Classification of Stakeholders

Classification  of Stakeholders

Classification 1

Internal stakeholders

Employees, management

External stakeholders

The government, local government, the public, pressure groups, opinion leaders

Connected stakeholders

Shareholders, customers, suppliers, lenders, trade unions, competitors

Classification 2

Direct stakeholders

Those who know they can affect or are affected by the organisation’s activities – employees, major customers and suppliers

Indirect stakeholders

Those who are unaware of the claims they have on the organization or who cannot express their claim directly- wildlife, individual customers or suppliers of a large organization, future generations

Classification 3

Narrow stakeholders

Those most affected by organisation’s strategy- shareholders, managers, employees, suppliers, dependent customers

Wide stakeholders

Those less affected by the organisation’s strategy – government, less dependent customers, the wider community

Classification 4

Primary stakeholders

Those without whose participation the organization will have difficulty continuing as a going concern, such as customers, suppliers and government (tax and legislation)

Secondary stakeholders

Those whose loss of participation won’t affect the company’s continued existence such as broad communities

Classification 5

Active stakeholders

Those who seek to participate in the organisation’s activities. Stakeholders includes managers, employees and institutional investors, but may also include other groups not part of an organization’s structure such as regulators or pressure group

Passive stakeholders

Those who do not seek to participate in policy-making such as most shareholders, local communities and government

Classification 6

Voluntary stakeholders

Those who engage with the organization voluntarily – employees, most customers, suppliers and shareholders

Involuntary stakeholders

Those who become stakeholders involuntarily – local communities, neighbours, the natural world, future generations

Classification 7

Legitimate stakeholders

Those who have valid claims upon the organisation

Illegitimate stakeholders

Those whose claims upon the organization are not valid

Classification 8

Recognized stakeholders

Those whose interests and views managers consider when deciding upon strategy

Unrecognized stakeholders

Those whose claims aren’t taken into account in the organisation’s decision making – likely to be very much the same as illegitimate stakeholders

Classification 9

Known stakeholders

Those whose existence is known o the organisation

Unknown stakeholders

Those whose existence is unknown to the organisation (undiscovered species, communities in proximity to overseas suppliers)