Stakeholder Thinking
Synonyms
Definition
A stakeholder in a company is anyone who is impacted on by the company’s processes and/or who has an impact on the company. The term “stakeholder” was coined by Freeman, with the publication of his book Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach in 1983. With this book, Freeman focused on those managers who were, according to most standards, successful, yet had a hard time coping with the increasing complexity presented by people and groups of very diverse natures, all demanding his attention and more. For those managers, Freeman developed a framework.
Introduction
One can legitimately say that stakeholder management is older than the concept “stakeholder management.” Long before first academics and then managers started to use that term, there were companies thinking about their most important stakeholders: owners, employees, and clients (in that order). Many companies were primarily inward looking, seeing only those stakeholders who were important...
References and Readings
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