In the context of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), we often encounter the term stakeholders, which occupies a central position in the discussion around sustainability and responsible business practices. But what does this term mean and to whom does it refer?
The term stakeholders refers to the interested groups of a company, meaning every group or person that affects the operation of a company or is affected by it. The interested groups are divided into two categories, internal and external. Internal interested groups include shareholders and employees, while external ones include customers, suppliers, governments, labor unions, local communities, and generally the wider public. Each of the above groups provides the company with important resources and, in return, expects it to satisfy their expectations.
From another perspective, interested groups can be divided into primary and secondary. Primary ones include groups whose continuous participation contributes to the survival of the company, namely shareholders and investors, employees, customers, suppliers, as well as governments and communities, which provide infrastructure, markets, and an institutional operating framework. Secondary ones include those groups that affect or are affected by the company, but do not transact with it and are not important for its survival.
A further distinction of interested groups concerns the relationship they have with the company. Interested groups, therefore, are distinguished into those that have a contractual relationship with the company (customers, suppliers, employees), and are thus protected by law, and those that do not have such a relationship (local communities, consumers) and, consequently, are not protected by law to the same degree.
*The information for the above article was drawn from the book “Organization and Management of Shipping Companies” by Prof. Ioannis Theotokas (Alexandria Publications, 3rd edition, September 2019), pp. 547.
Get the book by clicking here
