The stake holder concept is one that is typically used by Public
             Relations professionals to describe parties that are affected by corporate
             decisions. It was conceived of as a modification of, or in reaction to,
             the seminal business concept of shareholder value. The difference between
             a stakeholder and a shareholder is that a stakeholder is anyone who stands
             to be directly affected by a business decision. This mentality is not
             unique to the United States: in Germany, for example, the boards of major
             companies include representatives of the employees, who exercise collective
             bargaining powers. However, stakeholders can also be members of a
             community in which a business plans to expand its activity, or other
             parties affected by business decisions.
             The stakeholder concept is one that can be expanded to incorporate
             other contexts in which parties have a vested interest in the actions of
             organizations. At work, employees that have a natural stake in corporate
             decisions affect morale and in turn corporate productivity. Employees can
             be affected by decisions that affect their pay, their benefits, the
             certainty of future employment, or the way in which they do business. In
             the late 1990's, many new Internet start-up companies implemented casual
             dress policies that expanded upon previous casual-Friday policies.
             Analysts in the Investment Banking community, upon hearing about this,
             approached their superiors with the message that they would quit en masse
             for similar pay and a more casual business atmosphere unless they could
             switch from mandatory jacket-and-tie dress codes to a corporate casual'
             standard. Management complied, and soon many of the most conservative
             banks were clothed in khakis and golf shirts. After the new economy'
             failed and layoffs decimated the cyclical investment banking industry, the
             jackets and ties were pulled out of the closet as the survivors sac...