Corporate Power Research Articles

Commercial lobbying and political contributions: an Australian scoping review

ObjectiveMany of the most effective and equitable policies to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases threaten the interests of powerful corporations. A first step for public health advocates seeking to challenge powerful corporate interests is to understand the nature and extent of corporate political practices. This scoping review explored public health research on two political practices in Australia: lobbying and political donations. MethodsWe searched six databases, two Google Advanced searches and 11 Australian public health websites. We screened 2866 documents in total, and extracted information about political practices, industry actors and datasets. Results62 studies published between 1980 and 2021 were identified, analysing public health advocacy, policy submissions, direct engagement with government representatives and political donations. We extracted data from 14 studies that focused on direct engagement and/or political donations. Most focused on ‘unhealthy commodity industries.’ ConclusionsAnalysis of lobbying and political contributions in Australia is a nascent but expanding area of public health research. We discuss opportunities for future research to strengthen the evidence base and support public health advocacy to counter harmful corporate practices and promote and protect population health. Implications for Public HealthCountering powerful commercial interests requires greater investment in understanding corporate political activities.

The watchdog role in the age of Big Tech – how news media in the United States and Germany hold Big Tech corporations accountable

ABSTRACT The unprecedented power of Big Tech corporations and the complexity of regulating them requires considering the role of news media as a corporate accountability mechanism. The aim of this article is to examine news media’s watchdog role through a performative lens, extending it to the corporate context by looking at three manifestations of performance: media visibility, way of coverage, and sourcing patterns. Based on a longitudinal quantitative content analysis of 920 news stories on Big Tech from four media outlets (2000–2021) in the United States and Germany, we explain variances in the watchdog role taking an over-time, cross-country, and cross-political leaning perspective. Our findings suggest that Big Tech corporations receive little but increasing media attention over the years that is driven by events. Similarly, news coverage contains an increasingly strong presence of a detached watchdog role performance. A more interventionist watchdog role is also on the rise – even though marginally – and political actors are increasingly given a voice in news coverage. From a comparative perspective, our results show that Big Tech corporations are more visible in the US and across right leaning news outlets. US journalists exhibit a more detached approach, while German journalists perform a significantly higher interventionist performance. Corporate sources are overall prominent in the media arena yet dominate more in the US. In conclusion, US and German news media are critical but passive observers over Big Tech corporations and can therefore be labeled a tame yet increasingly growling watchdog when it comes to holding Big Tech accountable.

Labor Unions and the Problem of Monopoly: Collective Bargaining and Market Governance, 1890 to the Present

The labor movement has long had an ambivalent relationship to antitrust policy in the United States. Trade unionists have considered concentrated markets to be more favorable environments for union power than decentralized markets: oligopoly demands fewer union resources for organizing and contract bargaining campaigns, and oligopolists can tame cutthroat competition and share product market rents with workers. This article takes a different view. Looking to the strategies employed by unions in decentralized industries, where unions rather than corporations took on the role of taming and regulating competition, it explains how unions have leveraged power over market governance into bargaining power over wages and working conditions. In the current age of vertical disintegration and fissured workplaces, union power over market governance is more important to shop-floor power than ever. Antitrust policy is one tool that can help restrain the power of corporations and make them more accountable to workers’ collective power.

Unlocking sustainability? The power of corporate lock-ins and how they shape digital agriculture in Germany

The digital transformation of agriculture is widely presented as a path to sustainability and a win-win strategy that benefits the environment, farmers, and consumers alike. However, recent studies show how the digital economy is characterized by monopoly structures, market concentration and corporate power that determine patterns of control over digital technology, distribution of benefits and value creation from data. In the field of agriculture, there is a lack of empirical research on lock-ins that examines in detail the logic of these effects, the actors, and the power dynamics behind them. Yet such insights are exactly what is needed to better understand the effects and to break unsustainable lock-ins towards more sustainable agri-food systems. Drawing on the literature on the political economy of food and agriculture, and on studies of innovation and sustainability transitions, this article aims to fill this research gap. Based on an empirical case study in Germany, it identifies systemic, technological, data, legal, soft, and discursive lock-ins that reinforce existing power relations and farmers' dependence on corporate agro-industrial farming models. It concludes that sustainable transformations in agriculture require a disruption of the identified lock-ins at multiple levels.

