What is a stakeholder?

Someone who holds the stakes, at least if you’re talking about a company. They hold the power; they are the stakeholder (coming to theaters summer 2009)

One if Buffy’s friends who stands by and gives her more stakes as she needs them. Usually giles in the early seasons.

In the usual usage of the term it refers to a person having an interest or share in a commercial undertaking. Though the term is sometimes also used to describe someone that has an interest in any kind of important decision that may effect them.

In project management it’s the people or groups that have an interest in the effects of the project and can often influence the course and outcome of the project.
They can be sponsors of the project or just be impacted by its results.

They need to be taken in to account as they may be a threat or opportunity depending on their view/attitude to the project.

My belly!

Also used in community organizing with similar connotations. Say there’s a waste incinerator that a company is planning on building near a residential neighborhood. Who has a stake in the plan? Just the investors? Certainly not! Residents, local business owners, kids who go to school nearby are stakeholders too.

Stakeholders is a concept that lets us recognize that more than just investment or property ownership can create a relationship with a project/company/decision.

A project stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in the project you’re working on. It can be a client, the CEO of your company, another manager, etc…

Here’s an article about stakeholder management

something that hold steaks?