To bribe or to convince? Political stakeholders and political activities in German multinational corporations

Abstract

In this paper, the relevance of political stakeholders and political activities in German multinational corporations (MNCs) is examined. The focus is on three main questions: First, which political stakeholders influence the behavior of MNCs? Second, which political activities do MNCs develop to cope with stakeholder interests? Third, how are political stakeholders and political activities influenced by situational conditions? A seemingly unrelated regression (SUREG) analysis of data collected from the largest 19 German MNCs in their home country and in their subsidiaries in China, France, India, Russia, and the US demonstrates that the influence of political stakeholders increases with the size of the MNC. Both the relevance of political stakeholders and the intensity of political activities depend on several country- and firm-specific conditions. Moreover, a strong influence due to the impact of political stakeholders on the intensity of political activities can be observed.