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The Role and Characteristics of Stakeholders

This resource is designed specifically for Unit 1 of the Edexcel BTEC National qualification, 'Introduction to Business'.

Aim:

The aim of this resource is to develop the concept introduced in the Business Survival, Profit and Growth Lesson, about business organisations and their stakeholders. By the end, you should be able to:

• Identify the stakeholders of a given business
• List the features of the main groups of stakeholder
• Apply your understanding of stakeholders to case study material

Resources:

• PowerPoint Presentation - Meeting the Needs of Stakeholders [60 KB]

Activity:

This Activity helps embed your understanding of the characteristics of stakeholders and how they are affected by and can affect business organisations. Working in small groups, students are given the following information. The groups should carry out the following tasks:

• Identify as many stakeholders as possible
• Distinguish between the internal and external stakeholders
• Select one group of stakeholders and suggest the positive and negative aspects of their relationship with the business
• Write notes on the likely characteristics of stakeholders in the second business organisation listed below
• Present your findings to the whole group

Organisation 1: The Football Club

The lifelong fans of a club - what might be the likely characteristics of this group of stakeholders? © Stock.Xchng

Melchester F.C. are an English Premiership football club with an annual revenue of over £800 million. After winning the Premiership for four out of the last five years, Melchester won the UEFA Champions League last season. The club is a Public Limited Company, with its shares listed on the London Stock Exchange. It has more than 400 full and part time staff, including players and officials.

More than 50,000 supporters can attend home games at Melchester, but several thousand people apply unsuccessfully for tickets for every match. Among its facilities, the club has hospitality boxes, a conference hall, hotel accommodation, shopping centre, TV station and Web site. But the club's relations with its local residents are suffering, with locals raising their concerns to the club over the noise, traffic congestion and pollution that they say blights their lives.

The football club's manager, Malik Merguson, is widely seen as the main reason for the club's international success and worldwide popularity; but he is quick to acknowledge the work of the many managers who run different areas of what is not just a football club, but an international business.

Image: Which group of stakeholders has a negative relationship with Lasers? Copyright: Sean Johnson

Organisation 2: The City Nightclub

'Lasers' nightclub is an established business. In recent years it has expanded and taken over more building space above a shopping centre in the heart of the city. It prides itself on attracting some of the country's big-name DJs to its events.

Lasers employs a full-time staff of 12, but part-time workers push this figure up to 25 on weekend nights. It employs staff in catering, bar work, dancing, resident DJs, door security, accounts and finance, and cleaning. There have been problems over physical assaults on staff in the past year.

On a busy weekend, Lasers can attract as many as 500 customers through its doors. A 'foam party' this summer helped the club set its record for bar takings. This event also attracted the attention of the Environmental Health Officers in the area, after several customers developed skin rashes following the party.

Local residents are few and far between in this central part of the city, but the club has been accused lately by the local media of being the source of anti-social behaviour, damage and pollution in surrounding areas.