stumbleupon

Blog Post - John Friedman

Share our Story

Twitter
80% of company value comes from intangibles. #Stakeholders matter! http://bit.ly/HTljvg @Johnfriedman #CSR

Learn about our Company

John Friedman

ABOUT John Friedman

John Friedman, is an award-winning communications professional and recognized sustainability expert with more than 20 years of experience.

Friedman has served as both an external and internal sustainability leader, helping companies, ranging from small companies to leading global enterprises, turn their values into successful business models by integrating their environmental, social, and economic aspirations into their cultures and business practices.

His insights on sustainability issues and strategyare a regular feature on Huffington Post.

Friedman authored the e-publication The New PR which outlines how companies must modify the way they communicate to meet stakeholders changing expectations through five proven keys for developing programs that replace spin with transparency and unlock the full potential of a sustainability program to build reputational capital. Friedman is currently working on a new book Your Backyard Is My Front Yard.

He can be reached at jtfkrf@aol.com, is @JohnFriedman on Twitter and can be connected on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Stakeholder Relationships: Key to a Sustainable Enterprise

Apr 18, 2012 8:00 PM EDT

Most companies envy the passionate loyalty that Apple customers have for their products, the dedication that Southwest Airlines employees demonstrate without understanding that effectively managing their stakeholder relationships is the key to earning these benefits. Employee engagement and customer loyalty are intangible (non-physical) assets that contribute more to the value of a company than the physical 'things' it owns.

According to research by Robert A. G. Monks and Alexandra Reed Lajoux, authors of Corporate Valuation for Portfolio Investment: Analyzing Assets, Earnings, Cash Flow, Stock Price, Governance, and Special Situations fully 80 percent of the market value of Standards and Poors 500 companies comes from intangible assets. In 2005 Apple's market value was $58 billion. The total tangible assets on its balance sheet -- 19.8 percent of that! 80.2 percent of the company's value was contained in its relationships with its stakeholders.

Each relationship is an intangible asset of the business. As any accountant will tell you, assets can either appreciate or depreciate or hold their value.

Click here to continue reading and comment

John Friedman, an award-winning communications professional and recognized sustainability expert with more than 20 years of experience, is co-founder and vice chair of the board for the Sustainable Business Network of Washington (SBNOW).

On social media, Friedman is a recognized as a thought leader in CSR, listing among the top voices in CSR by Forbes’ Brandfog. His insights on sustainability issues and strategy have been a regular feature on SustainableBrands since 2008 and have appeared on Ecopreneurist.com, Forbes.com, Vaultcareers, and JustMeans.

When not volunteering his time, Friedman serves as director of public relations for Sodexo, Inc. He can be reached at johnf@sbnow.org, is @JohnFriedman on Twitter and can be connected on LinkedIn and Facebook.

This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post website and can be found here. For more information and posts by the author, visit his profile page here. This post was distributed with full permision of the author.