A stakeholder is the term given to a person or group of people who have a vested interest in an entity. In the context of starting your own business, the owners should be aware of who the likely stakeholders in the entity might be.
Some of these might be obvious, whist others might be less so and indeed not expressly invited to become part of the new enterprise.
Some of the businesses stakeholders might include:
Shareholders – This group have an obvious interest in the performance and conduct of the entity as their future gains are closely and directly tied in to the fortunes of the business.
Employees- The future success of the organisation could make the difference between job security and adequate remuneration on one hand and unemployment on the other. Their interest in the business’ performance is therefore obvious.
Management and owners – Similar to those interests expressed by employees, the persons who run the business will have similar concerns. Depending of the liability status of the entity, the owners might have risk to their personal wealth and would therefore have this additional concept to consider.
Government – Their interest in business’ success is a general one and usually centres on the profitability of all enterprises rather than a specific one. The state of the economy and health of public finances is dependant up on businesses succeeding and then paying corporation tax and personal tax in the case of unincorporated entities.
Local residents – They might have an interest in terms of the employment opportunities within the local community which the business might offer. Also the effect of operations on their daily lives might be of concern to them if, for example, there is increased noise, pollution or traffic as a result of the entity starting up.
