In contrast a stakeholder is a party that is affected by the effect or actions of the company or business as a whole. A stakeholder can be an internal stakeholder, such as employers, investors, managers, owners and shareholders, as well as external stakeholders such as suppliers, customers, subcontractors, society, creditors, local community groups, government and shareholders who share the same concern as a stakeholder.
The success of a public limited company such as BP, which is this country’s only global oil company, is very important to the credibility and success of the country. As well as oil and petrol BP have a wide range of different products that rely on profits to develop and grow its business, to pay staff their wages and create a secure working environment, to produce new and efficient products. Sometimes the use and testing of these products are a cause for environmental concern, and pollution is always a risk.
As a result there are many additional stakeholders who are affected by the actions of BP and its products. In the UK BP have a number of offshore developments, the majority of these are oil and gas stations in the north sea. Much of the north sea is important fishing areas that have been regularly used by British and Norwegian fishermen for hundreds of years. There is much conflict between the parties concerned as even a small leakage of oil from one of these stations has a catasrotophic effect on sea life, that may have a knock on effect on other industries and stakeholders who would include the oil industry as a whole, the fishing industry, the tourist industry, local and national politicians, environmentalist organisations, regional government, animal rights groups, marine biologists, the media.
In such a business there is always a major debate ongoing about whether the company should be managed for the shareholders, stakeholder or customers. It is often left to the government to impose restrictions and conditions in order to provide a multi agency working group to produce a fair balance to all concerned.
