How place managers can harness the power of stakeholder feedback to improve satisfaction

Purpose – To show how place managers can use feedback from their various stakeholders to improve satisfaction with the service that they provide. Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores through the means of case study how the UK property industry and in particular, three major property owners are using stakeholder feedback to improve service. In particular, it looks at how to measure whether a town centre or commercial place is maximizing the delivery of benefits to its different stakeholders and once the evaluation has been undertaken how the results can be used to improve performance. Findings – Stakeholder feedback can be a powerful catalyst for the improvement of service to stakeholders. The property industry in the UK is developing its skills at gathering and analysing stakeholder feedback. The paper also explores how the balanced scorecard approach can be used to achieve the alignment of individual responsibilities and stakeholder priorities. Practical implications – Practitioners will be able to draw on the case studies which reveal practical lessons for place managers including the importance of a balanced approach to measurement, the careful analysis of customer feedback, targeted action planning and the accurate tracking of the impact of management action taken. Originality/value – The case study material is previously unpublished.