Corporate Political Responsibility

This article argues that corporate climate transition plans will fail without aligned public affairs strategies. It urges companies to integrate policy engagement, advocacy, and coalition-building into transition delivery, ensuring lobbying and political influence support—rather than undermine—net-zero and sustainability commitments.

This academic article analyzes how political polarization affects corporate nonmarket strategies—such as lobbying, advocacy, and coalition-building—across different stages of the policy life cycle. It shows how polarization changes the risks and payoffs of engagement, complicating firms’ ability to influence policy without triggering backlash or strategic misalignment. 

This guidance helps leaders decide when to engage—or refrain—from responding to controversial social and political issues at work. It offers a framework for assessing relevance, risk, and responsibility, emphasizing the importance of consistency, listening, and clarity to avoid internal polarization while maintaining trust and organizational cohesion. 

This teaching case by Rajat Panwar of Oregon State University, explores the tensions faced by companies such as Singapore’s Olam, in whether to continue to advocacy for farm subsidies that benefit the industry but undermine biodiversity and raise questions about their sustainability commitments. The case challenges students to consider how, even when companies are clear about their interests in nature, taking a public stance is politically sensitive. 

This visual explainer by Grace Gordon of the Bipartisan Policy Center…This visual explainer clarifies the limited but critical federal role in U.S. elections, detailing responsibilities across Congress, numerous federal agencies, and the courts. It shows how authority is distributed across levels of government, equipping election stakeholders – including business -- to better use existing resources, identify opportunities for inter-agency collaboration and to advocate for needed improvements.

This book by Severin Wirz, an attorney specializing in U.S. and international anti-corruption law, traces the origins, enforcement, and global impact of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). It explores how anti-bribery law reshaped corporate conduct, compliance systems, and international business norms, illustrating how legal accountability mechanisms influence global markets and corporate political behavior.