Ecole: UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY OF CAPE TOWN Niveau: BAC + 6 As a management problem the identification of stakeholders is not easily solved. It comprises a modelling and a normative issue, which need to be solved in connection with each other. My previous position in an organisation used to consider a strategy of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and had to address the question “to whom are we responsible?” “To stakeholders” was the common answer to this question, which means that, for managing a CSR strategy, the identification of stakeholders is crucial. To a certain extent, management of CSR has become stakeholder management (Donaldson and Preston, 1995). A stakeholder is commonly seen as an individual or a group (e.g. Freeman, 1984). However, it must be emphasised that there are relationships between stakeholders. For example, coalitions of stakeholders are likely to have more influence than a stakeholder alone. Mitchell et al. (1997) describe how dependent Alaskan citizens became, in their terms, definitive stakeholders of Exxon by acquiring a powerful ally in government. Therefore, from a managerial perspective, it is important to consider also the systemic attributes of stakeholders and refer to a system of stakeholders. Furthermore, stakeholders are not objective entities.