A global network involving foreign governments, NGOs, and retailers has, since the mid 1990s, pressured Brazil’s export-oriented shoe industry to eradicate child labor. In response, a collaborative organization of shoe manufacturers in Franca, a center for men’s leather shoe production in Brazil, has adopted a variety of programs widely believed to have eliminated child labor in the affiliated firms. However, the lack of coordination between the leaders of this collaborative effort and the rest of the community leave open the possibility that the displaced young workers may have found even more hazardous jobs in non-affiliated shoe firms or in other industries.

We develop a series of propositions regarding drivers of proactive environmental behavior. A grounded theory method, including interviews and focus groups of winery managers and other institutional agents, is used to test these propositions. Finally, we develop a conceptual framework illustrating the relevance and relative importance of certain drivers in determining proactive environmental behavior.

Fair / Alternative Trade Organizations globally fmd themselves at a crucial stage in their evolution. The space once solely occupied by fair trade is increasingly being competed for by mainstream ‘socially responsible’ companies. This paper reviews ‘convergence’ in the sphere of socially responsible business and raises some issues where a business and society approach might help us understand the future of fair trade.

This session explored the topic of globalization from a variety of disciplinary perspectives or spectacles. The presenters shared their experiences in a colloquium series at the University of Kansas titled, "Globalization, Ethics, and Culture" and engaged in discussion with other IABS members interested in apprehending the elephant known as globalization. The session included (1) an overview and some background on globalization; (2) descriptions of perspectives adopted by scholars in disciplines such as economics, philosophy, psychology, law, sociology, and ethics! and (3) discussion of the benefits and challenges of developing and engaging in multidisciplinary networks for the strengthening of education, research, and practice relating to globalization. The "blind men and the elephant” metaphor was used to illustrate paradoxical perceptions and realities of globalization.

This paper discusses the pro-globalist and anti-globalist perspectives on the international impact of globalization. Globalization is defined as the process of integrating the world’s economy, technology, culture and governance. The two perspectives arise because the impact of globalization is conditioned by one’s particular circumstances. While globalization may be the route to world prosperity and wellbeing in the long-term, in the short-term it has created a number of problems. The conclusion reached is that multiple perspectives must be considered in devising policy that will allow everyone to benefit from globalization, now and into the future.

We examine the impact of NGOs on the development and enforcement of international agreements and codes of conduct addressing labor issues and environmental practices. We survey the rapid growth and impact of NGOs, and the history of NGO involvement in international codes and agreements. We provide a brief review of how the emergence of NGOs has influenced debates about globalization in general, and labor and environmental policies of multinational corporations in particular. We then develop a conceptual framework for understanding the increasing influence NGOs are having in developing and enforcing international codes of conduct.

Guanxi (literally interpersonal connections) in essence is a network of resource coalitions staked on shared resources for survival. The goal of this paper is to better enable Western business firms in China to identify the right guanxi partners. In this paper we examine the theoretical essentials of effective guanxi in China: What guanxi is necessary, and what guanxi is salient? These principles are described in terms several testable propositions that can guide future research, and the development of managerial thinking on this topic.

Issues management has migrated to a secondary position behind research in stakeholder management. Indeed, a great deal of stakeholder research does not recognize or address previous research in issues management. This analysis attempts to deal with this oversight and propose a new way of thinking about issues and stakeholders.

Corporations attempt to shape regulatory policies that govern their strategic activities, both internationally and domestically. These shaping activities are conducted by individual firms, networked firms and industries, and mediating organizations (i.e., national and international trade associations). Networks of individuals, public interest groups, and other NGO’s attempt to curtail and combat firms’ influences in policymaking arenas. This paper will explore the unfolding international battle between these networks of organizations, develop a framework and model to assess their political activities, and provide a basis for predicting the success or failure of these activities.

The focus of this symposium is to explore how international economic, political and social issues strategies can be coordinated by MNCs and what strengths/weaknesses would emerge from these integration efforts. We will look at existing alliances to see how they affect these strategic efforts. The first is the alliances that exist between and among corporations that engage in international trade and commerce. The second are those alliances of public interest groups that attempt to pressure (and/or combat) the first network of private corporations. The symposium will explore both forms of alliances and their dynamic interplay between in international political, strategic and regulatory arenas.