Dynamic modeling of Boiler drum using nonlinear system identification approach

Thermal power generation plays a major role in meeting present-day power demands. Efficient and economic controls of crucial elements like steam boiler section need superior control mechanism to ensure better efficiency. Identification of model, dynamics is a formidable task due to the strong coupling of process variables, nonlinearities in the dynamics and constraints on the control inputs. This paper presents the application of nonlinear modeling techniques to estimate boiler drum dynamics in terms of nonlinear model framework which is one of the important requirements for the design of drum water level controls schemes. The historical plant data for estimation is collected from boiler of 210 MW, Stage-II, Boiler-4 of Dr. Narla Tata Rao Thermal power Corporation (NTTPC) Ibrahimpatnam, Vijayawada. Different operating conditions are selected to estimate the nonlinear dynamics of the boiler to check with the existing Hammerstein, Wiener, model frame works. Later the nonlinear framework is modified to estimate other nonlinearities present in the system. The estimated model responses are presented to check the boiler dynamics.

Subcontracted capitalism and the polemical verification of rights: a Rancièrian interpretation of the politics of transnational private governance in Nike’s global production network

ABSTRACT While some scholars dismiss transnational private governance instruments, such as codes of conduct, social auditing and monitoring initiatives, as an instrument of corporate power, propaganda and control, others provide a positive assessment. This paper criticises both approaches by applying concepts developed by the French philosopher Jacques Rancière. Against the background of worker-driven discontent in the Nike supply chain, the paper argues why a Rancièrian reading may offer an alternative way of conceptualising the politics of transnational private governance, one that provides a more promising way to ‘ground’ it in both conceptual and empirical terms.

The Republic of Korea experience of «Smart-Grid» implementing in the post-war recovery of Ukrainian energy system

The aim of the article. The article is devoted to the investigation of the South Korean experience of the «Smart-Grids» implementation in the post-war recovery of the domestic energy system and modernization of the existing power grids in Ukraine. Analysis results. Analyzed the main provisions of «Smart Grids» in the Law of Ukraine «On Energy Efficiency», which are defined as highly intelligent power grids, which functioning due to the ICT use on the basis of the smart meters, allowing independently and efficiently distribution and to manage the power grid. Emphasized the adopted by Ukrainian Government Concept for the implementation of Smart Grids in Ukraine until 2035, the main task of which is to promote the development of national energy system strategy with the creation of a highly intelligent power grid based on the Information and Communications Technologies. It has been proven that the Republic of Korea is one of the first countries where practically implemented a project of the «Smart Grid» introduction and distribution on South-Korea's Jeju-do island, which combines the concept of «Smart City» and «Smart Factory» based on the use of renewable energy sources. Grid technology is one aspect of a general trend towards smart technologies and a large market for Korean export. Smart-Grid technologies include electrical supply grids that use demand response, connectivity and renewable energy sources which increases the energy efficiency of manufacturing entities and households. Due to the high spread of the Internet of Things all around the world the transition to «Smart-Grid» is an imperative of increasing «Smart City» and «Smart Factory» concept in the sustainable development of a State, which includes the use of wearable technologies. That is why, collecting the large amount of data requires a high speed of the internet networks, like 5G. Conclusions and directions for further research. The issue of the actualizing of bilateral collaboration in the field of «Smart Grid» between Ukraine and the Republic of Korea is extremely important for both countries, because for the successful implementation of «Smart Grid» in the existing domestic realities it is necessary to involve practical South-Korean experience and for Korean business partners – Ukraine is a potential foreign market for technological items export, which requires «Smart Grid» industry. Since the time when «Miracle on the Han River» start, the main goal of the South-Korean Government was to find stable sources of energy supply and to cover electricity demand for heavy-industry manufacturing corporations and households from the sources of cheap energy supply. To achieve such goals was established Government-owned entity «Korea Electric Power Corporation» (KEPCO) and the developing of power industry was based on the large-scale centralized power systems, main aim of which was to reduce the cost of energy for long-term South-Korean economy boost

