Building Competitive Strategies and Managing Stakeholder Relations Zafer Adiguzel Abstract Stakeholder management and competitive strategy concepts are very important for a company’s position and its corporate structure and for understand- ing which sectors or customer groups have an effect on business, how the company ccan be successful, and whether the company can respond to the demands and needs of stakeholders. In the traditional view, stakeholders include employees, share- holders, suppliers, and customers; however, the society, nongovernmental organi- zations, governments, and media also have a significant impact on business, Therefore, stakeholders have been examined as intemal and extemal ones. To achieve sustainability for their business, companies should strategically analyze and evaluate the stakeholders, who are al the core of their activities and fulfill their necessary responsibilities. This study illustrates the performance results of the stakeholder management theory analyses and competitive strategy on globalization: () the stakeholders and competitive strategy of the companies suitable for their employees and management tcam's expectations; (2) determining how to meet the expectations of stakeholders; (3) relations between stakeholders and business performance; and (4) finally, relationships with stakeholders, the strategies for managing stakeholders, and the relationship between the business performance and stakcholders, 1 Introduction Nowadays, the competitive environment is rapidly changing and developing; firms are establishing relationships with managing stakeholders for itis becoming a more important issue every day. In particular, the rapid changes and competitive strate- gies between institutions in the business world are increasing the importance of establishing communication and sharing information with stakeholders. Globally, Z, Adiguzel (=) Department of Management, Graduate School of Socal Science, Gebze Technical University Cayirova Campus, Gebze 41400, Kocaeli, Turkey smal: zafercan81@ yahoo.com © Springor Intemational Publishing AG 2017 ot U, Hacioglu etal. (eds, Global Business Straregtes in Crisis, Contibutions to Management Seiencs, DO! 10,1007/978-3-319-44591-5.72 Z.Adigueel removal of borders becomes public information and communications; itis forced to expand borders and services go beyond national borders to organizations. The institutions are responsible for fulfilling their goals and objectives; however, through established communication with stakeholders, it will be fulfilled to keep their chances of sustainability principles. In particular, many companies are in a competitive environment due to the deletion of their industry; companies survive that have customers who are satisfied with their products or services and employees whose wishes and aspirations have been fulfilled because their companies have been successful in the competitive marketplace. No matter which sector of busi- ness, the institutions that give importance to the concept of stakeholder manage ment, by building on the foundations of a more robust corporate structure and creating both employee and customer loyalty, will be successful in a competitive environment. The important issue to be considered in the management of stake holders is to examine stakeholders in two groups: internal stakeholders and extemal stakeholders. The competitive strategy of the institution, by identifying internal and extemal stakeholders, will be more healthy in achieving its goals and objectives, Internal stakeholders include employees, shareholders, and managers specified, and extemal stakeholders include customers, suppliers, civil society organizations, and government indicated, Competitive environment to institutions are very good review and analyze to stakeholders that need to fulfill strategically. It is an impor- tant responsibility. Businesses using progressive technology and communication channels, reducing costs to the lowest level, can make distant countries closer due (o the impact of globalization, and since they have the ability to reach consumers by removing all boundaries, they are able to get a big advantage in a competitive environment. Especially, when you consider the sectoral structure of institutions, the position of competitors that are against the institution's stakeholders’ thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors, the institution’s presence in its sector of business, it is important in terms of the sustainability of their presence in the institutional sense. In general, if stakeholder theory and competitive strategy are taken into account, then institutions fulfill the principles of sustainability with growth and profitability; it depends on the conduct of activities on a regular basis. Mceting the expectations of stakeholders is of utmost importance for corporations in today's competitive envi- ronment, In this study, together with the impact of the global crisis in the world, businesses have advantages and disadvantages in the competitive environment, which have been analyzed and examined in regard to stakeholder management. 2. Stakeholder Management ‘Stakeholder theory is described as the evaluation made by stakeholders about the company's coordinated relationships with individuals in line with the business objectives and announcements made about the failure or success of the business (Freeman 2004). A new perspective of stakeholder theory explains how value is created through interaction with customers, suppliers, employees, financiers,Building Competitive Stategies and Managing Stakcholder Relations 93 communities, and managers and how these relationships work (Freeman 2004), Although the impact of the decisions on stakcholdcr relations management has not been fully understood yet, there are many new studies that place emphasis on stakeholder relationships and provide more information (Jones 2011; Laplume 2008; Freeman 2010). Contrary to the studies that carried out to understand and to shape the management actions, these studies put emphasis on stakeholder's perspectives and behaviors, thoughts and ideas, and what affects them, This stake- holder management approach sees the individual relationships in a company as a network (McVea and Freeman 2005). Here, instead of known individual logie, the customers, suppliers, or employees in general were regarded as stakeholders and the effect of competitive strategies on the employees were examined within the frame- work of stakeholder theory ‘When companies reach a mutual agreement with the stakeholders, they need to create positive relationships related to the expectations and targets, make long-term strategic plans, and also need to know the extent of the stakeholders” support and hhow to manage their contribution. Stakeholder management is about establishing positive relationships with stakeholders, understanding their expectations, sustain. ing the company’s strategic targets by controlling internal and extemal stake- holders, and ensuring these targets are accepted by the stakeholders, Stakeholder management is a process that is carefully planned and monitored using predetermined guiding principles (Table 1). First of all, business management should identify the stakeholders and indicate their origin. Naturally, the stakeholders will change according (© the business sector; the companies in the different sectors will be in contact with the different stakeholders. As mentioned before, stakeholders can be classified as intemal or external, primary or secondary types, ete, The important point here is that although extemal stakeholders do not affect business as much as intemal stakcholders, extemal stakeholders influence internal stakeholders indirectly; therefore they hold significant importance. When determining the stakeholders, special factors such as the business sector, the size of the company, and its location should be taken into account. It is also necessary to pay attention to the position of stakcholders towards the company and the communication between the stakeholders and their impact on each other (Polonsky 1995: p. 35). 2.1 Stakeholders Analysis In today’s business world, the disappearance of borders has become unavoidable with the globalization, and therefore the stakeholder analysis has become more important than ever. In this situation, the business managements should evaluate their responsibilities and the related costs very carefully (Fig. 1). Itis important fora company to protect its activities, profits, reputation, and.assets, bbut at the same time, in the case of failure of business management, the company should analyze the costs caused by the attitude and behavior of the stakeholders.