coca Cola with their ingredients would be devastated if Coca Cola decided to switch to another supplier. If Coca Cola is doing extremely well and is making a profit they would want to buy more ingredients so that they can make and sell more drinks. This would make the supplier glad because he would be making a profit.

3. Explain the influence each stakeholder will have on the business

Connected stakeholders:

• Shareholders: Although they own the business the shareholders are not really involved in what goes on within the business. The shareholders usually have a regular meeting with the board of directors to see how well Coca Cola is doing, if they feel that a director in a particular department is underachieving or not doing okay, they would fire him and replace him/her.

• Customers: They have a large influence on the business mainly because they are the money. They do not run Coca Cola intentionally but they are the most important people to Coca Cola.

• Suppliers: Suppliers can influence Coca Cola by increasing their prices or changing their order, they also introduce new products to the Coca Cola.

• Bankers: They pressure Coca Cola into paying their money back; this encourages Coca Cola to pay back their debts. They do this by working hard which will earn them enough revenue so that they can pay back the bank loan.

External stakeholders:

• Pressure Groups: They do not really pressure certain companies; they pressure those who they think produce problems within the environment/community. What helps them the most is the possibility that they might turn away customers, this is what pressures companies into changing their ways, but large companies and those who rely heavily on unfriendly environmental product, can decide not to fall to these pressure groups.

• The Community: Sometime in Coca Cola as the community may well be the only customers, like a pressure group they can make or break you. A bad rumour within the community may allow you to have no customers, but a good review could lead more customers your way.

• Government: They may influence the financial side of Coca Cola; taxes vat etc. This may stretch some of the money Coca Cola make.

4. Explain how there might be conflicts of interest among different stakeholders
5. Explain how the conflicts can be resolved.

Internal stakeholders

• Managers and Directors: The managers would usually have conflicts of interests with the directors of Coca Cola. This can range from aims and objectives to employee information. For example the director wants the manager and his department to reach a specific target for that year, the manager might say that it is too high; they would have to work that out between themselves.

• Employees: There main concern within the business would be the ever closing fear of becoming obsolete (being replaced with machinery). The reason for this would be that machinery would be cheaper in the long run than having a number of operatives. The people responsible for this money saving scheme would be the director of this department. To avoid this, employees should work very hard and improve the quality of the product.

External stakeholders:

• The Community: The community could find problems that affect them such as not enough jobs as all the operatives have been replaced with machinery, this is inconvenient for the business because the community could ruin their plans for expanding. They can do this by influencing the council to deny Coca Cola the permits to expand.

• Pressure Groups: Pressure groups can have conflicts of interest with Coca Cola; this is usually something regarding conservation/environmental problems. They can resolve this when the business changes its ways so that it can become environmentally friendly.

• Government: Their may be conflicts of interest between the government and Coca Cola, but if the government has a problem with the company then there is something legally wrong. The government only interferes when it is necessary.

 

Connected Stakeholders:

• Suppliers: Suppliers would usually have a conflict of interest with the financial director; this would usually involve the exchange of money between them. For example the company might take longer then expected with paying the money owed to the supplier. They can resolve this by paying the money back immediately and increasing the supplies.

• Shareholders: At the end of the day all they want is their money so they would be the ones who would be delighted with the fact that employees would be traded with machinery. The only way that they could resolve it, would be by the employees putting in more effort and increasing the overall productivity of the department he/she is working in.

• Bankers: Bankers have conflicts of interest with the directors. This is because the bankers want the money that they loaned out as soon as possible, and the directors want to break even so they can pay the debt back. Although they both want the business to be successful.