Can your stakeholders, such as employees, customers, suppliers and nature, formally influence the strategy of your organization?

Business as Usual concentrates power over strategy at the top

Temu

Temu is a clear example of how “Business as Usual” can centralize strategic power at the top of the organization. Through its platform model, Temu controls access to the market while suppliers compete against each other to win contracts. This structure leaves very little room for suppliers to influence pricing, conditions, or long-term strategy.

A key mechanism in this model is the use of so-called reverse auctions, where suppliers effectively bid against each other to offer the lowest possible price. While this may create extremely low prices for consumers, it also shifts all bargaining power to Temu. Suppliers are pushed into competing primarily on cost rather than value, quality, or sustainability.

The consequence of this system is a structural “race to the bottom.” Suppliers are incentivized to cut costs wherever possible, which translates into pressure on wages, working conditions, and environmental standards. In this setup, strategic decision-making is highly centralized, while the broader ecosystem of stakeholders has little to no formal influence on how the business evolves.

Future Entrepreneurs share power over strategy with their stakeholders

Odin cooperation

In contrast, the organic food cooperative Odin represents a fundamentally different model of governance, where strategic power is distributed rather than concentrated. Odin is fully owned by a cooperative structure, meaning there are no external shareholders demanding short-term financial returns.

Instead, strategy is shaped through a members’ council in which customers, employees, and suppliers are all represented. This structure ensures that those who are directly affected by the organization’s decisions also have a formal voice in shaping its direction. Strategic decisions are therefore not only financial, but also social and ecological in nature.

Because of this governance model, Odin can take a longer-term view on value creation. Rather than optimizing purely for price or efficiency, the organization can balance economic viability with fair treatment of suppliers, employee wellbeing, and sustainable food production. Stakeholders are not external to the system, they are part of how strategy is defined.

Learn more about the structure of Odin here (in Dutch). 

What you can do

If you want to build your strategy like a Future Entrepreneur here are some practical tips:

• Create formal stakeholder representation in decision-making
  Build structures such as advisory boards or councils where employees, suppliers, customers and even nature representatives can regularly influence strategic decisions, rather than relying only on top-down leadership.
• Redesign ownership and governance structures where possible
  Consider cooperative elements, shared ownership models, or stakeholder shares that align long-term value creation with those who contribute to and are affected by the business.
• Measure success beyond profit alone
  Integrate social, environmental, and relational metrics into strategic planning so that decisions reflect the interests of all stakeholders, not just financial performance at the top.