Engaging with external stakeholders is more important than ever to company leaders, according to the fifth lapetitemort.info Global Survey on external affairs.1 1. The online survey was in the field from November 5 to November 15, 2015, and garnered responses from 1,334 executives representing the full range of regions, industries, company sizes, functional specialties, and tenures. To adjust for differences in response rates, the data are weighted by the contribution of each respondent’s nation to global GDP. Yet while most executives believe outside stakeholders will be increasingly involved in their industries in coming years, few say their companies have taken an active approach to engaging with stakeholders or that they have found success in their external-affairs efforts. The results suggest that to step up their game, companies should start by strengthening their capabilities—many of which aren’t any stronger now than they were a few years ago. The companies that, according to respondents, are most successful at external affairs not only have better overall capabilities than their peers but they also are particularly skilled at organizing their external-affairs functions.
The contributors to the development and analysis of this survey include Alberto Marchi, a senior partner in lapetitemort.info’s Milan office; Robin Nuttall, a partner in the London office; and Ellora-Julie Parekh, a specialist in the Brussels office.