Every organization has stakeholders: these are groups or individuals that affect or are affected by the business. The number of stakeholders of a business varies as does their importance and influence. The type of organization and the product or service it supplies also determines its stakeholders. There are three main types of stakeholder.

•• Internal – people and departments within your organisation. They are your colleagues. They rely on or use the work you produce – for example, your manager is a stakeholder and other departments who require the services of the PR department are stakeholders.
•• External – people and organisations outside your organisation. They may be customers, clients, suppliers and other key individuals or organisations who take an interest in or are affected by your work.
•• Interface – stakeholders who function both internally and externally – for example, an organisation with a large trade union presence or shareholders who are also employees. You may not find these in every organisation.

Influence of stakeholders on business objectives

Owners/stakeholders have a big say in how the aims of the business are decided, but other groups also have an influence overdecision making. For example, the directorswho manage the day-to-day affairs of a company may decide to make make higher sales a top priority rather than profits. Managers influence a business everyday by the decisions they make. This could include what products and services to offer and who to hire or fire. Managers implement company policy and formulate strategy which affects the running and profit-making ability of a