Typology of Staleholders and their Influence

A business firm's relationship with its stakeholders depends upon its interface. There are
two types of stakeholders, i.e. Primary and Secondary Stakeholders. Primary
social stakeholders have a direct stake in the organization and its success and
therefore are influential. Secondary social stakeholders may be extremely
influential especially in affecting reputation and public standing, but their
stake in the organization is more representational than direct.

Mitchell, Agle and Wood developed a theory of stakeholder identification and salience
based upon stakeholder possession of one or more of the three attributes:
Power, legitimacy and urgency. The authors define salience as the degree to
which managers given priority to competing stakeholder claims. It is assumed
that managers who wish to achieve particular end will pay attention to the
various classes of stakeholders, and that managers perceptions dictate
stakeholder salience. In addition, the various classes of stakeholders might be
identifies based upon the possession of one, two or all the three attributes of
power, legitimacy and urgency. Each stakeholder group has unique concerns,
influence and relationship with the organization.