Corporate Political Activity: Taxonomies and Model of Corporate Influence on Public Policy.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 41 million people a year. The products and services of unhealthy commodity industries (UCIs) such as tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods and beverages and gambling are responsible for much of this health burden. While effective public health policies are available to address this, UCIs have consistently sought to stop governments and global organisations adopting such policies through what is known as corporate political activity (CPA). We aimed to contribute to the study of CPA and development of effective counter-measures by formulating a model and evidence-informed taxonomies of UCI political activity. We used five complementary methods: critical interpretive synthesis of the conceptual CPA literature; brief interviews; expert co-author knowledge; stakeholder workshops; testing against the literature. We found 11 original conceptualisations of CPA; four had been used by other researchers and reported in 24 additional review papers. Combining an interpretive synthesis of all these papers and feedback from users, we developed two taxonomies - one on framing strategies and one on action strategies. The former identified three frames (policy actors, problem, and solutions) and the latter six strategies (access and influence policy-making, use the law, manufacture support for industry, shape evidence to manufacture doubt, displace, and usurp public health, manage reputations to industry's advantage). We also offer an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of UCI strategies and a model that situates industry CPA in the wider social, political, and economic context. Our work confirms the similarity of CPA across UCIs and demonstrates its extensive and multi-faceted nature, the disproportionate power of corporations in policy spaces and the unacceptable conflicts of interest that characterise their engagement with policy-making. We suggest that industry CPA is recognised as a corruption of democracy, not an element of participatory democracy. Our taxonomies and model provide a starting point for developing effective solutions.

Investors versus Workers: A Class‐Based Critique of International Investment Treaties

ABSTRACTBilateral investment treaties constitute an important instrument to facilitate global investment. Recent discussions in political theory have highlighted several normative concerns raised by bilateral investment treaties. One worry is that investment treaties undermine national self‐determination as they grant investors far‐reaching protections that can be legally enforced. Another worry is that the benefits and burdens entailed in bilateral investment treaties are distributed unfairly in a way that benefits investors at the expense of states and disadvantaged groups within states. Instead of critiquing bilateral investment treaties from a perspective of global (distributive) justice, in this article I develop a class‐based critique. This involves a twofold departure. First, the article shifts the focus from distributions to the power relations that are built into the global capitalist economy and that come into sharp relief in the practice of global investment. Second, rather than focusing on the relation between states and investors, I claim that in a class‐based critique the relation between workers and investors should take centre stage. I argue that bilateral investment treaties are effectively an instrument of class domination, insofar as they reproduce and increase the power of transnational corporations while at the same time decreasing the power of workers.

THE EFFECT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF THE 15 TOP LISTED GREEK COMPANIES AND ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Even companies with high stock market values suffered financial setbacks due to the COVID19 pandemic that swept the globe in early 2020. During the COVID-19 period, the environment was characterized as hostile and complex, where the confluence of rapid technological developments on the international chessboard and the rapid globalization of markets brought about universal changes in the status of businesses and their ability to survive in an increasingly and constantly changing competitive global environment. Entrepreneurship is the pillar of business survival, prosperity, and economic growth and is the most critical factor in reducing this negative phenomenon. The study examines the evolution of key accounting indicators found in the financial statements of the fifteen largest companies by market capitalization listed on the Greek stock exchange in 2021. The results of the survey revealed that the fuel production companies HELLENIC PETROLEUM and MOTOR OIL as well as the vehicle rental company AUTOHELLAS were the most negatively impacted due to the significant decline in turnover. The study analysed data before and during the pandemic in 2018–2019 and 2020–2021. PPC (public power corporation), on the other hand, benefited greatly from the pandemic as a result of lower electricity generation costs from falling oil prices.

Intercultural Competence as a Condition for the Formation and Development (Improvement) of Soft Skills for Future Top Managers of International Financial Corporations

"The modern development of the information society, globalization processes, as well as the development of the international community at the economic, cultural and political levels, places new demands on the formation of the competencies of managers of powerful corporations, their training, as well as the conditions for the performance of their duties, which determines the relevance of this article. The purpose of the article is the analysis of intercultural competence as a condition for the formation and development (or improvement) of soft skills for future top managers of transnational financial corporations. Structural, functional and retrospective research methods were used to implement the goal. The results of the research underline the importance of modern cross-cultural management and the peculiarities of its implementation in Ukraine and determined intercultural competence and the factors of its formation in the system of training future top managers (using the empirical experience of Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman). It has also proved the significance of mastering intercultural communication and the development of soft skills in the environment of top managers (based on the analysis of the global context). It has been concluded that there is a dependence of the mechanisms of formation of soft skills on psychological traits. As shown by the practice of teaching relevant academic disciplines at Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman, based on mastering, among others, intercultural competence, future managers are able to develop social skills at an appropriate level."

