1.5.1—Business stakeholders

Internal stakeholders work within the business, such as employees and managers; external stakeholders include customers, suppliers, government, lenders, owners and the wider community.

Stakeholders can provide resources, impose constraints or gain from outcomes. Their interests may align on one decision and conflict on another.

A factory closure may reduce costs for owners but threaten employees, suppliers and the local economy; the decision cannot be judged from one group’s perspective alone.

Stakeholder is not a synonym for shareholder: shareholders own shares, while many stakeholders do not.