Including the stakeholders: The business case

All the available evidence suggests that companies which are run with a view to the long term interests of their key stakeholders are more likely to prosper than those which take a short term, ‘shareholder first’ approach. Indeed it is the central premise of this article that forces of economic globalisation and developments in the technology of mass communication will make stakeholder inclusion an increasingly essential component of corporate strategy in the 21st century. Put simply, companies, like governments and other established institutions, need to listen, to process and to respond positively to the values and beliefs of their stakeholders—most especially their customers, employees and investors. Failure to do this will reduce competitiveness and increase the risk of corporate demise. In this article we present the key arguments for good practice in stakeholder inclusion, and we offer management systems approaches designed to maximise the benefits of actively involving stakeholders in corporate strategy.