A proposed global theory of corporate political activity (CPA) analyzes the complex resource allocation choices involved in integrating politically relevant cross-border and multilevel strategies for multinational enterprises (MNEs). Cross-border CPA is “horizontal” allocation of scarce corporate resources by MNEs to politically relevant strategies across multiple countries. Globalization reshapes CPA among multiple levels functioning below, at, and above national governments. Subnational communities and international policy regimes, supranational quasigovernmental institutions, and supranational nongovernmental organizations all affect businesses. Multilevel CPA is “vertical” allocation of scarce corporate resources to politically relevant strategies among subnational, national, regional, and global levels. Furthermore, in each country and at each level, business-relevant policies are determined in multiple policy arenas, shaped by widely differing nonmarket institutions, corruption conditions, and stakeholder demands for corporate social responsibility. Multiple policy “arena” allocation adds to the analytical complexity of the CPA strategizing problem. Implications for scholarship and practice are presented.
Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage . Journal of Management, 17, 99-120.
2.
Baron, D.P. (1995). Integrated strategy: Market and nonmarket components . California Management Review, 37(2), 47-65.
3.
Baron, D.P. (1999). Integrated market and nonmarket strategies in client and interest group politics. Business and Politics , 1, 7-34.
4.
Baron, D.P. (2001). Private politics, corporate social responsibility, and integrated strategy. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 10, 7-45.
5.
Bartlett, C.A., & Ghoshal, S. (1989). Managing across borders: The transnational solution . Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
6.
Becker, G. (1983). A theory of competition among pressure groups for political influence. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 98, 371-400.
7.
Bendor, J., & Swistak, P. (1997). The evolutionary stability of cooperation. American Political Science Review, 91, 290-307.
8.
Boddewyn, J.J. (1993). Political resources and markets in international business: Beyond Porter's generic strategies. Research in Global StrategicManagement, 4, 162-184.
9.
Boddewyn, J.J. (2000, September). Developing a “political organizational economics” view of strategy management. Baruch College, CUNY, working paper (privately circulated).
10.
Boddewyn, J.J. (2003). Understanding and advancing the concept of “nonmarket .” Business & Society, 42, 297-327.
11.
Boddewyn, J.J., & Brewer, T.L. (1994). International-business political behavior: New theoretical directions. Academy of Management Review, 19, 119-143.
12.
Bonardi, J.-P., Hillman, A.J., & Keim, G.D. (2005). The attractiveness of political markets: Implications for firm strategy. Academy of Management Review, 30, 397-413.
13.
Brandenburger, A.M., & Nalebuff, B.J. (1996). Co-opetition. New York: Doubleday.
14.
Brewer, T. (1992). An issue-area approach to the analysis of MNE-government relations. Journal of International Business Studies, 23, 295-309.
15.
Campos, J.E.L., & Gonzalez, J.L. (1999). Deliberation councils, government-business-citizen partnerships, and public policy-making: Cases from Singapore, Malaysia, and Canada. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 16, 429-447.
16.
Carroll, A.B. (1998). The four faces of corporate citizenship. Business and Society Review, (100/101), 1-7.
17.
Carroll, A.B. (2004). Managing ethically with global stakeholders: A present and future challenge. Academy of Management Executive , 18, 114-120.
18.
Chaudhri, V., & Sampson, D. (2000). Business-government relations in Australia: Cooperating through task forces. Academy of Management Executive, 14, 19-27.
19.
Christian Aid. (2004). Behind the mask: The real face of corporate social responsibility. Available at http://www.christianaid.org.uk .
20.
Coen, D. (1997). The European business lobby. Business Strategy Review, 8, 17-25.
21.
Davis, K. (1973). The case for and against business assumption of social responsibilities. Academy of Management Journal, 16, 312-322.
22.
de Figueiredo, J.M.P., & Tiller, E.H. (2001). The structure and conduct of corporate lobbying: How firms lobby the Federal Communications Commission. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 10, 91-122.
23.
Doh, J.P., & Guay, T. (2006). Corporate social responsibility, public policy, and NGO activism in Europe and the United States: An institutional-stakeholder perspective. Journal of Management Studies, 43, 47-73.
24.
Dunning, J.H. (2003). The moral imperatives of global capitalism: An overview. In J. H. Dunning (Ed.), Making globalization good: The moral challenges of global capitalism (pp. 11-40). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
25.
Engel, K.H., & Saleska, S.R. (2005). Subglobal regulation of the global commons: The case of climate change. Ecology Law Quarterly, 32, 183-233.
26.
Epstein, E.M. (1969). The corporation in American politics. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
27.
Falk, R. (2003). On the political relevance of global civil society . In J. H. Dunning (Ed.), Making globalization good: The moral challenges of global capitalism (pp. 280-300). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press .
28.