The role of policies in reducing the cost of capital for offshore wind

Offshore wind will play a critical role in decarbonizing Europe's energy infrastructure. Nevertheless, according to recent financing cost surveys, its investment risk expressed as the cost of capital (CoC) is higher than for onshore wind and solar photovoltaics. This perspective elaborates on the possible reasons behind the offshore wind CoC premium and potential remedies. Our analysis discusses that the massive capital expenditures and construction complexity have concentrated European offshore wind ownership among utilities and oil& gas companies that owing to their legacy investments in fossil fuel infrastructure, have higher return expectations for offshore wind assets. Furthermore, these large-scale investors are bidding zero and negative in highly competitive auctions for offshore wind sites, increasing the project's merchant risks and CoC. We discuss possible policy solutions to alleviate these risks, including revenue stabilization, enabling a more liquid refinancing market, and creating more robust corporate Power Purchase Agreements via government guarantees.

Norm dynamics in a post-hegemonic world: multistakeholder global governance and the end of liberal international order

This article examines the emergence, spread, and potential future of ‘multistakeholderism’ in global governance: A global norm specifying that global public problems ought to be addressed by all actors who affect or are affected by them. While some suggest that multistakeholderism may dominate twenty first century global governance, its origins are unclear, and its spread is limited globally. Furthermore, the implications of the end of Liberal International Order and the emergence of a ‘post-hegemonic’ world raises questions on the future of multistakeholderism and global norm dynamics more broadly. To address these concerns, this article advances a Gramscian approach to norm dynamics. The empirical analysis examines the origins and uneven spread of the multistakehodler norm, finding that its emergence and varying influence in global governance are intertwined with hegemonic power struggles across different policy fields. We contend that dominant actors use multistakeholderism to assimilate recalcitrant actors while advancing Northern state and corporate power, yet powerful Southern states resist the norm. In a post-hegemonic world order, the internalization of multistakeholderism is highly limited, and it is unlikely to supplant the dominant norm of interstate multilateralism. Ultimately, the article concludes by reflecting on the fraught fate of multistakeholderism and on global norms more broadly.

Varieties of food democracy: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT The concept of food democracy has been developed to articulate norms and ideals of democracy as a counterpressure to ‘food control’ from concentrated and transnational corporate power in the agri-food system. Yet to date, a comprehensive overview is missing to identify the various elements and dimensions of food democracy conceptualizations and to reflect on what exactly is democratic about food democracy. To address this gap, a systematic literature review was conducted to assess consensus, common and outlying dimensions of food democracy conceptualizations and the epistemological synergies and struggles around different understandings of democracy in the research field. Analysis uncovers more than 20 different food democracy dimensions, the most common of which (deliberation, knowledge democracy, food choice, civic co-planning, rights protection) diverge along two predominant schools of thought, epistemological positions and strategies for change: first, food democracy as a process of open and inclusive public deliberation in participatory settings; second, food democracy as the protection of individual rights, liberties and private (consumer) freedom. Through the lens of varied democracy perspectives, we discuss implications for further development of food democracy in research, policy and agri-food systems interventions.

Platforms, blockchains and the challenges of decentralization

Abstract This commentary explores the feasibility of blockchain technologies (and cryptocurrencies) in contesting the power of centralized, corporate platforms. While proponents of blockchain and cryptocurrencies regularly proclaim their power to decentralize and counter corporate power, I am much more constrained in my assessment and note the significant challenges facing open blockchain approaches in competing with platforms. From this, I highlight three key areas in which blockchains may complicate platform operations, albeit in indeterminate ways. These include (i) closed, state-based blockchain systems focused on making back-office processes more efficient, (ii) the use of cryptocurrencies for platform-based transactions and (iii) providing digital objects with an element of “uniqueness” that makes them tradable in new ways. In the end, blockchain and cryptocurrencies are technologies like any others, providing affordances for some kinds of action over others but ultimately their embeddedness in practice and space shapes how they impact the organization and geography of economies, societies and regions.

Improving the agri-food biotechnology conversation: bridging science communication with science and technology studies.

At a time when agri-food biotechnologies are receiving a surge of investment, innovation, and public interest in the United States, it is common to hear both supporters and critics call for open and inclusive dialogue on the topic. Social scientists have a potentially important role to play in these discursive engagements, but the legacy of the intractable genetically modified (GM) food debate calls for some reflection regarding the best ways to shape the norms of that conversation. This commentary argues that agri-food scholars interested in promoting a more constructive agri-food biotechnology discussion could do so by blending key insights, as well as guarding against key shortcomings, from the fields of science communication and science and technology studies (STS). Science communication's collaborative and translational approach to the public understanding of science has proven pragmatically valuable to scientists in academia, government, and private industry, but it has too often remained wedded to deficit model approaches and struggled to explore deeper questions of public values and corporate power. STS's critical approach has highlighted the need for multi-stakeholder power-sharing and the integration of diverse knowledge systems into public engagement, but it has done little to grapple with the prevalence of misinformation in movements against GM foods and other agri-food biotechnologies. Ultimately, a better agri-food biotechnology conversation will require a strong foundation in scientific literacy as well as conceptual grounding in the social studies of science. The paper concludes by describing how, with attention to the structure, content, and style of public engagement in the agri-food biotechnology debates, social scientists can play a productive conversational role across a variety of academic, institutional, community-level, and mediated contexts.

