The Unknown Stakeholder

Abstract

Let us recall the formulation of this value as I proposed it at the end of Chapter 4:

The unknown stakeholder is he who does not share a voice, who doesn’t even know he has a stake in the activities of the organization being analyzed. It may be a newborn baby who will breathe what will be left of the air seventy years from now. It may be the reasonable solution to a problem that is proposed by wise people and that local voters turn down, spurred by emotions and demagogy. Stewardship of the unknown stakeholder implies, first, identifying the competitive context surrounding the organization that we are observing. Within this framework, comparisons of performance must be made with competitors and, in the case of government organizations or monopolies, international benchmarks must be provided. Possible government subsidies must be accounted for under this heading.

When we identify economic phenomena in the internal functioning of a company or an institution, particularly intangibles and externalities, then we are listening to the unknown stakeholder. He is at the heart of all research, the silent critic inside us.

An example of stewarding the unknown stakeholder would be Fiat accounting for the government subsidies obtained during the post-World War II decades (p. 22).