Sanja Fabrio delivered a presentation on effective corporate advocacy and behavior change. She outlined themes from past advocacy campaigns that led corporations to change, including reacting to attacks by moving from opponents to partners focused on solutions. Key resources like top management commitment are essential for real corporate behavior change. Quick fixes are not enough - reputations cannot be compromised. Effective campaigns form collaborative coalitions driven from the top with an eye toward long-term competitive advantage. The discussion addressed whether advocacy groups are more effective through cooperation or criticism of corporations, and the future of transparency and self-regulation to manage corporate violations.

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8 May CSR Lunch Overview: Regulation and corporations: what
effective advocacy needs to take into account-
Sanja Fabrio, Principal at Strategic Government Affairs, Partner at Visconti, delivered a thought-provoking presentation for
our CSR Lunch on 8 May on the topic of advocacy and corporate behavior. Using examples of corporate responses to
advocacy campaigns, including Greenpeace’s palm oil campaign against Nestlé and the exposé on blood diamonds, Sanja
outlined a number of common themes in effective advocacy leading to corporate behavior change. These themes included:
- Reaction to attack and damage control: immediate corporate response–corporations and advocacy organizations
went from opponents to partners focused on idea co-generation
- Mobilization of key resources: essential to have the commitment of top management for corporate behavior change
- Effective long-term solutions: quick fixes are not sufficient as reputations cannot be compromised
- Collaborative coalitions: coalition-building driven from the top with an eye toward long-term, corporate competitive
advantage
Sanja’s presentation led to a spirited discussion about the roles of advocacy and corporations, specifically the balance
between advocacy’s whistle-blowing versus collaborative functions. Are advocacy organizations more effective in
achieving meaningful change when they cooperate with corporations, or does this cooperation diminish their credibility? The
discussion also addressed the future of managing corporate (mis)behavior, such as increasing transparency leading to
corporate self-regulation and the development of an international institutional infrastructure for handling corporate violations.
CAS DAS 2015-2016
Learn about the 2015-2016 CAS DAS, short courses and Application process
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