Short answers, pulled from the story.
A 1963 internal memorandum at the Stanford Research Institute first used the word stakeholder to describe groups without whose support an organization would cease to exist. This definition emerged from a specific moment in business history when researchers began mapping relationships beyond simple ownership.
R. Edward Freeman later developed and championed this theory during the 1980s. His work transformed the term from a brief memo note into a central concept for strategic management.
Stockholders, customers, suppliers, creditors, and employees form this core group of internal participants. Primary stakeholders usually engage directly in economic transactions with a business.
Dr. Lynda Bourne developed a maturity model for organizational implementation of Stakeholder Relationship Management in 2007. Her work helps organizations identify all persons who contributed voluntarily or involuntarily to wealth-creating capacity and activities.
Robert Allen Phillips provides moral foundations for stakeholder theory through his work Stakeholder Theory and Organizational Ethics. He defends a principle of stakeholder fairness based on John Rawls philosophical contributions regarding justice and rights.