The Handbook of Strategic Public Relations and Integrated Marketing Communications, Second Edition, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 9CONSUMER INSIGHT IN A DIGITAL AGE

Geraldine Henderson, Ph.D.Associate Professor, School of BusinessRutgers University

Consumers are just one set of the many different stakeholders that an organization has. However, it is easy to argue that consumers are the most important stakeholder group because they bring in the revenue (funds) for most organizations and because there are so many of them. For instance, there are many more consumers (in sheer number) than other stakeholders such as board members or suppliers. An organization may have a product or service, a method of distribution and an internal support structure but if it does not have a consumer, it cannot exist or sustain itself. In the corporate world, consumers buy products or ...