The Concept of Stake and Stakeholder
A stake means an interest in undertaking. It shows the relationship between an organization's stakeholder(s) and the organization. Generally, stakeholders invest money and other resources in a company. In this way, the stakeholder puts his or her capital at risk. The stake is the share of interest that the stakeholder receives by keeping the investment in some risk. On the order hand, a stakeholder is a group or a person who can affect or is affected by the achievement of a company, firm, or corporation. A stakeholder can be a person or a group which is having various interests or concerns in a particular organization. Stakeholders usually influence the organization and are also influenced by the organization's actions, decisions, practices, or policies. Therefore, there is usually an interaction between the stakeholders and the organization itself. In other words, a stakeholder can refer to a person or a group with one or different kinds of stakes in an organization.
Microsoft's Stake and Stakeholders
Microsoft's major stakeholders include:
Customers
Customers are the top priority stakeholders, according to the business growth needs in the company. Customers' stake is to get quality products and services. Customers are usually interested in sensible prices for effectual products and high standard customer service. Customers' interests influence the company by enabling it to increase its sales revenues as well as retaining customers. To satisfy the customers' interests, it engages in innovation to provide advanced computer products to its customers. It also considers issues encountered by customers while using Microsoft products and addresses their complaints. To a greater extent of satisfying this stakeholder group, the company provides discounts to customers.
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Employees
Employees are the second priority stakeholders at Microsoft. The stake of employees is usually to get fair labor and employment practices, as well as competitive compensation. Employees have a direct influence on the company's performance through their productivity and human resource. The company works hard to protect employees' rights by continuously improving employment practices.
Communities
Communities also play a great role as stakeholders in the company. In particular, communities usually the development of Microsoft by engaging in livelihood programs and environmental protection. In other words, the stake in the company is health and community development.
Investors
Investors are also among the main stakeholders since they ensure the availability of capital in the company. In this regard, the stake of investors is business growth and accurate financial reporting. As such, Microsoft's investors provide funds as part of their investments to ensure Microsoft's growth and development. To ensure this, the stakeholders usually ask the company to provide accurate financial reports.
Governments
Microsoft company also considers governments as part of stakeholders in the business. Governments usually determine the company's restriction in conducting business directly. Governments are usually interested in the company's contribution to the economy and legal and regulatory concession. Simply put, the stake of the government in Microsoft is economic growth and legal compliance.
The Legitimacy, Power, and Urgency that Microsoft Stakeholders have
A key challenge in business is identifying relevant stakeholders. A systematic way of identifying which stakeholders are relevant in an organization is considering who has power, legitimacy, and urgency ( Myllykangas et al., 2010) . The first attribute for identifying relevant stakeholders is power. At Microsoft, the government and stakeholders have a lot of power. The government has coercive power, whereas the stakeholders have utilitarian power. This means that the government has the power to impose restrictions, whereas the stakeholders with the largest shares have more power over the other stakeholders.
A second attribute for identifying relevant stakeholders is legitimacy. Legitimacy implies a desirable social good. For example, Microsoft's employees work for the good of employees and shareholders/investors rather than their own interests. Also, the government puts the public good above self-interest. However, it is important to note that some stakeholders at Microsoft, particularly some investors and employees, sometimes act in fraudulent ways and put profit or self-interest above other stakeholders' or employees' interests.
A third attribute for identifying relevant stakeholders is urgency. Urgency refers to the extent to which a stakeholder or stakeholder claims call for immediate action. At Microsoft, all stakeholders count. In other words, the company addresses the concern of each and every stakeholder promptly. The three attributes mentioned above are often used by corporations to map relevant stakeholders.
Stakeholder Approach
I believe that Microsoft using the synthesis stakeholder approach. The company understands that it has a moral responsibility towards the stakeholders on the basis of social, ethical, and economic acclaim. This approach spotlights the interrelation between the stakeholders and the company in that it ensures that it satisfies its stakeholders' interests as well as enhancing the brand and corporate image. This approach enables the company to satisfy customers' needs by providing them with quality products and services, protecting employees' rights, being accountable to investors by providing accurate financial reporting, and ensuring community development because it is the company's moral obligation towards its stakeholders.
References
Carroll, A. B., Brown, J., & Buchholtz, A. K. (2017). Business & society: Ethics, sustainability & stakeholder management (2nd).
Myllykangas, P., Kujala, J., & Lehtimäki, H. (2010). Analyzing the essence of stakeholder relationships: What do we need in addition to power, legitimacy, and urgency? Journal of Business Ethics , 96 (1), 65
