JIL stakeholder analysis & engagement strategies

Abstract

Jharkhand Innovation Labs (JIL) (Department of IT & E-Gov, 2016) is an ambitious project of the Government of Jharkhand to develop an international standard incubation center in Jharkhand and be the trailblazer among the Indian states in terms of innovation hub. For implementing such an ambitious and challenging project, analyzing the project from the points of views of each participant in the decision making and implementation process becomes imperative. Hence, a comprehensive stakeholder analysis is being performed for the project. Stakeholder analysis is about analyzing qualitative information to determine whose interests are important to be taken into account when developing or implementing a given policy or program. This analysis is helpful in getting a bird-eye view of the interactions among various stakeholders and suggests engagement plans to help JIL best leverage this stakeholder ecosystem. A stakeholder (Freeman & Reed, 1983) is any community, individual, organization or group which has an interest or concern in the outcome of a program, by being affected negatively or positively by the program or by influencing the program in a negative or positive way. Stakeholders can be divided into three broad categories: (Peng & Meyer, 2016) 1) Public stakeholders: These are the stakeholders who are important for successful implementation of the activity or the ones who can influence it significantly. These stakeholders govern the legal frameworks and regulations and also provide the infrastructure for the organization to operate in. 2) Primary stakeholders: These are the stakeholders who are integral to the success of an organization and most of the activities of the organizations revolve around these stakeholders. They are essential for the survival of the organization. 3) Secondary stakeholders: This includes all other institutions or individuals with interest, intermediary role or stake in the activity. These are the stakeholders who can influence, or are influenced by the organization. Compared to the primary stakeholders, they are not directly engaged in the activities of the organization. The distinction into categories stated above might not be sharp and some overlap might be there. Furthermore, for a dynamic organization, depending on the context a secondary stakeholder might turn into a primary stakeholder and vice versa.