Students:Local small business (2012 e-learning)

Stakeholder profiles

Stakeholder profiles according to the criteria:

The forming entities of the stakeholder for the local industry are very diffuse. There are various worker unions, but there seems to be no association of general small industry branch associations in the region, at least from the vantage point of internet analysis. The production industry has a similar profile as the commerce, but there will be direct link to the coal petrochemical and extractive industry.

An issue arises upon the identification of the stakeholder profile, is that the enterprises are not uniform in their Vision, Flexibility, Relationships etc. I concentrated on the Tourist local enterprises, which is mainly local and does, according to the Czech Statistical Institution form the second most important industry by turnover in the “services” sector.

Development vision

-+

There are certain institutions, which at least from the internet analysis act as representatives of the local tourism enterprises. It is the Odbor regionálního rozvoje krajského úřadu Ústeckého kraje (Department of Regional Development at Ústecký Region authority), Czech tourism association, Svaz cestovního ruchu Deliteus (association of tourism), which, for example, concentrates 36 subjects and local enterprises. Also the Club of Czech Tourists is a influential body responsible for trail foundation and marking. There is also the official Association of Touristic Centers of Czech Republic. These associations are highly vision oriented, their weakness being the practical potential to change things.

Flexibility and innovation

++

These associations are open and flexible; they are partly private associations of small enterprises that have the aim of maximizing profit from tourism at the destination

Relationships

-

The stakeholder has connections to certain levels of local government and EU (which sponsors the development of tourism through its regional development programme in tourism), but is weak in affecting the higher levels of the decision process as all the associations are regional or apolitical in nature.

Communication

+

The message of the tourism industry is straight forward and the conditions of best operation are well known.

Transparency

+-

The stakeholder is formed mainly by private subjects whose motive is profit maximalisation. Great care must be taken to avoid misleading bluffery and funds must be allocated carefully and on the basis of independent judgment

Trust

-+

The stakeholder is formed by private subjects, it actions are mainly dependent on, and confess to the private subjects behind the associations.

Operational effectiveness

++

The stakeholder is effective because of its „free market“ nature and orientation

Conflicts

++

The stakeholder is prepared to handle conflicts, even partly at its own cost, but the overall potency to change things is limited

Resources

+-

Some elements of the stakeholder can be partly dependent on local government institutions, on its forming subjects, on different interests and on the funds from EU and government of Czech Republic. The stakeholder is a commercial subject with its own resources.

Strategic Options

According to Czechinvest resource paper, here has been a phenomenon of strong reduction of traditional branches as well as the low skilled labor force in the region. Strategy must be set so these are improved.

Strategic pathway Way 1: Influencing the stakeholders performance

Because the stakeholder has a complicated uniformity, there can not be one single strategy for increasing the performance of the stakeholder. One strategy perhaps valid for all the cases is the help of czechinvest company to attract investment into each branch and provide investment incentives. This is already happening, but should be happening in line with sustainability strategy of the region. Local commerce must be strengthened in compliance with the the Sustainability Strategy of the Czech Republic, under the third goal, „improving the effectiveness of the small and mid size enterprises“ of the Economics and Innovation axis goals. The main structural characteristics of the region is, according to the Czechinvest and CSU data the dependency chemical industry, which forms over half of the industry by turnover in the region. There are also ways, in which the industries could benefit from each other. the tourism industry in specific can for example benefit from the mining damage. There could be packages of tourist trips to the mines, or even managed cultivation of the area. One example of such cooperation is the lake Milada in Ústí nad Labem.

Strategic pathway Way 2: Establishing relationships between individual enterprises and actors

There should be institution, within which the representants of the different branches could meet and solve specific issues. There should be a non-influenced body representing the stakeholders of commerce against other subjects. Every represented company should quickly find a solution to its problems through such body. The small commerce and industry of the region is largely unconnected and cooperation is scarce. It should be, however ensured that such body works in a neutral manner by a set of strict control mechanisms.

These should also be created according the pathway 3 – the conditions should arise in negotiations of all the participants. Local commerce is probably not organized and it is therefore desirable that such organization exists so the subject can act as a stakeholder in unified manner. The local commerce and industry can also cooperate with other stakeholders, namely the cultural NGOs and the Local Government and EU government representing the German side

Strategic pathway Way 4: feeding in new knowledge

There should be a pull towards greater knowledge and skills competence in the region in general. This is part of a larger scheme of sociologically supervised action. The proportion of the people with basic education is high as well as the proportion of middle school educated compared with other regions (Czech Statistical Institution). The schools also have low standards. There should be a set of strict evaluation methods of the schooling programs oriented for direct commerce and industry skills and a surveying body should ensure these are practically oriented. There can even be a exchange program for adepts at new knowledge into other countries etc, financed from the government