Stakeholder

  Courts sometimes act as stakeholders, holding property while litigation between the possible owners resolves the issue of which one is entitled to the property, and trustees often act as stakeholders, holding property until beneficiaries come of age, for example.  An "escrow agent" is one kind of trustee who is a stakeholder, usually in a situation where part of the purchase price of property is being held until some condition is satisfied.  It is a very old concept in the law.
  In that context, "stakeholder" includes not only the directors or trustees on its governing board (who are stakeholders in the traditional sense of the word) but also all persons who "paid in" the figurative stake and the persons to whom it may be "paid out" (in the sense of a "payoff" in game theory, meaning the outcome of the transaction).  The holders of each separate kind of interest in the entity's affairs are called a "constituency," so there may be a constituency of stockholders, a constituency of adjoining property owners, a constituency of banks the entity owes money to, and so on.  In that usage, "constituent" is a synonym for "stakeholder."

A major debate is ongoing about whether the firm should be managed for stakeholders, stockholders or customers. Those who support the stakeholder view usually base their arguments on three key assertions.

1) Value can best be created by trying to maximize joint outcomes. For example, according to this thinking, programs that satisfy both employees' needs and stockholders' wants are doubly valuable because they address two legitimate sets of stakeholders at the same time.

2) They also take issue with the preeminent role given to stockholders by many business thinkers. The argument is that debt holders, employees, and suppliers also make contributions and take risks in creating a successful firm.

3) These normative arguments would matter little if stockholders had complete control in guiding the firm. However, many believe that due to certain kinds of board of directors structures, top managers like CEOs are mostly in control of the firm.