Discussion Prompt: Aligning Stakeholder Interests with Your Own

In the 3 Important Aspects of Financial Decisions lecture, Arshad referenced a variety of stakeholders and stakeholder interests integral to financial decisions:

• Banker
• Shareholder
• Bondholder
• Lender
• Borrower
• Employee
• Employer
• Community citizen
• Government official
• Manager
• Activist

Answer the questions below in this discussion thread:

Part 1: Which role(s) do you identify with most? The least? Which role(s) do you support the interests of the most with your current spending and saving habits? Are these stakeholders aligned with your interests? Which stakeholders would you like to support?

Part 2: Choose a local, national, or global financial issue – one you can find in your newspaper, online news source, or is represented in popular culture (tv, movies, etc.). Regarding this issue, which of these stakeholder roles are benefitting the most? The least?

Part 3: Considering your answers to Parts 1 & 2 of this activity, brainstorm ways that you can re-adjust your actions and decisions so that your interests are better aligned with those stakeholders you want to support.

Answers:

Part 1: I identify with shareholder, bondholder, employee and community citizen the most. The least are banker, lender, employer, government official and manager. With my current spending and saving habits, I support the interests of shareholder, employee and community citizen. These stakeholders are also who I am so they do align with my interests. I would like to support stakeholders that I identify with.

Part 2: The financial issue I found is “Small banks are gaining a bigger share of the Dutch mortgage market”. Lender and community citizens should have the most benefits.

Part 3: It’s the mortgage market so as a community citizen I should already be aligned with the stakeholders. Perhaps I can invest in small banks to help them rise their values in the market to help more citizens?