The '360' refers to the 360 degrees of a circle. It is a metaphorical way of saying that every stakeholder is encircled by a network of other stakeholders. The Stakeholder 360 is intended to measure all of the relationships of all of the stakeholders in the network with each other -- everyone with everyone -- therefore, '360'.

 

The stakes can be in a company or other focal organization (e.g., a municipal government) or they can be in a shared concern (e.g., community economic development, pollution of a shared lake).

 

There are several criteria that indicate the boundaries of a network. The single best way to define the boundary is to get out and ask questions. In the "snowballing" technique, interviewers ask each stakeholder who else they think is a stakeholder. Then they try to talk to those people. Eventually they encounter nominees whose stakes are so small that they do not want to be interviewed. By that point the interviewers have probably already interviewed the core of the network.