Corporate Political Strategy Research Articles

Revealing the influence of food industry actors in relation to nutritional policies in Belgium

Abstract Unhealthy food is one of the prevailing risk factors of NCDs and cancers, making the food industry a key player in their prevention. However, evidence-based public health policies aimed at reducing consumption of unhealthy food, may threaten industry sales. In response, food industry actors try to influence the development and implementation of these nutritional policies by engaging in corporate political activities (CPA). As part of the Joint Action PreventNCD, the CPA of relevant food industry actors in relation to public health nutritional policies will be assessed. In Belgium, strategies of Fevia, the umbrella organization of the food industry, are examined. This study analyses publicly available information collected from Fevia’s website, social media accounts (i.e. X and LinkedIn), newsletters and newspapers. A thematic qualitative analysis is conducted using established frameworks to categorize both framing and action strategies used by the industry. The categorization of framing strategies reveals how the food industry presents the actors, problems, and solutions. The framework of action strategies categorizes the CPA of the food industry under the following six strategies: information and messaging; financial incentives; constituency building; legal action; policy substitution; opposition fragmentation and destabilization. Preliminary results indicate that the industry often frames itself as ‘the good actor’ and primarily uses strategies such as ‘information and messaging’, ‘constituency building’ and ‘policy substitution’ to influence policies in Belgium in their favor. In the next phase, interviews with stakeholders (e.g. policymakers, politicians,...) will be performed to collect undocumented information. Overall, this research sheds light on the ongoing CPA of the food industry and will increase transparency in their influence on the development and implementation of effective nutritional policies aimed at reducing the burden of NCDs and cancers. Key messages • This study reveals how the umbrella organization of the food industry in Belgium influences public health nutritional policies through various corporate political action and framing strategies. • Identifying these CPA increases awareness of the industry’s influence, but also promotes their transparency and accountability, which is crucial for reliable and effective nutritional policy.

Indirect corporate political strategy in cross-border acquisitions: influence of political affinity on target-dependent firm lobbying

Purpose To mitigate the impact of legitimacy concerns, firms often depend on strategic partnerships that enable them to navigate both complex political landscapes and regulatory environments. In this paper, the authors expand research into the dynamics of indirect and collective forms of corporate political activities (CPA), particularly focusing on multinational enterprises (MNEs) originating from countries with low political affinity with the host country and its allies. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample consisting of 2,173 friendly acquisitions in the USA made by 1,612 foreign acquirers originating from 66 countries, the authors used Tobit regression analysis to test the direct and moderating hypotheses. Findings The empirical evidence shows that acquiring MNEs grappling with heightened legitimacy issues due to low political affinity between the involved countries are more inclined to leverage target firms for effective lobbying resources. This tendency is amplified when the multilateral political affinity between the home and the host country's allies is also considered. Originality/value The evolving nature of global politics and the increasing scrutiny of corporate-political interactions necessitate a deeper understanding of indirect CPA strategies. The findings of this research shed light on how bilateral and multilateral political relations affect MNEs’ corporate political activities, specifically in the form of indirect, collective lobbying.

Strategic Argumentation for Corporate Political Strategy Success in the De-Globalization Era

Strategic Argumentation for Corporate Political Strategy Success in the De-Globalization Era

The role of metaphor in the corporate political strategies of health harming industries: Comparing the concept of balance in the gambling and opioid industry discourses

Scholars have identified notable similarities between the political strategies employed by health-harming industries. This includes similarities in the narratives employed by industry actors seeking to oppose public health regulations that threaten their commercial interests. This study seeks to examine the use of a specific concept – the balance metaphor – in the policy discourses of two health-harming industries. Namely, the pharmaceutical industry implicated in the prescription opioid crisis in the US, and the UK gambling industry, whose products and practices are associated with a serious, but largely neglected, series of harms. We first review research on metaphors, demonstrating how this provides additional theoretically-informed concepts with which to understand how industry discourse circumscribes the terrain of policy debates in ways amenable to commercial interests. Building from these insights, we conducted a rhetorical analysis, examining how the concept of balance is employed by different actors in distinct contexts to shape understandings of the social and policy problems associated with gambling and opioid products and to promote industry-favourable regulatory responses to these. This brings a micro-level of analysis to supplement previous meso- and macro-level scholarship in this space. We use our findings to argue that the depoliticization of the policy process and objectivization of the policy space – in ways that obscure its contingent and political nature – through discourses of balance is itself an arch political act. Examining the metaphors used in policy debates and their functions provides important insights that can be used to inform the construction of counter-narratives to industry-favourable discourses, including the creative use of novel metaphors in the service of public health goals.