Friedrich, C.J. (1963). Influence and the rule of anticipated reactions . In Man and his government: An empirical theory of politics (pp. 199-215). New York: McGraw-Hill.
29.
Gardberg, N.A., & Fombrun, C.J. (2006). Corporate citizenship: Creating intangible assets across institutional environments. Academy of Management Review , 31, 329-346.
30.
Garrity, M., & Picard, L.A. (1991). Organized interests, the state, and the public policy process: An assessment of Jamaican business associations. Journal of Developing Areas, 25, 369-393.
31.
Gawande, K. (1998). Lobbying behavior in protectionist industries: Evidence from the lobbying power function. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 35, 477-499.
32.
Getz, K.A. (1997). Research in corporate political action: Integration and assessment. Business & Society, 36, 32-72.
33.
Getz, K.A. (2006). The effectiveness of global prohibition regimes: Corruption and the anti-bribery convention. Business & Society, 45, 254-281.
34.
Goerg, H., & Strobl, E. (2003). “Footloose” multinationals?The Manchester School, 71, 1-19.
35.
Goyal, A. (2006). Corporate social responsibility as a signaling device for FDI. International Journal of the Economics of Business, 13, 145-163.
36.
Grant, W. (2000, August). Globalisation, big business and the Blair government. CSGR Working Paper No. 58/00. Available online at http://ssrn.com/abstract=243556
37.
Gray, V., & Lowery, D. (1997). Reconceptualizing PAC formation: It's not a collective problem and it may not be an arms race. American Politics Quarterly, 25, 319-346.
38.
Griffin, J.J., Fleisher, C.S., Brenner, S.N., & Boddewyn, J.J. (2001a). Corporate public affairs research: Chronological reference list: Part 1: 1985-2000. Journal of Public Affairs. 1(1), 9-32.
39.
Griffin, J.J., Fleisher, C.S., Brenner, S.N., & Boddewyn, J.J. (2001b). Corporate public affairs research: Chronological reference list: Part 2: 1960-1984. Journal of Public Affairs, 1(2), 167-186.
40.
Haffoudhi, H. (2004, June). The logic of two-level games with endogenous lobbying: Case of international environmental agreements. Paris: Laboratoire d'Economie Publique (LAEP), Université de ParisI Panthéon Sorbonne.
41.
Heywood, J.S. (1998). The structural determinants of corporate campaign activity. Quarterly Review of Economics & Business, 28, 39-48.
42.
Hillman, A.J., & Hitt, M.A. (1999). Corporate political strategy formulation: A model of approach, participation and strategy decisions. Academy of Management Review, 24, 825-842.
43.
Hillman, A.J., & Keim, G.D. (1995). International variation in the business-government interface: Institutional and organizational considerations. Academy of Management Review, 20, 193-214.
44.
Hillman, A.J., & Keim, G.D. (2001). Shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issues: What's the bottom line?Strategic Management Journal, 22, 125-139.
45.
Hillman, A.J., Keim, G.D., & Schuler, D. (2004). Corporate political activity: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 30, 837-857.
46.
Hocking, B., & McGuire, S. (2002). Government-business strategies in EU-US economic relations: The lessons of the Foreign Sales Corporation Issue. Journal of Common Market Studies, 40, 449-470.
47.
Jensen, M.C. (2002). Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function. Business Ethics Quarterly, 12, 235-256.
48.
Kolk, A. (2005). Corporate social responsibility in the coffee sector: The dynamics of MNC responses and code development. European Management Journal, 23, 228-236.
49.
Kolk, A., & Van Tulder, R. (2004). Ethics in international business: Multinational approaches to child labor. Journal of World Business, 39, 49-60.
50.
Kollman, K. (1998). Outside lobbying: Public opinion and interest group strategies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
51.
Lenn, D.J. (1995). International public affairs: Managing within the global village. In L. B. Dennis (ed.), Practical public affairs in an era of change (pp. 435-456). Lanham, MD: University Press of America/PRSA.
52.
Logan, D., Roy, D., & Regelbrugge, L. (1997). Global corporate citizenship—Rationale and strategies. Washington, DC: The Hitachi Foundation.
53.
Logsdon, J.M., & Wood, D.J. (2002). Business citizenship: From domestic to global level of analysis. Business Ethics Quarterly, 12, 155-187.
54.
Lowi, T.J. (1964). American business, public policies, case studies, and political theory. World Politics, 16, 677-715.
55.
Luo, Y. ( 2001). Toward a cooperative view of MNC-Host government relations: Building blocks and performance implications. Journal of International Business Studies, 32, 401-419.
56.
Lyon, T.P., & Maxwell, J.W. (2002, December). Interest group lobbying and corporate strategy. Available online at http://ssrn.com/abstract=375624
57.
Marsden, C. (2000). The new corporate citizenship of big business: Part of the solution to sustainability?Business and Society Review, 105(1), 8-25.
58.
