Stakeholder 360TM
  

                          Social Capital, Sustainable Development, and the Corporation       espaņol

  
       by Robert Boutilier, Ph.D.
  
ī
 

 
What is a Stakeholder?

  
 
Traditionally, stakeholders are defined as those who have an interest in the activities of an organization. They are potentially or actually affected by the actions of the organization, or can have an affect on the organization. Lately the term 'stakeholder' has also been used to mean those people or groups who have an interest in a problem or project domain, like the pollution of a river or the revitalization of a town's economy.
 
The potential or actual impacts can be positive and negative. The table below shows examples of the kinds of impacts that could define a stake in a company.
 
 

Examples of how a company
has impacts on stakeholder groups
 
Positive Impacts of Company
  • Company gives health promotion agency access to company facilities and communications
  • Company management specialists help local suppliers plan explansions to outside markets
  • Third World government employees get administrative training from company
Negative Impacts of Company
  • Company's purchase of local land precludes uses favored by other groups
  • Unsafe workplace causes employee injuries
  • Community water supply polluted by company's emissions
Examples of how stakeholder groups
have impacts on a company
 
Positive Impacts on Company
  • Stock analysts rate company's earnings potential highly
  • University places sought-after tech students in company's co-op work/study program
  • Local government speeds up a development permit approval
Negative Impacts on Company
  • Organized crime or terrorists operate near company facilities and raise company's security costs (a potential impact that creates a stake)
  • Politically astute opportunistic groups make false accusations in a bid for financial compensation
  • Politicians who promised too much raise business taxes to cover their vote purchases
 
 
 
TM Stakeholder 360" is a registered trademark of 462347 BC Ltd.                        (c) Copyright 2008 by 462347 BC Ltd