Stakeholders gripped by the bad news coming from BAE Systems

Bad news this week from Britain’s second biggest manufacturing employer (the biggest is here), BAE Systems (formerly British Aerospace). The company is threatening to cut 3,000 jobs, many of them in highly skilled and technical roles making aircraft. The reasons for this are interesting enough, but I was drawn to an article because I’d been thinking about business stakeholders. Bad business news – on this scale – reveals just how many people have a stake in the business.

The article lists stakeholders in this order:

- MPs and government representatives worried by everything from the economic impact to the military significance of the move.
- Unions, anxious to defend the interests of their members, many of whom work for the firm.
- Local councils, especially in the north of England who are anxious about the impact on employment and communities.
- BAE shareholders who are presumably keen to cut costs and so defend the profits they hope to earn.
- Customers, who are cutting back on their purchases of jet fighter planes (and ultimately, these customers are taxpayers like you and me).
- Suppliers to the firm. There’s a strong possibility that thousands more extra jobs will be lost as suppliers take a hit.
- The staff who stand to lose their skilled jobs after many years of service.
- Apprentices who planned to start their careers with the firm.
- The local community, which will have lower wages and spending power (affecting local businesses too). Some areas affected by job losses may get more houses built nearby.
- There will be others too, I’m sure ...