Performance implications of a corporate political strategy in Chinese firms: State versus market logics in different institutional settings

This study investigated the performance implications of private firms appointing their CEOs to serve as the firms' Communist Party Secretaries in China. Integrating insights from the corporate political strategy literature and institutional theory, this study used a panel dataset of Chinese privately controlled and listed firms covering 2008 through 2019 to investigate CEO/Communist Party Secretary duality as a special political strategy. The effect on firm performance was shown to vary depending on the institutional environment in which a firm operated. CEO/Communist Party Secretary duality enhanced firm performance for firms in less developed regions, where state logic was more influential. But it hampered firm performance in better developed regions, where market logic was more influential. Furthermore, indicators of firms’ inclination to state logic versus market logic were found to influence the effectiveness of CEO/Communist Party Secretary duality on firm performance.

Non-market strategies in weak institutional environments: The case of MNE subsidiaries in Cameroon

This study seeks to understand why and how multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries use non-market strategies to establish legitimacy in weak institutional environments. By adopting an in-depth qualitative approach, we explore the non-market strategies enacted by four MNE subsidiaries operating in Cameroon. We find that MNE subsidiaries endeavour to gain legitimacy and social reputation in weak institutional environments by engaging with multiple local stakeholders through corporate social responsibility and political non-market strategies. Our findings support the previous studies on emerging African markets that the host-country government remains the most critical and challenging stakeholder. However, firms experience legitimacy risks due to their strong ties with the government during periods of political and social instability. The subsidiaries mesh social with political strategies and use them as complementary strategies for developing their social reputation and gaining social license to operate in the host market, thus mitigating social and political risks from aligning with the host government. We draw implications of these findings for research and practice.

Unpacking firm political dependence: how administrative hierarchical distance affects corporate environmental information disclosure

This article explores the diverse response strategies concerning environmental information disclosure (EID) among firms affiliated to different political hierarchies. Drawing on resource dependence theory (RDT), we hypothesize a U-shaped relationship between a firm’s administration hierarchical distance (AHD) and its EID. The relationship is also contingent on the scope of dependence, as reflected in two resource-based components: (i) firms with or without political connections, and (ii) varying levels of corporate innovation capability. Using data from Chinese listed companies in polluting industries, we document that firms with medium AHD have the weakest EID, while firms with shorter or longer AHD exhibit higher EID to maintain institutional or gain competitive resource, respectively. This pattern is stronger for non-politically connected and low-innovation firms. Our research not only enriches RDT on corporate political strategies by unpacking firm political dependency, but also contributes to the emerging work on the pluralistic perspective on government.

Agnogenic practices and corporate political strategy: the legitimation of UK gambling industry-funded youth education programmes.

Agnogenic practices-designed to create ignorance or doubt-are well-established strategies employed by health-harming industries (HHI). However, little is known about their use by industry-funded organizations delivering youth education programmes. We applied a previously published framework of corporate agnogenic practices to analyse how these organizations used them in three UK gambling industry-funded youth education programmes. Evidential strategies adopted previously by other HHI are prominent in the programmes' practitioner-facing materials, evaluation design and reporting and in public statements about the programmes. We show how agnogenic practices are employed to portray these youth education programmes as 'evidence-based' and 'evaluation-led'. These practices distort the already limited evidence on these educational initiatives while legitimizing industry-favourable policies, which prioritize commercial interests over public health. Given the similarities in political strategies adopted by different industries, these findings are relevant to research and policy on other HHI.

