Stakeholder identification in innovation projects : Going beyond classification

Purpose – The management of stakeholder involvement within innovation projects is a task of growing importance. The purpose of this paper is to present a method for the first challenge in stakeholder management: the identification of those stakeholders to be involved in innovation projects. Design/methodology/approach – Analysis of stakeholder literature leads to the conclusion that stakeholder identification is considered a problem of classification. Although the availability of a classification model is necessary, it is argued that for a classification model to be of use in identifying stakeholders, such a model needs to be supplemented with an identification procedure for identifying real world parties. Furthermore, a classification model should fit the context the stakeholders are identified for, in this case for innovation projects. These insights have led to the development of a classification model fitting the innovation context, and to the embedding of this model, along with a matching identification procedure, in an identification method. Findings – A partial and integral evaluation of the method on four cases showed its efficacy in the managerial practice of identifying stakeholders within innovation projects. Originality/value – The method as proposed in the paper can be used for identifying stakeholders in innovation projects. The method can be considered a first step in managing stakeholder involvement.