Fragile Landscape. Sacrifice of the Russian land

This essay analyses the individual’s alienation from the natural environment prompted by the commodification of nature. The analysis focuses on the novels “Proshchanie s Matyoroi” (Farewell to Matyora, 1976) by Valentin Rasputin and “Zona zatopleniya” (Flood Zone, 2015) by Roman Senchin and demonstrates how literature, both in the Soviet Union and in contemporary Russia, deals with the critical discourse on environmental issues, the protection of nature, human freedom, and the dignity of living beings. The two novels, written forty years apart, share the same subject: to build a hydroelectric power plant, a river is diverted from its path, vast territories are flooded, and the inhabitants of a Siberian village are be forced away from their homes. In the light of this affinity, this essay explores an eco-critical view as to how the conflict between nature and culture in Soviet and in present-day Russia can be represented through the motives of the clash between the old and the new world, civilization and wild nature, the urban and the natural environment. In particular, the two novels are linked by four cultural criteria: the mythography of a betrayed Eden, the representation of a world that offers no refuge from ecological disasters, the threat of a hegemonic oppression conducted either by the State or by powerful corporations at the expense of the local communities, and the ‘gothicization’ of the environment. Zona zatopleniyia can be read as a remake of Proshchanie s Materoi insofar as it denounces a system in which the technological innovations achieved in over half a century do not seem to be considered. At the same time, however, Senchin’s novel, starting from the end of the Soviet Union, highlights the environmental problems that have contributed to the end of the régime and suggests that old political models are no longer tenable in the new era. This starting point plays an important role for it defines nature no longer as a shelter from politics, but as a potential form of civil activity.

Corporate Power and The Return of Inflation

The origin of the current inflation stemmed from the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 induced recession, the subsequent efforts to mitigate those disruptions, and the exercise of corporate power. First, the article addresses the mainstream views of inflation, all of which ignore corporate power. Second, the article considers the concept of administered prices developed by Gardiner Means. Third, the article examines the empirical data, finding that the profit share of domestic income is at its highest since 1929. The fourth section considers the policy of countering inflation by raising interest rates, the threat of recession, and the reallocation of claims to the “functionless investor.”

ADQ—Anomaly Detection and Quantification From Delayed Neutron Monitoring Data of Nuclear Power Plants

Identifying anomalies and quantifying their severity from delayed neutron monitoring data are of great significance to ascertain the reason of anomalous behavior and for predictive maintenance of nuclear power plants (NPPs). An existing anomaly detection technique is primarily aimed to identify anomalies and does not consider quantification of anomalies. In this work, an anomaly detection and quantification (ADQ) technique has been proposed. It detects anomalies based on the fact that abnormal behavior occurs rarely in the real world as opposed to normal behavior. Thereby, the dissimilarity of an anomalous data instance happens to be large from a normal data instance in comparison with dissimilarity between normal data instances and anomalies in itself. This has been exploited by the proposed technique by employing the concept of candidate anomaly pair. It computes a quantified value for severity of given anomaly as intensity in reference to underlying normal behavior, representative of which is extracted from data itself. The proposed technique has been applied on delayed neutron monitoring data of 28 sensors for an NPP, which was provided by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL), Mumbai, India. The detected anomalies are categorized as point and interval anomalies, and sensors are ranked based on them. The performance of the proposed technique has been found highly promising on validating results with domain experts. The proposed technique has outperformed other three state-of-the-art techniques in terms of anomaly detection rate (ADR), false alarm rate (FAR), and precision.

RE100 for 100% Renewable Electricity: Status and Prospects

The world is gripped with a sense of crisis over the disasters caused by rapid climate change. Various policy and technical attempts are being made to reduce carbon emissions around the world. Since the issue of RE100 was raised in the last presidential debate, interest in RE100 has been increasing. RE100 is a voluntary campaign to cover corporate power with 100% renewable electricity, and is attracting more attention in line with the company's sustainable management policy. In this review, the reality of RE100 and related policies were investigated. Based on this, the institutional direction for the realization of RE100 was presented.