Merck's CEO Ray Gilmartin is a significant stakeholder in the company. Since a lot of Mercks' products patents will be expiring in the next few years Gilmartin put a big emphasis on investing into the companies research and development of new products. Gilmartin wanted this company to really focus on coming out with new products because their bottom line was going to take a hit in the next few years once the patent on their big money products runs out. Gilmartin found it an ideal time to invest in R&D while many of the other companies were investing in mergers which he saw as only a short term gain
Pfizer Company
Pfizer is a stakeholder in the Merck company simply because Pfizer is their major competitor. Pfizer is
easily affected by Mercks' activities and decisions because they have an inverse relationship, meaning the success of one of these companies means the other company suffers in that market share. Pfizer was competing with Merck to develop a Cox-2 inhibitor first and Pfizer won. Coming out with the drug first was said to reap significant advantages, so obviously they wanted Merck to fail with their research so they could profit the most from this drug.
Patients/ Users of the drug
The patients and Users of these drugs hold a stake in the company because they are the ones who can either be affected positively or negatively from these drugs. These stakeholders need and want the company to come out with safe and effective drugs so they can live health lives.
Merck R&D Labs/ Employees
Another stakeholder in the firm are the employees who work at the firm. These employees range from the scientists of the firm to the president of the research labs, Dr. Ed Scilnick. These people are the ones running the tests and doing the research of the drugs to make sure they are safe and effective also developing drugs that you can take one pill a day with limited side affects and in a heavy dose. The employees are investing themselves into the company because if they don't do their jobs to the best of their abilities or better than the rest they could potentially lose their jobs.
FDA
Lastly the U.S. Food and Drug Administration holds a stake in the firm because they directly affect the firms because this is the Administration that regulates all the drugs in the U.S. They approve that certain drugs are safe and can potentially terminate a drug if it isn't up to standards. This Administration wants companies to make medicine for the people and not for profit.