Stakeholders in a business
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| stake | 利害关系 | lì hài guān xì |
| supplier | 供应商 | gōng yìng shāng |
| stakeholder | 利益相关者 | lì yì xiāng guān zhě |
| internal | 内部 | nèi bù |
| external | 外部 | wài bù |
| shareholder | 股东 | gǔ dōng |
| pressure group | 压力团体 | yā lì tuán tǐ |
| dividend | 股息 | gǔ xī |
| prompt payment | 及时付款 | jí shí fù kuǎn |
| conflict | 冲突 | chōng tū |
| margin | 利润率 | lì rùn lǜ |
| balance | 平衡 | píng héng |
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:
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?
Employees, managers and owners are internal; the rest are external.
Customers, suppliers and the local community are ______ stakeholders.
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:
Pay rises for staff reduce profit for owners — a classic conflict.
Every shareholder is a stakeholder, but not every stakeholder is a shareholder.
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