Matten, D., & Crane, A. (2005). Corporate citizenship: Toward an extended theoretical conceptualization. Academy of Management Review, 30, 166-179.
59.
Matten, D., Crane, A., & Chapple, W. (2003). Behind the mask: Revealing the true face of corporate citizenship. Journal of Business Ethics, 44, 109-120.
60.
McWilliams, A., Van Fleet, D.D., & Cory, K.D. (2002). Raising rivals' costs through political strategy: An extension of resource-based theory. Journal of Management Studies, 39, 707-724.
61.
Millar, C.C.J.M., Choi, C.J., & Chen, S. (2004). Global strategic partnerships between MNEs and NGOs: Drivers of change and ethical issues. Business and Society Review, 109(4), 395-414.
62.
Mo, J. ( 1994). The logic of two-level games with endogenous domestic coalitions. The Journal of Conflict Resolution, 38, 402-422.
63.
Nielsen, R.P. (2000). The politics of long-term corruption reform: A combined social movement and action-learning approach. Business Ethics Quarterly, 10, 305-317.
64.
Noda, T., & Bower, J.L. (1996). Strategy making as iterated processes of resource allocation. Strategic Management Journal, 17, 159-192.
65.
Orlitzky, M., & Swanson, D.L. (2002). Value attunement: Toward a theory of socially responsible executive decision-making. Australian Journal of Management, 27, 119-130.
66.
Pedler, R. H., & van Schendelen, M. P. C. M. (eds.). (1994). Lobbying the European Union: Companies, trade associations and issue groups. Aldershot, Hants, UK: Dartmouth.
67.
Pharr, S. J., & Putnam, R. D. (Eds.). (2000). Disaffected democracies: What's troubling the trilateral countries?Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press.
68.
Polk, A. (2002, June). Lobbying activities of multinational firms . Zurich IEER Working Paper No. 0205. Available online at http://ssrn.com/abstract=372478
69.
Preston, L.E., & Post, J.E. (1975). Private management and public policy: The principle of public responsibility. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
70.
Preston, L.E., & Windsor, D. (1997). The rules of the game in the global economy: Policy regimes for international business (2nd ed.). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
71.
Putnam, R.D. (1988). Diplomacy and domestic politics: The logic of two-level games. International Organization, 42, 427-460.
72.
Ramamurti, R. (2001). The obsolescing “bargaining model”? MNC-Host developing country relations revisited. Journal of International Business Studies, 32, 23-39.
73.
Read, R. (2005). The political economy of trade protection: The determinants and welfare impact of the 2002 US Emergency Steel Safeguard Measures . The World Economy, 28, 1119-1137.
74.
Reinicke, W.H. (1998). Global public policy: Governing without government?Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
75.
Schepers, D.H. (2006). The impact of NGO network conflict on the corporate social responsibility strategies of multinational corporations. Business & Society, 45, 282-299.
76.
Scherer, A.G., & Smid, M. (2000). The downward spiral and the US model business principles—Why MNEs should take responsibility for the improvement of world-wide social and environmental conditions. Management International Review,40, 351-371.
77.
Schermerhorn, J.R. (1999). Terms of global business engagement in ethically challenging environments: Applications to Burma. Business Ethics Quarterly, 9, 485-505.
78.
Schnietz, K.E., & Schuler, D.A. (1999). Much ado about nothing? The economic impact of US foreign trade mission participation. Business and Politics , 1, 155-177.
79.
Schoppa, L.J. (1993). Two-level games and bargaining outcomes: Why gaiatsu [foreign pressure] succeeds in Japan in some cases but not others. International Organization, 47, 353-386.
80.
Schuler, D.A., & Cording, M. (2006). A corporate social performance—corporate financial performance behavioral model for consumers. Academy of Management Review, 31, 540-558.
81.
Schuler, D.A., Rehbein, K., & Cramer, R. (2002). Pursuing strategic advantage through political means: A multivariate approach. Academy of Management Journal , 45, 659-672.
82.
Sinha, A. (2005). Understanding the rise and transformation of business collective action in India. Business and Politics, 7(2), Article 2. Available online at http://www.bepress.com/bap/vol7/iss2/art2
83.
Svaleryd, H., Hakkala, K., & Norbäck, P.-J. (2005, May). Asymmetric Effects of Corruption on FDI: Evidence from Swedish Multinational Firms. Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IUI) Working Paper No. 641. Available online at http://ssrn.com/abstract=735364
84.
Teegen, H., Doh, J.P., & Vachani, S. (2004). The importance of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in global governance and value creation: An international business research agenda. Journal of International Business Studies , 35, 463-483.
85.
Vogel, D. (1986). National styles of regulation: Environmental policy in Great Britain and the United States. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
86.
Vogel, D. (1995). Trading up: Consumer and environmental regulation in the global economy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
87.
Whitman, M. (1999). New world, new rules: The changing role of the American corporation. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
