Stakeholders

Stakeholders are the various individuals and groups affected by and influencing business decisions. Traditionally in American business, companies perceive three groups as having an interest in the affairs of an enterprise: employees, investors, and customers. The interests of employees are represented by UNIONs or by choice to stay or leave, investors by the BOARD OF DIRECTORS, and customers by their purchasing power. In the 1990s, as businesses engaged in a broader realm of interests, stakeholders became a popular term suggesting that companies also needed to include the interests and concerns of communities and society as a whole in their decision making. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY inferred companies were responsible to stakeholders for greater environmental management, recycling and reuse, community involvement, and citizenship. Interest groups often purchased a symbolic one share of stock in companies, allowing them to speak at SHAREHOLDERS meetings and propose amendments to corporate policies.