Synergy or Antagonism? The Impact of Corporate Political and Social Strategies on Firm's Innovation Performance

Synergy or Antagonism? The Impact of Corporate Political and Social Strategies on Firm's Innovation Performance

Political connection heterogeneity and firm innovation: An investigation of privately controlled, publicly listed firms in China

AbstractThis study investigates the influence of ascribed and achieved political connections on corporate strategies of incremental versus radical innovation. The corporate political strategy literature maintains that while politically connected firms have access to resources controlled by the government, they also have an obligation to reciprocate for this access by fulfilling government expectations. We integrate an institutional perspective with the political strategy literature to develop the argument that ascribed political connections enhance incremental innovation because firms with these connections will tend to innovate just enough to meet government expectations. In contrast, firms with achieved political connections will tend to prefer radical innovation because these innovations help them to maintain their relationships with the government and expand their competitive advantage in the market. Furthermore, we propose that these effects depend on firms' innovation orientation, captured by the firms' technological capability, industry characteristics, and the innovation context of their geographical region. Our predictions are largely supported by analysis of a panel dataset of privately controlled, publicly listed Chinese firms during the period 2008 to 2018. Our findings reveal that the positive effect of ascribed political connections on incremental innovation is less salient when a firm has stronger technological capability, or when a firm operates in a high‐tech industry or a region with a strong innovative climate. Conversely, the positive influence of achieved political connections on radical innovation is stronger when a firm has stronger technological capability, or when a firm competes in a high‐tech industry or is located in a region with a strong innovative climate. We also discuss the important implications for firms and the government.

Food for thought: a look at the food industry’s corporate political activity in Portugal

Abstract Background Corporate political activity (CPA) stands for the strategies used by industries to attempt at influencing government policymaking in ways that are beneficial to the company. In the food industry context, these often collide with public health concerns, constituting a major barrier to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) prevention efforts. This study aimed to characterise the CPA activity of the food industry in the Portuguese context. Methods The methodology conceptualised by Mialon et al. (2015) to identify and monitor the CPA activity of the food industry concerning public health was used in this study. Prominent food industry actors were selected, including processed food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers, fast food companies, and food retailers. To depict current practices, publicly available information from 2019 onwards was collected from the 7 selected food industry actors’ websites. A thematic qualitative analysis was performed by classifying the retrieved content according to the 6 CPA framework categories and subcategories. Results Collected data indicate that out of the 151 analysed written records, nearly half were information and messaging CPA strategies that mostly frame the debate on diet and public health-related issues. Constituency building through seeking community involvement was the second most represented category. Policy substitution was barely present, whereas financial incentive, legal, and opposition fragmentation and destabilisation strategies were not identified. Most of the coded content was retrieved from McDonald's and the Dairy Industry National Association websites. Conclusions Recognising the CPA strategies used by the food industry will enable more targeted and informed decisions at the public health intervention and policy levels. Notably, more attention should be paid to the way the food industry frames the diet and public health debate to avoid misinformation among consumers. Key messages • Addressing the global burden of noncommunicable diseases implies recognising corporate political activity strategies used by the food industry that counteract NCDs prevention efforts. • The way the food industry frames the diet and public health debate should be of concern to public health professionals and policymakers to prevent misinformation among consumers.

CEO Characteristics and Corporate Political Strategy: The Moderating Effects of CEO Duality

By relying on upper echelons theory and agency theory, this study explores how CEO characteristics impact firms’ engagement in corporate political strategy (CPS). The current study proposes that depending on their CEOs’ tenure, firms have different interests and incentives to make CPS investments. In addition, this study suggests that CEOs’ personal involvement in political activity affects their firms’ CPS investments. CEOs’ personal involvement in political activity could indicate agency problems between shareholders and CEOs. To explore this agency problem further, this study also examines how CEO duality moderates the relationship between CEO characteristics and CPS. This study uses a sample of 416 pharmaceutical firms in the U.S. from the year 2000 ­– 2010. The results show that CEO tenure positively affects CPS. Furthermore, CEOs’ personal involvement in political activity also positively influences CPS. The results also reveal that CEO duality weakens the relationship between CEO tenure and CPS.

Institutional Divide, Political Ties, and Contested Corporate Governance Reform in Taiwan

AbstractThis study attempts to address the question of under what conditions political ties buffer firms from, or bind firms to, political pressure. We draw attention to the institutional divide between the executive and legislative branches of a presidential democracy. Using the case of Taiwan, a ‘third wave’ democracy with relatively strong state intervention, we argue that the two branches differ in their respective institutional roles, basis of legitimacy, and resources in a context in which the regime is seeking to fulfil its national agenda and please floating voters. We posit that corporate ties to these respective branches exert divergent influence on the adoption of government‐initiated but highly contested corporate governance reforms. Ties to the executive branch push firms to reform because they depend on the government for resources, while ties to the legislative branch act as a buffer to reform as legislators court the support of firms in pursuit of electoral gains. Empirical analysis of reforms to enhance board independence from 2002 to 2005 supports our thesis. Our study contributes to research on corporate political strategy and corporate governance reform, revealing how the structural fragmentation of the state can give rise to conflicting roles of political ties to different branches.

