No news is good news? Press coverage and corporate public affairs management

• Being in the public eye puts pressure on an organization's Public Affairs (PA) function. This study finds that firms more closely covered by the press tend to be more forceful in promoting their own position on social issues (social buffering). Press coverage is not associated with greater corporate efforts to comply with societal expectation (social bridging). Overall, press coverage is weakly associated with lowered perceived corporate public affairs performance.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

External affairs and trusted family businesses: A research agenda

In the past two decades, the Journal of Public Affairs has solidified corporate public affairs as a legitimate leadership skillset vital to driving future business growth. Yet, more work at a persistently overlooked gap in the Journal, the intersection of public affairs and family businesses, might shed new light on thriving, trusted, and sustainable business practices. This paper examines the unique contributions of family businesses as trusted influencers. As one of the most prominent forms of business, worldwide, family businesses persistently enjoy unusually high levels of public trust while collectively employing millions of wage earners yet their contributions to corporate external affairs research ostensibly have been largely overlooked. These “silent” community and social influencers offer a potentially new perspective on effective public outreach given their persistent and unique trust advantage. Family business' trust-based capabilities can potentially bring new insights to understanding effective stakeholder engagement, credible communications, and issues management—the sweet spot of corporate public affairs functions. Future research opportunities based on relational- and locational- advantages of trusted family businesses are identified.     

Issue management: process versus progress

• Of all the tools and techniques applied within the field of public affairs and corporate communication, Issue Management is undoubtedly the one which most often attracts excessive process at the expense of real progress. Understanding the causes and sources of this over‐emphasis on process is important to the long‐term success of issue management as an effective tool.
• That understanding is also important to the development of Issue Management models which promote an optimal balance between following a disciplined approach and formulating creative and original solutions.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Public affairs as reality construction: an established paradigm with new implications

• This article was initially a reaction to the special issues of the Journal of Public Affairs on the relative lack of theoretical foundations for the research and practice of public affairs (Vol. 1 no. 4, Vol. 2 no. 1, 2002).
• The social‐scientific approach that is known under the name constructionism has interesting implications for the study and the practice of this field. The authors explore some of its central concepts and implications such as framing, priming, typification, claims making, symbolic power, background, sense making and narrative construction. They test some of these concepts for their applicability and usefulness for research, theory building and practice in the field of public affairs.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Envisaging the future — scenarios and public affairs practice

Public affairs in the third millennium will develop in three significant ways.

• (1) It will deal increasingly with global issues and authorities. ‘The chief executive needs to be an entrepreneur with global vision. He needs political skills, to steer a course through the regulatory maze.’
• (2) The companies that succeed may be global, but many of the regimes of regulation and control will remain national. The ability to deal with them will be essential.
• (3) Public affairs will have to deal effectively not only with national and international regimes but also with organised ‘civil society’. NGOs have now formed global alliances. They are recognised and consulted formally and informally and have begun to ‘show their teeth’.

These developments create strong and specific challenges for corporate communications. ‘Sovereignty is what you belong to.’ The European Union (EU) has developed as a model for global public affairs. Companies that have learnt to combine national with supranational public affairs in the EU will be well equipped in the fora of WTO, OECD, ILO and others yet to come. The communications challenges are two:

• (1) Support for mergers: As globalisation proceeds by merger, companies will need fluency in communicating the benefits of mergers, both internally and externally.
• (2) Trading identities: As countries go for national brands to achieve tourism and investment, mega‐merged global companies are using nation‐building techniques to achieve internal cohesion across cultures.

Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

Pictures at an exhibition revisited: reflections on a typology of images used in the construction of corporate social responsibility and sustainability in non‐financial corporate reporting

• Strategic corporate and public affairs communication about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a major component of corporate efforts to interact with their stakeholders and society at large. Non‐financial reporting, and CSR reporting in particular, is now seen as an essential corporate communication process by most members of a company's stakeholder community. This growth in CSR reporting has been driven by the need to increase corporate transparency and accountability concerning social and environmental issues. Arguably, the European Union is the most progressive region in adopting CSR reporting. Almost all of Europe's top 100 companies report on social and environmental performance, whilst figures for the USA and the rest of the world are much lower. The latest Accountability Rating concludes that ‘Europe leads, America lags’ after measuring companies' social and environmental impacts.
• The authors argue that visual communication is as important as words and numbers in creating meaning and assess UK and German Companies' non‐financial performance. Utilizing a range of research methods including content analysis and semiotic interpretation the authors propose a typology of images used in non‐financial reporting. This typology and associated conceptual development can used to more accurately define and interpret CSR and sustainability.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developing the public affairs body of knowledge

