Stanford University (1960s) definition of stakeholders: All parties without whom a business cannot exist. 

Each stakeholder has a relationship with each other and with the business. Self-interest, relative power, and dispersion form the basis of the behaviour within those relationships.

– society is a highly disperse stakeholder in relation to a business: who is going to represent its interests?

-creditors have a lot of power to force a business to make cashflow and repay debt. They are concentrated (e.g., banks) whose self-interest favours safer projects that guarantee cashflow instead of longer-term, higher risk/return projects. (consider that if a company does really well in the long-term, a creditor still earns 3 or 4% on their loan!)