The opioid industry document archive: New directions in research on corporate political strategy.

The opioid crisis in the United States has resulted in more than 500,000 deaths since 1999, and recent estimates suggest that attributable deaths could reach 842,000 by 2032. While heroin and synthetic products such as fentanyl now account for the majority of opioid overdoses, the prescription opioid crisis that emerged in the mid-1990s was the primary antecedent to the current situation. Recent settlements in litigation against opioid producers, suppliers and retailers has resulted in the release of almost 2.5 million previously confidential internal documents that have been made publicly accessible via the online Opioid Industry Documents Archive, a collaboration between the University of California, San Francisco and Johns Hopkins University. These corporate records provide critical insights into the operations and strategies of manufacturers and other actors in the opioid supply chain. This article describes the provenance of the opioid documents and their potential value as a research resource. It then outlines methodological approaches to their analysis, drawing on comparisons in conducting research using the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents. The Opioid Industry Documents Archive is a new and important addition to existing industry document collections that enable scrutiny and analysis of the role of corporate actors in determining health outcomes. Beyond their immediate application to researching the corporate and regulatory foundations of the current opioid crisis, the opioid document collections will contribute to a greater understanding of the commercial determinants of public health by providing means to better locate the causes of public health crises, identify politically acceptable solutions to their resolution, and inform strategies for preventing future corporate-driven epidemics.

Barriers and Facilitators Related to the Adoption of Policies to Reduce Ultra-Processed Foods Consumption: A Scoping Review

to conduct a scoping review to answer the question "What factors have influenced the adoption of food taxes, front-of-pack labeling and restrictions on marketing to children?". A scoping review was developed from four databases. Studies that described and analyzed policy processes were included. Analysis was performed to identify the barriers and enablers mentioned under the guidance of Swinburn et al., Huang et al., Mialon et al., and Kingdon. 168 documents were identified, describing experiences from five regions or groups and 23 countries, which have generated 1584 examples of 52 enablers (689 examples; 43.5%) and 55 barriers (895 examples; 56.5%) that may have influenced policies. The main enablers were related to the government environment and governance and to civil society strategies. Corporate political activity strategies were the main examples of barriers. This scoping review consolidated barriers and facilitators related to policies aimed at reducing ultra-processed foods consumption, demonstrating that factors related to the actions of governments and civil society are the main facilitators. On the other hand, as the most interested actor in promoting the consumption of these products, the strategies adopted by the companies that produce these products constitute the main barrier to these policies in all the studied countries and should be overcome.

Resource dependence theory in international business: Progress and prospects

AbstractResearch SummaryResource dependence theory (RDT) has been widely applied in the context of international business (IB) over the past four decades. This study reviews and synthesizes the insights of RDT in IB literature accumulated over the past 40 years and derives an integrative addendum for future research. We highlight three critical dependence dimensions (i.e., locational, interorganizational, and intraorganizational dependencies) and three essential RDT themes (i.e., dependence solutions, dependence‐managing outcomes, and macro environmental conditions of RDT) in the IB context. Our review concludes that the IB literature has reached a good level of conceptual and empirical consensus concerning how multinational corporations (MNCs) take a large array of resource dependence actions and manage their resource dependence in various situations. We also find a strong need for further extension of RDT in IB research, offering suggestions for future research, including additional theoretical integration, underlying processes, and new dynamics that change the course of cross‐border interdependencies under the new global reality.Managerial SummaryThis study systematically reviews the stock of knowledge over the past 40 years on how the logic of resource dependencies unfolds in IB practices (e.g., cross‐border M&As, alliances and joint ventures, global supply chains, corporate political strategies, headquarters‐subsidiary relationships, and upper‐echelon decisions). Our findings and conclusions offer a decision roadmap for IB practitioners to assess various resource dependence situations with external and internal stakeholders in IB operations and to effectively manage such interdependencies. We also elaborate on the important implications of MNCs' strategies for effectively managing their resource dependencies in international exchanges in the modern world, which is characterized by the coexistence of trends leading of both globalization and de‐globalization.

