Stakeholders in a business
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| stake/steɪk/ | stake |
| supplier/səˈplaɪə/ | Businesses or people that provide goods, materials or services to another organisation. |
| stakeholder/ˈsteɪkhəʊldə/ | A person or group with an interest in, or affected by, an organisation's activities. |
| internal/ɪnˈtɜːnl/ | Within an organisation, system or specified boundary. |
| external/ekˈstɜːnl/ | Outside an organisation, system or specified boundary. |
| shareholder/ˈʃeəhəʊldə/ | People or organisations that own shares in a company. |
| pressure group/ˈpreʃə ɡruːp/ | pressure group |
| dividend/ˈdɪvɪdend/ | A distribution made by a company to its shareholders, commonly from profits and paid in cash or shares. |
| prompt payment/prɒmpt ˈpeɪmənt/ | prompt payment |
| conflict/ˈkɒnflɪkt/ | A disagreement or clash between incompatible interests, ideas or actions. |
| margin/ˈmɑːdʒɪn/ | margin |
| balance/ˈbæləns/ | An arrangement in which competing parts or influences are kept in a suitable proportion. |
Everyone with a stake 利害关系
- A business doesn't just affect its owners. Workers, customers, suppliers 供应商, the government and the local community all care what it does.
- These groups are its stakeholders 利益相关者 — and their interests often clash.
Stakeholder interest lab
See how different stakeholders judge the same business decision.
A stakeholder is:
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Stakeholders are all groups with an interest in the firm.
Internal 内部 and external 外部 stakeholders
- Internal: owners/shareholders 股东, managers, employees.
- External: customers, suppliers, government, the local community, pressure groups 压力团体.
Each stakeholder group has a different interest in how the business is run.
Which is an internal stakeholder?
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Employees, managers and owners are internal; the rest are external.
Customers, suppliers and the local community are ______ stakeholders.
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They are outside the business, unlike employees and owners.
What each group wants
- Shareholders want profit and dividends 股息; employees want pay and security.
- Customers want quality and low prices; suppliers want prompt payment 及时付款.
- Government wants taxes and laws obeyed; the community wants jobs without harm.
A typical stakeholder conflict is between:
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Pay rises for staff reduce profit for owners — a classic conflict.
Every shareholder is a stakeholder, but not every stakeholder is a shareholder.
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Stakeholders are a wider group than shareholders.
Stakeholder conflict 冲突
- Their aims often conflict: higher wages (employees) cut profit (shareholders); lower prices (customers) squeeze margins 利润率.
- Managers must balance 平衡 these competing interests — pleasing everyone fully is impossible.
A stakeholder is not the same as a shareholder. Shareholders own part of the company. Stakeholders are anyone affected by it — a much wider group that includes shareholders but also workers, customers and the community.
You've got it
- stakeholders = all groups affected by a business (internal + external)
- each wants something different — profit, pay, quality, taxes, jobs
- their interests conflict, so managers must balance them; stakeholder ≠ shareholder