Acme Enterprises makes widgets. Widgets are needed by nearly everyone for both personal, business, and military uses. Acme has three manufacturing sites; a HQ where marketing and sales offices are as well as HR. A fifth site is solely for r&d. Nearly 1200 people work for Acme. HQ is in Asheville with 200 employees, with the R&D plant employing 100 or so scientists being in the research triangle near Raleigh. The three manufacturing sites employ 300 each and are in Waynesville, Charlotte, and Wilmington. Gross sales run around $785 million per year; it is a closely-held company with all the shares owned by the Gilmore family. Lois Gilmore is the CEO and her great grandfather Cyrus founded the company in 1914 to aid the war effort.

Use the stakeholder model below; mission and value statement to answer the three questions

Corporate Mission Statement

Introducing new ideas into your home, company, and profession. Acme Enterprises is the industry leader in customer service satisfaction, prompt, responsive service, and a passion for excellence while meeting or exceeding client expectations as a family-owned business. Our goal is to make a significant difference in people's lives in the Waynesville, Charlotte, and Wilmington areas. Our driving force is three manufacturing facilities that create high-quality widgets that are regarded as top performers. We serve our customers globally and uphold high standards to ensure that all their needs are met. Our clients' needs are met in a comfortable, efficient, and dependable manner.

Value Statement

Acme Enterprises is infusing significant values into inventions, allowing widgets to be integrated into people's lives. While providing 100 percent customer satisfaction, we cherish honor and dignity toward our consumers. Employees' commitment to achieving Acme Enterprises' Vision and Mission statements. We put art into our work and put our souls into every single aspect.

3. You are V.P. for Sales, your largest client/customer for your widgets is the Forester Enterprises of Raleigh and represents 14% of your total annual business. Mike Brown, the CEO and owner of that business calls and asks if you will hire his son-in-law who is moving into your area in Ahsevulle.You agree to interview the son-in-law and discover that he actually qualifies for the job you have open, assistant director for human resources and benefits.However, he is not as qualified as an internal candidate. Brown has strongly intimated that this favor will be beneficial in keeping your business relationship.What do you do?

Essentially that matrix referenced above is this:

1) what is the decision that has to be made? What is the "issue"?

2) what are all the options? This is an info dump--everything is on the table.

3) Of those options, which are tossed out as being either illegal or financially unfeasible (as in driving the company to insolvency or financial compromise?

4) Then take the viable options (hopefully no more than 4 or 5) and run a stakeholder analysis on each option: i.e. what is the effect of these option on: shareholders, employees, customers, supply chain/creditors, society (incl environment and social justice), market. This analysis would have three parts for each stakeholder: how does the option affect each stakeholder. Schematically, it looks like this below.

In order to fully develop the stakeholder model, there is an imperative for managers to act as follows:

1. Identify the full range of stakeholders for a given firm and decision;
2. Identify the stakes at issue in the decision;
3. Assess the legitimacy of the stakes;
4. Allocate priority among conflicting stakeholder claims;
5. Identify strategic options for responding to the legitimate stakes having priority;
6. Assess the viability of the options within the framework of corporate governance, including any special considerations to be given to the interests of the stakeholders; and
7. Make a final decision.^[1]