Cross-Domain Competition: Integration of Competitive Strategy and Corporate Political Strategy

While competitive actions focus on a firm's competitive advantage and performance in the competitive domain, corporate political activities deal primarily with the firm's relationship with the government in the political domain to improve both its legitimacy and competitive advantage. Will an attack by a rival multinational enterprise in the competitive domain trigger a response in the political domain? What are the rationales and determinants of such a cross-parry between the two domains? Building on the literature of multimarket competition and corporate political activities, we examine the joint deployment of competitive strategy and political strategy and advance a theory of cross-domain competition between multinational enterprises. Specifically, we systematically examine the determinants of the attacked multinational enterprise's choice of responses to an attack in the competitive domain (i.e., no response, response in the competitive domain only, response in the political domain only, or responses in both domains simultaneously), focusing on the differentials between the attacking MNE and attacked MNE in each domain and the differentials in their cross-domain coordination, also taking into account the impact of the types and characteristics of the attacks as well as the concerns and expectations of the third-party players such as other rivals and stakeholders. Our integrative account of cross-domain competition will help enhance our understanding of how a multinational enterprise simultaneously manages its competitive actions and political actions against the same rivals and contribute to the integration of competitive strategy and corporate political strategy.

The Art of Blending Stakeholders: Bootlegger & Baptist Coalitions in Corporate Constituency-Building

Constituency-building is an important yet underappreciated corporate political strategy. In contrast to conventional strategies, such as lobbying and campaign contributions involving direct interactions with policymakers, constituency-building expands the scope of conflict by mobilizing stakeholders to pressure policymakers. Although prior studies of constituency-building have highlighted how enlisting stakeholders in political battles creates unique opportunities and risks, what has often been overlooked is the importance of blending “strange bedfellows” of economically- and morally-motivated constituents, sometimes called bootlegger-and-Baptist coalitions. Drawing on theories developed in political science, regulatory economics, and corporate political strategy, we advance a theoretical framework to examine (a) the motivations of policymakers and stakeholders, which constitute the theoretical basis for constituency-building strategies; (b) the tradeoffs of creating blended coalitions consisting of parties who have distinct motives for moral legitimacy or economic interest; and (c) how blended coalitions may take distinct overt, covert, or tacit forms. We also differentiate between campaigns that take place at the firm- versus industry-level. We develop propositions to advance theory development on constituency-building, linked to stakeholder mobilization and social movement approaches. We offer wide-ranging real-world examples to provide guidance to empirical research.

The Activation of Social Networks: Evidence from Corporate Political and Family Connections

Political connections are critical social capital to modern business, especially in emerging markets. Whether political connection triggers cost or benefits to connected firms is yet to be concluded. Instead, based on the theory of social status attainment, we propose that firms commit symbolic compliance (i.e., high-quality information disclosure) to activate the political rewards capital from political ties (i.e., state bank loans or government subsidies). We further theorize the complementary relationship between family and political capital in such an activation process. Contextualized in a panel dataset of Chinese private listed firms, we found solid supports for the compliance-exploitation actions by politically connected firms. Moreover, the political rewards become restrained whilst symbolic compliance tends to be stronger when the firm already has family capital. Overall, the study advances the literature on corporate political strategies by introducing the concept of political capital activation. It also presents new evidence of the complementary relationship between the political capital and family capital to corporate strategies.

Ascribed Political Connections and Firms’ Bribery in the Aftermath of Anticorruption Campaigns

We construct a theoretical model to understand how firms adapt their corporate political strategy when political officials reshuffle in the aftermath of anticorruption initiatives. We delineate two types of bribery, i.e., greasing bribery and paving bribery, and posit that in the aftermath of anticorruption campaigns, firms with ascribed political connections, i.e., state-owned enterprises (“insiders”) reduce their expenditures on greasing bribery, while firms without ascribed political connections, i.e., family firms (“outsiders”) increase their expenditures on paving bribery. These effects are strengthened when firms are more reliant on government. Our theoretical predictions are supported by the evidence from Chinese listed firms between 2007 and 2018.