Think about a business that's lost it's edge, with its customers,
that has products and services, that it's customers don't want as much.
Or, that they don't want at all.
That's a business in decline.
Think about a business who manages suppliers in
a way that the suppliers don't make them better.
The suppliers just take orders and sell stuff, but the suppliers aren't trying to
make a business more innovative, more creative.
That's a business that's in a holding pattern and probably in decline.
Think about a business whose employees don't want to be there everyday.
Who aren't using 100% of their effort and their energy and
their creativity to make the business better, that's a business in decline.
Think about a business that's not a good citizen in their community, that routinely
ignores or violates local custom and law.
That doesn't pay attention to the quality of life in the community.
Doesn't pay attention to issues of corporate responsibility,
of sustainability of its effects on civil society.
That's a business that's soon to be regulated into decline.
And think about a business that doesn't create value, doesn't create profits for
its financiers.
Its shareholders, banks, and others, that's a business in decline.
So, stakeholder theory is the idea that each one of
these groups is important to the success of a business.
And figuring out where their interests go in the same direction
is what the managerial task and the entrepreneurial task is all about.
Stakeholder in theory says, if you just focus on financiers,
you miss what makes capitalism tick. What makes
capitalism tick is that shareholders and financiers,
customers, suppliers, employers, communities can
together create something that no one of them can create alone.