1. Stakeholders

2. Stakeholders are groups or individuals with an interest in a business. Stakeholders may affect or be affected by the decisions of an organisation.

3. Types of stakeholder Shareholders/ownersEmployees ManagersCustomers SuppliersLocal community GovernmentCompetitors Pressure groupsFinanciers

4. Stakeholder interests Each stakeholder group will have its own expectations of the business. For example, customers expect good value for money and a regular source of goods and services.

5. Stakeholder conflict Conflict between the needs of stakeholder groups may occur e.g. paying workers higher wages could result in lower dividends to shareholders.

6. Shareholder concept The shareholder concept is the traditional view that shareholders are the most important stakeholder. This view holds that as shareholders employ managers to run organisations on their behalf, managers’ decisions should only consider the objectives of the shareholders.

7. Corporate social responsibility In contrast to the shareholder concept, corporate responsibility considers the responsibility of an organisation to all stakeholders, including the community and society at large. CSR considers both the financial and non-financial performance of an organisation.