• This paper examines the need for developing a public affairs body of knowledge (BOK). It examines the rationale for having a BOK within a larger context of professionalism in the field, identifies parallel developments in affiliated fields that may provide models for public affairs, and offers alternatives for stakeholders of the field to pursue this objective.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Small firm membership in national trade associations

• Business associations play a significant role in private–public interactions by aggregating company interests and relating these to political decision makers. Associations are particularly important for smaller firms, which generally do not have the resources to pursue political strategies independently. This paper discusses the question of what the motives are for small and medium‐sized firms to maintain their membership in national trade associations at a time when the European business environment is undergoing profound changes. Using the example of the Netherlands, it is argued that associational membership is determined foremost by political considerations. The implication of this conclusion is that national business associations continue to perform an important function in mediating business–government relations. Despite the internationalization of public decision making, these organizations remain important intermediaries for corporate public affairs.
• 1 We would like to thank two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Politicized CSR: How corporate political activity (mis-)uses political CSR

In this article, we posit that corporate political activities (CPA) such as lobbying make use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to advance instrumental goals. We juxtapose the theoretical foundations of the normative concept of political CSR and the strategic notion of nonmarket strategy to show that they are in opposition conceptually regarding the role of corporations in public policy. Using a systematic theoretical comparison along seven dimensions, we discuss the juxtapositions and identify the common ground of the two theories. Building on examples from the alcohol industry, we describe how CPA uses instrumental CSR to advance goals in public policy—we call this politicized CSR. Hence, we illustrate the shift from political to politicized CSR, a misuse of CSR for purposes of CPA, and discuss consequences for the theory and practice of public affairs and CSR.     

Machiavelli,marketing and management: ends and means in public affairs

• Niccolo Machiavelli is introduced and used as a guide to some of the key issues facing modern business and government. Machiavelli's morality and philosophy is explored and reflected upon. Insights into the realities of power and decision making are used to reflect on the emergence of the modern public affairs industry. Key lessons are suggested for success.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A conceptual look at the strategic resource dynamics of public affairs

• The goal of this paper is to build an understanding of core public affairs resources, their development and their relationship to competitive advantage. The perspective employed is that of the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm and the resources associated with public affairs are viewed in strategic terms. Public affairs is conceptualized as a dynamic capability whose function is to ‘catalyse’ latent socio‐political resources into operational ones that can be used in pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage. The types and development of public affairs resources are described. A model of the dynamics of resource development and exploitation is offered, along with simple typologies of the major operational resource categories of access and legitimacy.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In the twilight of democracy: public affairs consultants in Switzerland

• Modernization processes within different fields of political communication rise new challenges. Public affairs consultants are said to meet these challenges in both an effective and efficient way. Nevertheless, the rise of public affairs consultants also poses the question of their accordance with basic principles of modern democracy. Do public affairs consultants foster or impede the democratic process with respect to participation and representation? This question is answered on the basis of empirical data on public affairs consultants in Switzerland. The analysis points out three distinguishable fields of service: lobbying, political public relations and campaigning. Whereas campaigning has the strongest public‐orientation and emphasizes direct democratic institutions, the other two fields tend to be more in the backstage of the public. Results regarding public affairs services suggest a structural discrepancy between public and non‐public forms of communication, which according to normative democracy theory has to be judged critically. With view to clients, policy fields and party affiliations, the results show strong imbalances in interest representation, which seem to have mainly structural and economic reasons. In the conclusion, these results are discussed with view to the necessity of more transparency and a further professionalization.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Corporate lobbying in Europe,managing knowledge and information strategies

• Given that knowledge and information are critical resources for acquiring access to the EU policy process, the question of this paper is how firms should manage the knowledge and information strategies surrounding their lobbying attempts. Developing an appropriate resource base is critical for firms trying to bring their interests to bear on European decision‐making. The same holds for the ability to recognize potential points of entry to the EU policy process. Next to substantial knowledge and expertise, therefore, the ability to understand policy dynamics and the appropriate timing of lobbying attempts are critically important in corporate lobbying in Europe. The implication of this argument is that managing knowledge and information strategies become increasingly important for handlings firms' public affairs.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Problems and process: European merger control and how to use it

This paper seeks to explore some of the public affairs principles involved in the EU mergers and acquisitions regulatory process, which affects most corporate restructuring of a European scope. Following a brief overview of the EU merger review process and the main role of public affairs in such cases, the paper explores some of the more sensitive issues that demand public affairs activities, and issues that are raised by public affairs activities. The paper focuses on the open nature of the EU merger review process, which allows for wide consultation; the imperfections within the EU merger review process, which lead to confusion as to where the exact point of decision lies; and the fact that the process is only quasi‐legal, so that competition policy and industrial policy considerations may filter into the regulator's assessment. The impact of politics is also explored; from high‐profile political interventions to low‐key political negotiations. Finally, there is a review of the perception of lobbying and the question of the legitimacy of the public affairs discipline in the context of EU merger control. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Public affairs perceptions and practices: a ten‐year (1993–2003) comparison

