Stakeholder Approach and Stakeholder Dialogue in 16 Hospital Markets in Western Europe

This individual work derives from the group report that gives account of the research and analysis of the generics drugs market of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The work provides an understanding of stakeholder dialogue as a management practice that can provide competitive advantage to the firm while provides recommendations to approach key stakeholders in the hospital markets of the above mentioned countries; and builds in a model of stakeholder dialogue based on cultural practices and national culture in these European countries. This paper concludes that communication is a very influential factor part of stakeholder dialogue. Communication challenges can create barriers to marketing success, by reducing information sharing or creating interpersonal conflict among key stakeholders (customers, suppliers, shareholders, etc). Similarly, the decision making–process varies widely depending on cultural traits. Thus, how quickly decisions are made, or how much analysis is required beforehand will vary accordingly. Through an appropriate handling of communications, managers can model the company’s culture of negotiations; enhance new product development processes and strategies. Hence, market entry can be facilitated. Management should pay attention to any possible cultural gaps and address them as soon as possible. Keywords: Stakeholder, Stakeholder dialogue, national culture, CSR