Introduction

This chapter examines the strengths and weaknesses of stakeholder theory and begins by tracing the genesis of the theory in relation to business management. The flexibility and the widespread application of stakeholder theory across a range of sport management and policy issues are acknowledged and illustrated. Among the weaknesses identified are the lack of definitional clarity of key concepts such as ‘a stake’ and ‘stakeholding’, the difficulty of distinguishing between types of stakeholders, the treatment of power within the theory and the extent to which the theory is applicable outside western capitalist economies. The chapter continues with a discussion of other theories of interorganisational relations and their potential as alternatives or complements to stakeholder theory. The chapter concludes with a summary of the contributions to the collection.