1) The document discusses managing for stakeholders, which refers to allocating both value and decision making influence widely among primary stakeholders. Firms that do this are better able to understand stakeholders' utility functions. 2) A stakeholder utility function represents how a stakeholder's welfare is affected by a firm's actions. Understanding these functions allows a firm to act in a way that respects stakeholders. 3) Managing for stakeholders and understanding utility functions can provide competitive advantage by allowing firms to possess valuable, rare, and difficult to imitate resources in the form of strong stakeholder relationships.