Vikas Mittal and Jihye Jung have posted Strategic Management of Corporate Political Activism on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

Senior leadership at many organizations engages in overt corporate political activism (CPA), defined as activities that are visible to stakeholders that support or undermine issues viewed as politically charged. According to media accounts, consumers, employees and shareholders want executives to engage in CPA. Evidence from peer-reviewed research shows that CPA does not help, but can harm companies on many fronts. This evidence shows that CPA is detrimental to a company’s brand equity, employee productivity, and financial performance while also alienating some customers. To help address these issues, this article develops a strategic framework to assess where a company is in its CPA journey and determine its path forward. The framework proposes four strategies: convergence, divergence, selective engagement, and depoliticized but supporting stance. Companies can use this framework to assess whether and how they should engage in political activism and then find ways to adapt their political activism strategy over time.

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Photo of Benjamin P. Edwards Benjamin P. Edwards

Benjamin Edwards joined the faculty of the William S. Boyd School of Law in 2017. He researches and writes about business and securities law, corporate governance, arbitration, and consumer protection.

Prior to teaching, Professor Edwards practiced as a securities litigator in the New…

Benjamin Edwards joined the faculty of the William S. Boyd School of Law in 2017. He researches and writes about business and securities law, corporate governance, arbitration, and consumer protection.

Prior to teaching, Professor Edwards practiced as a securities litigator in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. At Skadden, he represented clients in complex civil litigation, including securities class actions arising out of the Madoff Ponzi scheme and litigation arising out of the 2008 financial crisis. Read More