This paper examines the valuation tools available to measure the financial contribution that public affairs activities provide. The paper begins with a consideration of the state of quantification in public affairs. Next, theoretical frameworks for broad classes of valuation methodologies are presented and specific models applied by companies are examined, outlining their advantages and limitations. The paper concludes with recommendations for implementing quantitative financial measures and opportunities for future research.

This paper links the two preceding presentations in this symposium into a carefully crafted whole that will address what we know in terms of integrating theory and use in the international political, social, and regulatory arena. The paper will also address what “new” insights have been provided by the works in the symposium and propose a theoretical umbrella through which opposing strategic and political activity in inter-national arenas can be assessed and understood. The paper will conclude with suggestions for action by both practitioners and academicians to further our understanding of the use, development, and assessment of competitors in non-traditional contexts.

The focus of this analysis is on the relationship between issues management, reputation management, and stakeholders. There are clear lines of influence, interactions, and potential strategies and tactics to be used in issues with reputations, and in dealing with stakeholders with reputations that are addressed in this paper. Of some import is how stakeholders are represented.

Creating competitive advantage in the international arena is often dependent on how well firms coordinate their activities across national borders. In spite of the importance of this effort, researchers have not determined what conditions favor such alliances, what form these alliances might take, and what conditions favor different types of alliances. This paper will provide information on the alternative alliances available; explore the paradigms that address the optimal organization of technological innovation; and examine the different conditions that affect each of these networking mechanisms.

This paper attempts to outline aspects of a theory of corporate political strategy that is nested within the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm. Aspects of the RBV and political strategy literatures are reviewed and assumptions for a resource-based theory of political strategy are offered. Political resources are considered in light of their “VRIN” attributes and their development into rent earning assets.

Nearly all the articles on stakeholder theory focus on the actual or potential conflicts between stakeholders and on how the parties involved can manage discord in stakeholder-firm relationships. Put another way, stakeholder researchers have pessimistically focused on the “half-empty glass.” In this paper, I suggest this focus on conflict overlooks the importance of collaboration to create value in relationships between stakeholders and firms. In other words, it overlooks the “half-full glass.” I highlight the omission of value- creating stakeholder relationships by examining the attributes of stakeholders as theorized by Mitchell, Agte, and Wood (1997) and further propose that stakeholder salience and identification are currently muddled together and the process of stakeholders gamering the attention of a firm and the process of a firm prioritizing stakeholders and stakeholder claims must be more clearly delineated. By adding and clarifying these concepts in stakeholder identification and salience this paper adds to the understanding of “who or what really counts.”

Is there a connection between anti-globalization protests and our failure to develop a stakeholder theory of the firm? Or, put another way, what if we were to conceptualize the anti-globalization movement as the efforts of “suffragettes and suffrages” for the emancipation of those stakeholders who are the disenfranchised or unrecognized citizens of the corporation? What kind of theory of the firm would be consonant with such an assertion? And, what analytical path would we follow to uncover the outlines of such a theory? From this analysis, we might bring into focus the next conceptual milestones needed along our road to developing a functional and functioning stakeholder theory of the firm. In this discussion I shall explore these analytical steps.

This paper explores the dynamics between organizations and their stakeholders by examining three separate empirical cases. The question of stakeholder dynamics is an under-represented area in the literature; the data from our cases provide a particularly rich resource through which we try to understand the nature and the evolution of these dynamics and their impacts on the focal organization. Several themes regarding stakeholder dynamics are identified.

Stadium naming rights have become an integral part of sports, government and commerce over the last twenty years. According to a recent estimate, over US$3 billion were tied up in stadium naming rights agreements (SNRA). In a typical SNRA, an entity that controls a sports stadium agrees to sell the naming rights for that facility to a corporation. The corporation pledges stock, cash payments, or a combination of both, and primarily gains the opportunity to name the facility. The cotporation may also receive additional benefits, including luxury boxes, marketing deals, product placement and other perks. We propose that SNRA may be a leading indicator of poor corporate economic and social performance. Although the intentions of SNRAs may be laudable, the results appear to be that this may be misuse of funds that results in poor balance for the rights of the majority of stakeholders.