Who Are Stakeholders in a Business?
The Stratford Research Institute defines a stakeholder as follows: "Any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization’s objectives."
Essentially, a stakeholder is anyone or any group that has anything to do with an organization.
The term 'stakeholder' is not confined to the owners and managers of an organization but also includes the customers, employees and even associated organizations.
Types of stakeholders are divided into primary stakeholders and secondary stakeholders.
Due to growing awareness of corporate social responsibility, businesses must increasingly
consider secondary stakeholders when making decisions.
This is largely due to the financial crisis of 2008, which revealed that businesses’
relationships with secondary stakeholders were ineffective. As a result, business models must now focus more on stakeholders other than owners and investors.
Having a stake in a business means that your actions affect that organization, whether directly or indirectly. In turn, the business’s affairs will ultimately affect you.
