How can the asset value of companies be increased through social acceptance?

We will be exploring this question at our next Munich Management Colloquium on March 5 and 6, 2024 with more than 80 speakers from numerous companies and academia

Far-reaching upheavals - across all areas of experience - have become much more uncertain and complex. A few keywords such as digitalization, climate change, conflicts and economic cycles are enough to illustrate these changes. In this situation, the same problem, the same issue and the same resource are perceived from different perspectives. This means that there are different stakeholder interests. We need to understand the resulting conflicts in order to develop tools that enable the different stakeholders to relate to each other productively. It is therefore necessary to develop an appropriate strategy for dealing with uncertainty and complexity. In business administration, it is proposed to use stakeholder models when modeling divergences of interest. This involves the question of how actors with different perspectives can arrive at joint solutions that are acceptable to both. In our colloquium, we want to examine the reorientation and the associated change in strategy of companies towards the leitmotif.

Strong together

This is associated with a greater assumption of responsibility and an increased need for transparency - which means that the requirements for successful communication on the company side have also increased. Planning, decision-making and action, as well as communication about them, are becoming more strategically and operationally important. These developments are described in stakeholder theory. This also refers to the ideal of the honorable merchant, i.e. the process of reciprocity in give and take in social exchange. It is therefore about creating joint added value for the stakeholder network.

In contrast to the shareholder value approach, a stakeholder approach is a much more complex approach and process. All stakeholder groups must be included. In contrast to a one-dimensional maximization approach, a complex, interactively oriented balancing of interests must be developed, which is tantamount to a difficult balancing act. This makes the social acceptance of companies a decisive asset. This asset cannot be created autonomously, but results from interaction in complex network structures. This means that the operating license, i.e. the "License to Operate"must be earned again and again.

In addition, the "License to Innovate" with the resource owners and the "License to Compete" must be developed with all stakeholders in the network. However, this concept of three licenses is not enough. Consumers delegate responsibility for the social and economic sustainability of products to companies and give them the "License to Grow".

Companies must also get involved in debates on relevant future issues that generate added value and offer solutions to problems affecting society as a whole. It is important to fulfill social expectations beyond economic success in order to create a "License to Lead" to receive.

Together with more than 80 speakers, we will present how companies can achieve these licenses at our 31st Munich Management Colloquium on March 5 and 6, 2024.

I cordially invite you!

Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Horst Wildemann is a professor at the Technical University of Munich and heads the management consultancy TCW. On March 5 and 6, 2024, he will be hosting the Munich Management Colloquium for the 31st time with over 80 speakers from leading companies