Corporate diplomacy

Abstract

Global corporations have the power and resources to be a force for change and to enrich the soft power of the nation with which they are associated. Corporate diplomacy, the involvement of corporations as nonstate actors in PD, has gained traction in recent years, but the motivations, functions, and country and cultural differences are understudied. Key issues are strategic coordination between business and governments, and how intentionality and coordination differ among countries based on infrastructural variables including political, economic, and sociocultural structures. Studies are needed to separate the concept of corporate diplomacy from the concept of business diplomacy, to differentiate diplomatic activities benefiting only the corporation from benefits to broader social issues. A research agenda needs case studies on diplomatic outcomes rather than on analytical lines between governments and nonstate actors, empirical data from different regions to examine stakeholder expectations of corporate diplomatic activities, and examination of corporate involvement in sub-areas of PD such as “city diplomacy” and “cultural diplomacy.”