Identification and classification of stakeholders in a brazilian professional soccer club

Abstract

One initial step in the management of stakeholders is the identification and classification of these actors. This study sought to answer the research question: how managers of Brazilian professional soccer clubs identify and classify their stakeholders? For this purpose we used the theoretical framework Stakeholder Theory, developed by Freeman (1984) and other researchers. We used the method proposed by Almeida et al. (2000), which assesses the saliency through the concepts power, legitimacy, and urgency, which were proposed in the study by Mitchell et al. (1997). There were two propositions concerning the context of Brazilian soccer clubs: first, the urgency perceived by managers in demands of a stakeholder is high when his legitimacy is high; second, the most salient stakeholders for managers are those with high legitimacy. Stakeholders were studied as perceived by the managers of Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras. Three types of stakeholders were classified as demanding (sponsors, partners and the partner for the construction of the new stadium), and three as dependents (members, athletes of professional soccer team and media). Other stakeholders identified were classified as irrelevant, including fans and the organized groups of fans. In the specific case of these managers of this particular soccer club, the trend was the acceptance of both propositions.