This article presents empirical evidence of stakeholding in the local government context. It is the result of a
survey carried out with English Local Authorities in 2001. It outlines the arena in which local government make
decisions by pinpointing the relevant stakeholders in the process as well as the amount of power they are
perceived to represent by chief executives. The investigation has its theoretical basis in resource dependence and
institutional theories, which are commonly used for explaining an organization’s behaviour and performance as
influenced by its environment. As an empirical contribution, the article proposes a stakeholder map for any kind
of local government organizations that will help in identifying strategies for managing stakeholders.
