The changes catalogued in the previous chapter have spawned conceptual chaos in the management discipline. From the canned packages developed by management consulting firms to the theoretical treatises of academics, there has been an explosion in available ad vice to the practicing manager. Sorting out what is real from what is ephemeral is not an easy task, given that the fundamental assumptions on which theories of management and organization are based are undergoing radical shifts. Therefore, in setting out a brief history of the concept of stakeholder, I will cover a number of uses of the concept in the academic and non-academic literature, as well as relate the development of the concept to the Strategic planning and Strategic management literature. I shall try to help Bob Collingwood and the managers like him through the maze of academic literature and practical Jargon.

HISTORY OF “STAKEHOLDER”

The actual word “stakeholder” first appeared in the management literature in an internal memorandum at the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International, Inc.), in 1963. The term was meant to generalize the notion of stockholder as the only group to whom management need be responsive. Thus, the stakeholder concept was originally defined as “those groups without whose support the organization would cease to exist.” The list of stakeholders originally included shareowners, employees, customers, suppliers, lenders and society.