End users are the only stakeholders that are involved in the preparation of a negotiation.

Commercial negotiation objectives should be driven by the business needs of the organisation. Organisations are made up of different stakeholder groups, some of whom may have different, even conflicting objectives. From a negotiation perspective, stakeholders can be defined as persons or groups that have interest (or stake) in the outcome of the negotiation you are leading or participating in.

CIPS distinguishes between 3 sets of stakeholders:

- Internal stakeholders

- Connected stakeholders

- External stakeholders

End-users are examples of internal stakeholders. They are the people who will benefit from the purchase of a product or service. However, their interest may conflict with other groups, i.e. thebudget controllers whose objective is minimising the expense. In negotiation perspective, procurement should involve different groups of stakeholder.

LO 1, AC 1.1