Shareholders

There are many groups of people who have an interest, financial or otherwise, in the performance of a business - these different groups are known as stakeholders. The main stakeholders are considered to be:

Shareholders

These people have a clear financial interest in the performance of the business. They have invested money into the company through purchasing shares and they expect the company to grow and prosper so that they receive a healthy return on their investment. The return that they receive can come in two forms. Firstly, by a rise in the share price, so that they can sell their shares at a higher price than the purchase price (this is known as making acapital gain). Secondly, based on the level of profits for the year, the company issues a portion of this to each shareholder for every share that they hold (this is known as a dividend). The shareholders are also entitled to vote each year at the A.G.M. to elect the Board of Directors, who will run the company on their behalf.

Employees

This group also has an obvious financial interest in the company, since their pay levels and their job security will depend on the performance and the profitability of the business. It is employees who perform the basic functions and tasks of the business (producing output, meeting deadlines and delivery dates, etc.) and over recent years their traditional role has started to change. They are often now encouraged to become involved in multi-skilled teamworking, problem solving and decision making - thus having a significant input to the workings of the business.

Customers

Customers are vital to the survival of any business, since they purchase the goods and services which provides the business with the majority of its revenue. It is therefore vital for a business to find out exactly what the needs of the consumers are, and to produce their output to directly satisfy these needs - this is done through market research. The goods and services must then be promoted in such a way as to appeal to the target market and to inform them of the availability, price, etc. Once the goods and services have been purchased by the customer, it is essential that after-sales service is offered and that the customer is happy with his/her purchase. The business must try to keep the customer loyal so that they return in the future and become a repeat-purchaser.

Suppliers

Without flexible and reliable suppliers, the business could not guarantee that it will always have sufficient high quality raw materials which they require to produce their output. It is important for a business to maintain…