WHO MATTERS WHEN CRISIS STRIKES? IDENTIFICATION OF RELEVANT STAKEHOLDER GROUPS IN CRISIS HITTEN COMPANIES

Every company is developing under conditions of risk of crisis. Crises are threats to company’s business and they create or have the potential to create negative and unwanted outcomes in terms of efficiency and effectiveness of the business. Stakeholders, especially from the instrumental stakeholder theory perspective, are seen as vitally important in enhancing firm’s competitive position, improving profitability and securing survival and growth. Since different stakeholder groups provide different resources needed for the wealth creation process it is plausible that relative importance of different stakeholder groups changes in crisis environment based on the importance of the resource they control. On the sample of 200 Croatian companies relative importance of eight relevant stakeholder groups: (1) top management, (2) shareholders, (3) employees, (4) customers, (5) suppliers, (6) creditors, (7) government, (8) media provide a framework for better understanding of the role stakeholders play in the company’s recovery process.