This ppt discusses Rival (2010) work in the area of lobbying for business purpose (strategy)

1. Are firms’ lobbying strategies
universal?*
Comparison of lobbying by French and UK Firms
Written by Madina Rival
This ppt was prepared for discussing Rival’s article

2. “The battlefield has now spilt over
into the political arena, where firms
are fighting to get decisions that
might give them a competitive
advantage”
(Supercapitalism, 2008)Robert Reich

3. Introduction

4. Research Questions (RQ)
Do recurring types of corporate
lobbying strategies (really) exist?
(in the same way as for generic strategies)

5. Purpose
• to define a typology of lobbying
strategies implemented by French
and UK firms
• to discuss to what extent firms’
political strategies are universal or
country-specific.

6. The framework of lobbying
Field Variable Modalities
Firm’s general lobbying
policy
General attitude to the public authorities Active, anticipatory, passive
Frequency of relations with the public
authorities
Continuous, ad hoc
Cause of lobbying Interest in the problem Private, public, mixed
Expected outcome Maximise a gain, minimise a loss
Selection of the issues to be solved Single issue, multiple issues
Person/entity doing the
lobbying
Rationale underlying the campaign Individual, collective and structured,
collective and unstructured
Target of lobbying Choice of lobbyist Internal, external
Political level of the target Executive, legislative, non-political,
mixed
Geographical level of the target Local, national, European,
international
Decision-making level of the target General, specific, mixed
Implementation of the
lobbying
Communication method Direct, indirect, mixed
Mode of influence Relational, financial, legal and
relational legal and financial
Positioning Pressure, interaction, mixed

7. Findings: I. Answering the RQ
• RQ: Do recurring types of corporate
lobbying strategies (really) exist?
Yes. The results highlight a pattern in the
corporate lobbying phenomenon:
French firms: 5 types of strategies
UK firms: 4 types of strategies

8. Findings: II.a 5 types of strategies (French)
Significant
Modalities
Classes
1 2 3 4 5
European lobbying
Reactive national
lobbying
International
lobbying
Local lobbying
Proactive
national
lobbying
Interest of the issue
Public and
private
Choice of lobbyist No answer
Geographical level of the target European National International Local
Decision level of the target General Specific
General
and specific
Selection of problems to solve
Single
problem
Multiple
Frequency of relations with
public authorities
Ad hoc Continuous
Expected outcome
Minimising a
loss
Positioning Pressure Interaction
Communication mode Direct
Political level of the target Non-political Legislative
Interests at stake Public
General attitude towards public
authorities
Active Active

9. Findings II.b 4 types of strategies (UK)
Significant
Modalities
Classes
1 2 3 4
European lobbying
Proactive struct.
national lobbying
Unstructured
lobbying
Reactive struct.
national lobbying
Interest of the issue
Public and
private
Choice of lobbyist No answer
Geographical level of the target European
Decision level of the target
Selection of problems to solve
Frequency of relations with public
authorities
Ad hoc Ad hoc Ad hoc
Expected outcome
Maximizing
gain
Maximizing gain
Positioning Pressure
Communication mode Direct
Political level of the target Non-political
Interests at stake
General attitude towards public
authorities
Active Active Passive

10. Findings: II.c (French vs. British)

11. Findings: II.d Universality of strategies
• Implementation of lobbying strategies appears to
depend on the type of issues addressed (which
could be universal), but also on the country’s
political environment (which could be country
specific).
• Interdependent influence of organizational
resources, economic structures and the political
environment (laws and the role of the state) on
firms’ lobbying strategies is evident.
• Thus, societal effects theory could be applied to
firms’ political strategies, which are global and local
at the same time.

12. Bibliography
Rival, M. (2010, November). Are firms' lobbying
strategies universal?. In Workshop en l'honneur
de Arndt Sorge.