Stakeholders - Identifying Who You Need To Work With
Stakeholders are people involved in a business's success who have a vested interest in that success. Stakeholders can also be companies or organizations who make investments in a business. They do not have a direct relationship with the owner of the business but they have an interest in what the business does. Stakeholders also have an interest in how that business does.
Stakeholders are all parties involved in a business's success who have a stake in that success. The difference between stakeholders is that some stakeholder may be the owner of the business and some stakeholder may be a company or organization which makes investments in the business. All stakeholders should be included in a business's success journey; however, it is often difficult for any business to identify all stakeholders' interests and needs at the same time. All stakeholders are important to any business's long-term success as well as short-term goals. All stakeholders should be included in any business's success journey to ensure all stakeholder interests are met.
All stakeholders have different interests and needs. Stakeholders may be homeowners who need affordable housing options or businesses who need access to fast growing technologies. Homeowners would likely be the first group of people to make decisions about upgrading their homes, adding an apartment complex or a condominium to their portfolio of properties. Businesses that make investments in technology would likely be the second group of people to make decisions. It is common for managers to ignore stakeholder influence when making technological decisions such as purchasing new software or hardware. Stakeholders often feel that they have been "left out" by the decision maker to make such decisions.
Every business has different stakeholders. In fact, there can be hundreds of different stakeholders involved in any one business's success. The key to successful business is figuring out who all of your stakeholders are and working with them to make sure that their needs are met. If you don't know who your stakeholders are and how you will get to them, you will never build a successful organization.
Your stakeholders are your internal employees, your customers, the suppliers that make your business what it is and many other groups. These are all important because they affect your business. How you manage them will impact your business. Stakeholders can also be external parties who can affect your business. For example, if you have employees who are very skeptical of outsiders' motives, you may not be able to work with these people because their skepticism can harm your business. Outside influences can even cause you to fail at a specific aspect of your business or push you to make costly mistakes that can have long-term effects on your business.
Internal stakeholders are people like your employees, suppliers, customers, investors and city or country officials who have an impact on your business. External stakeholders are people like suppliers, brokers and creditors who can potentially affect your business negatively. You will also need other stakeholders, like bankers, business partners, regulatory bodies and local government officials to name a few. The list can go on as you continue to think about the ways in which you want to gain advantage over your competitors and realize what areas you need assistance from outside sources.
Because everyone has different stakeholders, how you deal with them can be different depending on the situation. Sometimes, your employees may be the most important stakeholders, because they have the power to influence your company. If your business is sensitive to any legal issues like mergers and acquisitions, for example, your suppliers could be the most important stakeholders. At other times, your shareholders may have more power than your employees in terms of influence. In any case, it's important to recognize who each of your stakeholders are and how you can best serve them.
Most businesses are led by one or two core stakeholders, usually the ones who control or own a significant amount of company property. Your other stakeholders are internal employees who report directly to you. For the most part, your stakeholders are less influential than external ones since they don't have as much invested in your business. For this reason, the two most important types of stakeholder in an internal organization are the owner and the employee.