White paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

White paper - Essay Example The worth and value of stakeholders was not too high, before 21st century. However, it should be noted that stakeholders was a known terminology in legal concept, since long. The origin of the concept of stakeholders, in business or management field, had initially come into existence in 1963. At that time, the terminology of stakeholders appeared in the international memorandum of Stanford Research Institute. Stakeholders, then, were defined as â€Å"those guys without whose support the organization would cease to exist† (Friedman & Miles, 2006). In the 19th century, the concept of stakeholders referred to the respective owners of business organizations, who had invested money in it as well as possessed full power to enjoy all upcoming benefits of the organization. The author named Freeman had first emphasized on the importance of the term, â€Å"stakeholders†, in 1984, in his book, Strategic Management Stakeholders Approach. Long before 21st century, the business corpo rations were assumed to be artificial legal entities and the value of the so-called stakeholders, like, customers, suppliers, shareholders, government and employees, were assumed to be neutral. Thus, in that particular period, stakeholders of an organization were referred to as only those individuals in the market who could provide economic support to the corporation’s activities. Prior to 21st century, it was found that business corporations used to give importance and value to only those individuals who could support the concerned firm with some financial support. At that point of time, the owners of organizations were considered to be extensively powerful. According to the views of Lord Edward Coke, â€Å"corporations cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed nor excommunicated, for they have no souls† (Friedman & Miles, 2006). The interactions of stakeholders with the soulless organizations were extensively poor in the period before 21st century. The firms almost did not react or