What is the difference between a partner and a stakeholder in a business organization?

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Specifically, not at an owner/exectutive level, more in middle management, adjacent roles are often referred to as partners or stakeholders. How can you distinguish objectively between the two? Examples appreciated.

I’m having trouble distilling this concept down, thus why its in eli5. One example of a partnership I know gets referenced frequently is: engineering manager is a partner to a product owner. I’ve heard SEO experts, or marketing being stakeholders but im not sure if thats correct.

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12 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

A partner generally means the person has some ownership share of the business. It could be large or small amount of ownership. The term partner is usually used for people who are currently active in the business, such as working there, or an important or significant person within the business.

A stakeholder is an overly broad term for someone who has an interest (or in short, they care about) in the businesses’ success. They may or may not have ownership of it. They may (and often do) work at the business, or maybe have invested in the business, or have some other reason to care about the business. Generally someone who is a stakeholder may have the ability to influence the actions of a business, but they don’t necessarily have to. For example, the CFO of a business would be a stakeholder, even if they don’t own the business. They work there, can influence the business, make big decisions and if the business goes up or down, it may affect them and their job.

Note: Stakeholder and shareholder are not the same. Shareholder means ownership. Stakeholder does not directly imply ownership, only that they have a reason to care about the success of a business. Stakeholder is a very broad term.

Anonymous 0 Comments

A partner generally means the person has some ownership share of the business. It could be large or small amount of ownership. The term partner is usually used for people who are currently active in the business, such as working there, or an important or significant person within the business.

A stakeholder is an overly broad term for someone who has an interest (or in short, they care about) in the businesses’ success. They may or may not have ownership of it. They may (and often do) work at the business, or maybe have invested in the business, or have some other reason to care about the business. Generally someone who is a stakeholder may have the ability to influence the actions of a business, but they don’t necessarily have to. For example, the CFO of a business would be a stakeholder, even if they don’t own the business. They work there, can influence the business, make big decisions and if the business goes up or down, it may affect them and their job.

Note: Stakeholder and shareholder are not the same. Shareholder means ownership. Stakeholder does not directly imply ownership, only that they have a reason to care about the success of a business. Stakeholder is a very broad term.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Partnerships in the business sense is a type of organization. So a partner has a specific legal and fiduciary meaning. A partner has a share in the profit of the business and typically also contributes directly in the running of the business. (this can be searched)

A stakeholder is simply some party or individual with an interest or is affected by the business. It could be a neighbor, an employee, major customer, major supplier, the bank that lends money to the company, the landlord etc etc. It is not a legally defined term normally. The use of this term is informal.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Partnerships in the business sense is a type of organization. So a partner has a specific legal and fiduciary meaning. A partner has a share in the profit of the business and typically also contributes directly in the running of the business. (this can be searched)

A stakeholder is simply some party or individual with an interest or is affected by the business. It could be a neighbor, an employee, major customer, major supplier, the bank that lends money to the company, the landlord etc etc. It is not a legally defined term normally. The use of this term is informal.

Anonymous 0 Comments

A partner generally means the person has some ownership share of the business. It could be large or small amount of ownership. The term partner is usually used for people who are currently active in the business, such as working there, or an important or significant person within the business.

A stakeholder is an overly broad term for someone who has an interest (or in short, they care about) in the businesses’ success. They may or may not have ownership of it. They may (and often do) work at the business, or maybe have invested in the business, or have some other reason to care about the business. Generally someone who is a stakeholder may have the ability to influence the actions of a business, but they don’t necessarily have to. For example, the CFO of a business would be a stakeholder, even if they don’t own the business. They work there, can influence the business, make big decisions and if the business goes up or down, it may affect them and their job.

Note: Stakeholder and shareholder are not the same. Shareholder means ownership. Stakeholder does not directly imply ownership, only that they have a reason to care about the success of a business. Stakeholder is a very broad term.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Partnerships in the business sense is a type of organization. So a partner has a specific legal and fiduciary meaning. A partner has a share in the profit of the business and typically also contributes directly in the running of the business. (this can be searched)

A stakeholder is simply some party or individual with an interest or is affected by the business. It could be a neighbor, an employee, major customer, major supplier, the bank that lends money to the company, the landlord etc etc. It is not a legally defined term normally. The use of this term is informal.

Anonymous 0 Comments

to explain like you’re FIVE YEARS OLD

the partner helps manage the business

the stakeholder just puts money into the business and waits to get even more money back from the business based on how they perform.

often the stakeholder gets together and votes with other stakeholders about company decisions but the partner is responsible for day to day management stuff.

Anonymous 0 Comments

to explain like you’re FIVE YEARS OLD

the partner helps manage the business

the stakeholder just puts money into the business and waits to get even more money back from the business based on how they perform.

often the stakeholder gets together and votes with other stakeholders about company decisions but the partner is responsible for day to day management stuff.

Anonymous 0 Comments

to explain like you’re FIVE YEARS OLD

the partner helps manage the business

the stakeholder just puts money into the business and waits to get even more money back from the business based on how they perform.

often the stakeholder gets together and votes with other stakeholders about company decisions but the partner is responsible for day to day management stuff.

Anonymous 0 Comments

With your updated clarification it seems you are talking about roles on a project or initiative within a company, not the company itself.

A stakeholder is someone who has an interest in the what the project/initiative/effort is.

A partner is someone who will be co-operating with others to do the planned effort.

For example, if your company is a retail store with a few locations and you are going to buy new cash register (Point of sale or POS) software, your stakeholders are everyone impacted: the sales people, the store managers, the finance people that use the software to keep the accounts, and probably whoever manages stock and places orders based on information from the software. Stakeholders (should) have a say in how the new project results will function, since it will change how they do their work.

Partners are those who would work on delivering the new software and training to everyone: the IT people, anyone who would write documentation or provide training or testing. If the project is actually building the software, an experienced individual from finance may be a partner, as could a representative of store operations who would help design the software, even though they are not writing the software. Depending on the business, a product owner/manager and/or project manager may be involved as partners.

If you are affected by the project, or have a say in what it should or should not do, you are a stakeholder. If your work brings the project about, you are a partner.

This use is commonly found when talking about product management and project management.

Businesses can use these terms to refer to the company ownership itself, but that seems to be a different use case than what you are asking.

“Partner” can also mean part-owner in a business firm, such as a lawyer who is a co-owner in the firm. This is a different use of the word.

Stakeholder is sometimes used to refer to shareholders, or people that own a stake/stock in a company but generally do not influence day-to-day decisions.