The scams and scandals across the globe and the deteriorating moral standards within business organizations have highlighted the need for a change in approach towards the very purpose of business. Keeping this in mind, there is a need to identify a comprehensive and holistic approach to corporate management which brings benefits and ensures welfare of all the concerned constituents. This was led to the emergence of the concept, `Stakeholder Management', which is comprehensive, and has a multidisciplinary, analytical applicability and multidimensional approach. It has as much relevance in the social sectors as it has in the corporate sectors. This paper is based on a preliminary literature review done in the area of Corporate Stakeholder Management and makes an attempt to highlight three major aspects relating to this concept. It highlights the various definitions and terminologies associated with this concept; gives the criteria for identification of important organizational stakeholders and highlights the different classifications of organizational stakeholders as proposed by a number of researchers and scholars. At the end of the study, certain gaps which exist in the existing literature as regards certain areas wherein further research work can be undertaken, have been mentioned.

Juha Nasi (1995) highlights the need for a Stakeholder Theory and states that it is obvious that there has always been a need for a theory of the firm which gives due weight to the social aspects of the firm. At this point in time, however, that need seems to be very important. Internationalization and globalization in the business world are facts and not just slogans. The world is shrinking, communications are developing at high speed and borders are being opened up. For many companies, markets mean the whole world. Today's situation is totally different from that ten years ago, wherein companies, units and people have internationalized. Under the present conditions, there is a social need for social theories of the firm; and stakeholderism is one such theory. It has the virtue of being comprehensive and promises to develop theories in the future. The task ahead, is to develop and refine stakeholder theory so that firms and society can benefit from its full potential.

Definition, Identification and Classification of Stakeholders: Literature Review, business organizations, corporate management, Stakeholder Management, multidisciplinary, analytical applicability, organizational stakeholders, Internationalization and globalization, social aspects.