Mainly people are stakeholders in a company for financial reasons, customers do not want to have to spend an excessive amount of money to purchase the product, employees wish to be paid, shareholder's want to receive dividends. The reasons for a stakeholder's interest in a company are not always simple. For instance the government showed an interest in the well being of Air New Zealand well before they had a financial interest in the company, therefore they were a stakeholder. The governments interest was due to the financia

Stakeholders that have the most influence over a firm's decisions tend to be the one's that will provide the most money for the firm. Major shareholders are always very influential, while minor shareholders are not because they are easier to replace. In some areas customers have a huge influence, for instance the type of product being produced or sold will be influenced by the customers needs. In other areas the customers have little or no influence, for instance the management structure of a firm. As with all things in business money is the biggest influencing factor, the person who the firm needs the most money from is the one they will try to keep onside, therefore is the one with the most power and influence over the business. Customers are the only exception to this, in that they are the reason for being in business yet often do not have the greatest influence.

All stakeholders have some level of power in an organisation, how the stakeholders feel often dictates the strategy the company will take. But some stakeholders have a lot more power than others. All employees in a firm are stakeholders in that firm, no matter how senior or junior they are. Low-level employees do not, generally, have much power to influence decision-making in a firm. However, the higher on the corporate ladder a person climbs the more influence they start to have. Although a senior manager and a junior receptionist might be considered equal stakeholders in the company, the senior manager has a lot of power to influence decision making whereas the junior receptionist probably has absolutely no power.

Which level of stakeholder a person, or group of people, is not always obvious and can easily change from one year to the next. Stephen Tindall was, in 2000, a stakeholder with high interest and high power in the Warehouse Group, as the founder of the Warehouse he cared very much about the company and as the managing director he had high power to put in place changes he thought were necessary. Now that Stephen Tindall is no longer the managing director he has become a stakeholder with high interest and low power. He still has the high interest because he is the founder and will want to see it become more and more successful. But because he has stepped down as managing director he no longer has the same level of power he once had. (Clark, 2001)

The Troubleshooter series of videos starring Sir John Harvey-Jones looked at Letts diaries. Letts were having trouble because they were not turning a profit. Harvey-Jones encouraged them to look at what their customers wanted and get rid of the areas of business that the customers were not as interested in, he also told them not to continue with an idea that they wanted to do but to think about the company that they owed money to and focus on paying that back rather than borrowing more money. He was basically telling them to think about their stakeholders and change their scope to match what the stakeholders wanted. Both the customers and the people Letts Diaries owed money to are stakeholders Letts Diaries. Harvey-Jones felt that if Letts did not change their scope to be more in line with their stakeholders needs then they would go out of business.

Overall stakeholders have an enormous influence in every f

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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)