Reference no: EM132236176

Case Study; Solenoid Electric India Limited—Using Its Core Values to Lead the Way in Effective Stakeholder Engagement Management Solenoid Electric India Limited is India’s leading energy company. Since India’s independence from the British rule in 1947, Solenoid has been the nation’s leading distributor of electricity to both residential and commercial consumers. Solenoid has earned its leading position and reputation due to its commitment to ethical business practices and its values-based culture. Solenoid refers these values as Solenoid Core (aka SCORE) values. Solenoid’s SCORE values provide it guidance on how to interact with all its numerous stakeholders. Solenoid supplies electricity to all 29 states and 7 union territories of India. This means Solenoid has to manage its relationships with a variety of stakeholders around the nation. Figure 9.3 identifies Solenoid’s key stakeholder groups. Figure 9.3 Solenoid Stakeholders Stakeholder Engagement Strategies Solenoid’s strategies focus on engaging with its stakeholders to ensure their needs are being met. This means Solenoid has to make sure that it follows the highest ethical standards and sustainable business practices. Solenoid has a Corporate Code of Ethics governing how it deals with stakeholders across the nation. Ensuring effective stakeholder engagement management and building bilateral relationships with its stakeholders is the main goal for Solenoid. Bilateral relationships help build trust between Solenoid and its stakeholders. Each stakeholder group has a different set of needs. Solenoid ensures that stakeholder needs are met by engaging with each group individually. Solenoid’s strategies to maintain positive relationships with its stakeholders include stakeholder satisfaction, resources optimization, sustainability, and diversity tolerance. 1. Stakeholder Satisfaction: Actively listening to stakeholders and making sure their needs and expectations in terms of affordable quality service are met to their satisfaction. 2. Resources Optimization: Using scarce resources optimally by using lean practices. 3. Sustainability: Reducing environment impacts and supporting green energy production via windmills and solar technology. 4. Diversity Tolerance: Providing equal opportunity to all by supporting a diverse workforce. Managing Stakeholder Engagement Solenoid’s key internal stakeholders are its employees. Its external stakeholders include its customers, suppliers, and distributors nationwide. Internal Stakeholder Engagement Solenoid’s internal customers include primarily its employees. Employees Internal stakeholders are those who are interested in or impacted by business decisions of an organization. Solenoid’s employees are its key internal stakeholders. The company uses a program called workforce feedback through which the company conducts employee research using employee survey to find out the needs and opinions of its employees. External Stakeholder Engagement Solenoid’s external customers include its customers, suppliers, and distributors. Customers Solenoid’s key external stakeholders include customers, suppliers, and local and regional distributors. Solenoid uses assorted communications approaches to engage with its different external stakeholders. For example, a company website, monthly newsletter, TV and print-media advertisements, social media presence, and subscription-based e-mail blasts are some of the communications approaches Solenoid uses to engage with its external customers. Suppliers Solenoid is committed to an ethical supply chain, and all its suppliers in the supply chain must abide by its Supplier Code of Conduct. Distributors Solenoid is committed to an ethical supply chain, and all its distributors in the supply chain must abide by its Distributor Code of Conduct. Stakeholder Conflict With a large number of stakeholders across the nation, conflicts among various stakeholder groups are inevitable for Solenoid. Conflict resolution is an important part of managing stakeholder engagement. Solenoid does so by balancing the expectations of different stakeholder groups. Conclusion Solenoid’s business practices are stakeholder-focused. Engaging with its stakeholders via bilateral communication brings benefits to both Solenoid and to its stakeholders. Case Study Questions 1. Identify Solenoid Electric’s key external stakeholders. 2. What are Solenoid’s stakeholder engagement strategies? 3. What is the significance of the acronym “SCORE” in this case? 4. How does Solenoid Electric manage engagement with its customers? 5. What are the lessons learned from this case?