Divestitures: Creating Value Through Strategy, Structure, and Implementation

CHAPTER 11

Reshaping External Perceptions

INTRODUCTION

This chapter considers the third and final aspect of divestiture implementation, the need for divesting companies to reshape the perceptions that external stakeholders have of their organizations. A company’s stakeholders consist of two main groups:

•   Financial constituencies, such as shareholders, creditors, prospective investors, securities analysts, and ratings agencies

•   Non-financial constituencies, such as customers, suppliers, employees, regulators, the media, and local communities

Clearly, both groups of stakeholders contribute to competitive advantage by providing the goods, services, information, technology, knowledge, money, and other resources that companies need to survive ...