External Stakeholders:
External stakeholders of any company or organization are:
Customers
Communities and Governments
Suppliers and Partners and Customers
Investors & Creditors
Media & Journalists
Associations
Clients
Competitors
Society
Shareholders
Consultants
Trade unions
Public
Particular Interest and Concerns of Stakeholders:
External Stakeholders Roles and responsibility Concerns
Clients (if in
an agency or freelance) Receive your ‘PR’ service for which you are contracted. Can withdraw their custom if unsatisfied.
The organization’s
clients or customers (secondary customers) Receive the goods or services that your organization o?ers. If they are unhappy with your organization then their business will su?er; in turn you may lose their business.
Local
community May provide sta? or customers for the organization or have an interest in its buildings and any by-products of production Can feel aggrieved by, for example, redundancies, building expansion and lack of care for the local environment.
Government
bodies Legislate to regulate what organizations can do Can impose fines and other penalties on organizations that refuse to comply with legislation.
Shareholders /
investors Provide funds for the organization’s
operations and/or growth Expect an appropriate return for their investment; if not they may sell their shares which could negatively a?ect an organization. Shareholders also have the right to vote at company meetings and good communication will help ensure they vote in line with the management.
Suppliers Provide the resources needed during a campaign, e.g. designers or printers. Require clear communication about exactly what you need and when, and how and when the supplier will be paid. May withdraw supplies and pass on negative information about an organization that deals with them in a reckless or unprofessional way.
Trade unions To protect the pay and working conditions of employees. They can make it easier to communicate with sta? and arrange training opportunities. May ask members to strike or work to rule, which would a?ect the productivity of the organization and may also create a negative organizational reputation
Journalists & Media Write stories about your organization or
its products and/or services and print news about your work of organization May write negative stories or print negative news about your organization or its products/services
Monitor and manage Stakeholders relationship:
Stakeholder management is essentially stakeholder relationship management as it is the relationship and not the actual stakeholder groups that are managed. The Clarkson Centre for Business Ethics (in Friedman and Miles 2006:151) developed the following list of principles that summarize the key features of stakeholder management:
Principles of Stakeholder relationship Management
Principle 1
Managers should acknowledge and actively monitor the concerns of all legitimate stakeholders, and should take their interests appropriately into account in decision-making and operations.
Principle 2
Managers should listen to and openly communicate with stakeholders about their respective concerns and contributions, and about the risks that they assume because of their involvement with the corporation.
Principle 3
Managers should adopt processes and modes of behavior that are sensitive to the concerns and capabilities of each stakeholder constituency.
Principle 4
Managers should recognize the interdependence of efforts and rewards among stakeholders, and should attempt to achieve a fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of corporate activity among them, taking into account their respective risks and vulnerabilities.
Principle 5
Managers should work cooperatively with other entities, both public and private, to ensure that risks and harms arising from corporate activities are minimized and, where they cannot be avoided, appropriately compensated.
Principle 6
Managers should avoid altogether activities that might jeopardize inalienable human rights (e.g., the right to life) or give rise to risks which, if clearly understood, would be patently unacceptable to relevant stakeholders.
Principle 7
Managers should acknowledge the potential conflicts between (a) their own role as corporate stakeholders, and (b) their legal and moral responsibilities for the interests of stakeholders, and should address such conflicts through open communication, appropriate reporting and incentive systems and, where necessary, third party review.
