Aligning CPA and CSR: Enhancing Competitiveness through Nonmarket Processes and Practices

Abstract

Interest in the effective management of stakeholder relationships has surged in recent years. Governments stand out as one of the major stakeholders for companies in the post-2008 crisis era, whether acting as regulators, owners, customers or guarantors of many more industries than was the case before the financial crisis. Consequently, the challenge of managing external stakeholder relationships constitutes one of the main priorities of managers nowadays. This practical development comes alongside an increase in research into how the management of an organization's political strategy impacts on its overall competitiveness. However, focusing solely on the corporate political strategy of the firm neglects the management of relationships with other key external stakeholders, particularly through corporate social strategies. For this reason, an increasing number of studies are urging us to understand nonmarket strategies as the alignment or integration of two pillars, namely corporate political and corporate social strategies. These developments present companies with strategic challenges that are gaining increased attention from management and organization scholars. Primarily, the focus has been on the issue of how companies engage with governments in a legitimate but effective manner. However, an important aspect of this debate that has so far been largely overlooked is how firms can use the complementarity of their corporate political and social strategies to enhance their competitiveness in the marketplace, not only in terms of performance but also in terms of capability upgrade and acquisition. The focus of this panel symposium is on the practice issues associated with the pursuit of an effective nonmarket strategy that enhances the competitiveness of firms. Therefore, the themes addressed will include the challenges of effectively aligning the two pillars of nonmarket strategy (corporate political activity and corporate social responsibility) as well as the effect of nonmarket processes and practices on the enhancement (or lack of thereof) of the competitiveness of firms (e.g., capability acquisition and upgrade and organizational performance). This will provide insights on the issues that firms are facing in implementing effective nonmarket strategies.