• The past ten years have been marked by significant changes in technology, politics and economics. These changes have affected the social and regulatory environments in which public affairs (PA) officers operate. This paper describes how PA officers at 74 large US corporations perceive these environmental changes and how PA activities have changed from ten years ago.
• The data reported in this paper were collected first in 1993, then again in 2003. The results show a rather even split between respondents: half (39) believe that their political/regulatory environment is simpler today than was the case ten years ago, half (33) believe that it has become more complicated; half (35) believe there is less social interest in their operations and half (32) believe there is more. The paper then examines the changes in PA activities and performance over the past ten years
• Overall, PA officers are more pleased with their performance (at least in managing social issues and achieving social objectives) than they were in 1993.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Issues management,systems, and rhetoric: exploring the distinction between ethical and legal guidelines at Enron

• Many corporations use legal rather than ethical standards for decision making in issues management. The Enron collapse provides a case example of why legal standards should never be used as a substitute for ethical principles. As we illustrate in this discussion of Enron, seeking loopholes in the law can lead to ethical violations that are ultimately more severe than legal infractions. We use systems theory and rhetorical rationales to discuss the issues management function as the proper location in an organization for ethical decision making and corporate responsibility. Both systems theory and rhetoric support the argument that an organization must be good internally and make decisions from an outside‐in perspective; management at Enron heeded neither idea. This research recommends a deontological approach, based on Kantian norms of moral autonomy and good intention as a basis for ethical issues management, and uses the Enron case for illustration of these principles. We conclude this discussion by offering a matrix simplifying the principles of both ethical and legal decision making based on systems theory and rhetorical approaches to public policy.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Public affairs enters the US President's subcabinet: creating the first assistant secretary for public affairs (1944 –1953) and subsequent developments

• A majority of US cabinet departments now have an assistant secretary for public affairs. As a subcabinet office, such appointments are presidential nominations and require Senate confirmation. Given Congress's general hostility to public affairs in the US executive branch, how did such a position first come into being, thereby creating the precedent and a template for other departments? This historical inquiry identifies the US State Department as the first with an assistant secretary for public affairs. However, the office only gradually emerged as a staff position, with Congress never having an opportunity to vote on the principle of creating such a subcabinet office. Once established, other cabinet departments gradually followed suit, to the point that such positions are now routine in Washington, DC.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrating public affairs information strategy with organizational practices in healthcare delivery organizations

To develop and implement policy, lawmakers rely on the input from external experts and stakeholders. Public affairs professionals are responsible for monitoring the sociopolitical environment and responding to public policy proposals on behalf of firms and organizations. However, how public affairs operate intraorganizationally and develop information strategies is not clear nor consistent in the literature. The purpose was to explore how public affairs engage with internal stakeholders to leverage their knowledge for information strategies in responding to policymakers. Knowledge transfer served as a theoretical framework through a qualitative multiple case study of 3 not-for-profit healthcare delivery organizations. Primary data were collected using semistructured interviews from public affairs (n = 11) and healthcare professionals (n = 18) along with a review of organizational documents and public records. Patterns and themes emerged through cross-case synthesis, presented as a process-based model and theory. Public affairs structures and decision-making processes varied across cases indicating no coherent approach by practitioners. Intraorganizational engagement and knowledge transfer processes were managed both consistently and ad hoc, through informal and formal methods. Practitioner strategies and tactics were identified to facilitate internal interaction such as filtering policy issues and effective communication methods. Common institutional barriers were identified that made stakeholder engagement a challenge. This study provides insight into understanding how public affairs practice internally and supports the fundamental importance of linking knowledge into public policymaking.     

Developments in public affairs in Australia

• This paper discusses the integrated public affairs model most common in Australian companies, and its rationale. It describes some key characteristics of the function, drawing on a comprehensive survey of public affairs departments in late 2003. The function has become more senior and strategic, more closely aligned to business imperatives and with stable or growing budgets. It identifies areas of increased attention for practitioners, including support for organization transformation and culture change, stakeholder relations as a line, as well as staff function, reputation management and sustainability reporting.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

IPO effects: corporate restructuring when a firm goes public

The public affairs of a firm issuing an initial public offering (IPO) are a critical part of the corporate restructuring efforts which firms face during the process of going public. In this paper, Bowman and Singh's (1993) definition is used to illustrate how issuing an IPO is a significant form of corporate restructuring. Public affairs are critical during both the pre‐IPO phase and during the period leading up to the IPO, as the firm must negotiate a heavily institutionalised process to successfully complete the issue. Here, the six‐year life of ‘Deja News’ is used as a way to illustrate and explain the public affairs during the process of preparing for and issuing an IPO. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications