Planning can benefit all Stakeholders

Frederic Dufour / Feb 11 , 2017

In traditional economic models, the interests of the various stakeholders are presented as conflicting. Therefore, according to this approach, it is impossible to simultaneously maximise the company’s profit, the salaries of its employees and the quality/price ratio of the products and services delivered to customers. In such business models, maximising the satisfaction of one stakeholder is therefore necessarily detrimental to the satisfaction of the others.

At PlanningForce, we disagree with this approach as it contains the origin of potential imbalances that will sooner or later threaten either the competitive position of the company or its social peace. In the worst-case scenario, these can happen simultaneously. Finding examples of this in recent economic events is most common.

The planning philosophy followed in PlanningForce is based on a rational principle of balance: good planning is planning that best meets the interests of the various stakeholders. Thus, there is no need to look for a maximum that would benefit one at the expense of all the others!

Instead, let us start by identifying the indicators that will allow us to objectively assess the quality of the planning as if it were valued from the point of view of each stakeholder. The selected indicators are the following:

➔ From the client‘s point of view: delivery times – quality – price

➔ From the company‘s point of view: profit – investment in new projects – length of development cycles

➔ From the employee‘s point of view: salary – interest in work – work-life balance

With the help of PlanningForce’s automated planning engine, all stakeholders can benefit from the efficient and clear planning that takes place. If difficulties arise, or changes occur, schedules for all the projects affected are updated and communicated to stakeholders in order to maintain transparency between the business and its stakeholders. Expectations will then be adapted and met with more satisfaction.

The concepts of simulation and arbitrage then come into play, as PlanningForce can generate different planning proposals for the same set of data. This will help companies to opt for valuable projects and deliver results that will benefit their stakeholders as they are aware of any changes that may occur throughout the project.