Stakeholder analysis is a key aspect of professional management of companies, projects, public institutions and non-profit organisations. Based on years of experience and latest knowledge in the area of management sciences, Dr Anna Sławik from the Jagiellonian University has created the web app MISS®, which provides hints on how to think about stakeholders and how to choose those worth investing attention and resources.
MISS® stands for Methodology of Identification of Strategic Stakeholders. The method was tested by various organisations and well-received by business practitioners. As one of the few tools available on the market, MISS® combines scientific theory with practical solutions. Because of that, it can identify the most important stakeholders, which translates to improved quality of decision-making, lowering risk and building strong and valuable relationships. The tool can also be of use in research, for instance, in projects pertaining to the perception of stakeholders in various organisations and its impact on the results of strategic choices.
‘The modules of MISS® allow you to map the organisational environment, evaluate the impact of stakeholders, and recognise what roles they play. MISS® uses an app to smoothly guide you through the process of identifying and prioritizing stakeholders. The app will also help you to link specific stakeholders to the objectives of your organisation to better understand the environment in which it operates’, reads the app’s description on its official website.
‘In essence, there are two deciding factors which make start-ups successful: business idea and stakeholder support. However, the second one is the one that guarantees a company’s success in the long term’, said Dr Anna Sławik. She encourages start-up managers and beginner entrepreneurs to design their business in such a way as to generate value for multiple groups of stakeholders.
The prototype of the web app was funded by the Priority Research Area Society of the Future within the framework of the Excellence Initiative – Research University programme. Its pre-implementation version was funded by the JU Centre for Technology Transfer CITTRU.
The app is available at miss.uj.edu.pl.
Anna Sławik has a PhD in economics. She specialises in management sciences. She is an assistant professor at the Institute of Economics, Finance and Management of the Jagiellonian University. She specialises in strategic management, environmental analysis, stakeholder analysis, and business model design. She has extensive practical experience in strategy and corporate communication departments of industrial enterprises.
She is a graduate of the Jagiellonian University in the fields of management and marketing as well as journalism and social communication. She is the author and co-author of numerous scientific publications. She is a member of the Strategic Management Society and collaborates with the University of Canterbury Business School (New Zealand).
