Consumer and nonconsumer stakeholder orientation in UK companies

A frequent problem for companies is attempting to address the diverse interests of their stakeholder groups. Both the scarcity of resources and capabilities, and the increasing complexity engendered by networks of strategic alliances exacerbate this difficulty. However, there is no empirical evidence about the relative attention that companies give to these diverse needs. Here we report empirical evidence from a sample of U.K. companies, based on five stakeholder groups: consumers, competitors, employees, shareholders, and unions. Associations were identified between orientations to the groups, with consumer orientation being a predictor of competitor and employee orientation. Although consumer orientation emerged as the most important group, this may be pal?ly due to perceptions of such causal effects. However consumer orientation does not seem to be associated with measures of the market environment, such as market growth rare. The results elucidate the relative attention that companies give to their stakeholders in addressing their diverse interests.