What Managers and Companies Can Do

Karthik Ramanna of the University of Oxford

Video 3 of 3

On November 11, 2021, we spoke with Karthik Ramanna of the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford to explore “Corporate Political Responsibility in ‘Thin’ Political Markets.”

Although there may be risks when businesses take responsibility for social issues, individual managers may still want to participate in activism. How can managers engage in the public sphere responsibly and effectively?

In this module, we explore:

• What role can exist for individual managers, in both their roles as citizens and within their firms?

The Corporate Political Responsibility Taskforce (CPRT)’s Expert Dialogues are in-depth, recorded conversations with academic experts, stakeholder advocates and business practitioners to provide our members and other CPR champions with the expertise and context they need to develop principled, proactive CPR strategies. We invite those interested in a constructive, non-partisan, principles-based discussion.

Karthik Ramanna is a Professor of Business and Public Policy and Director of the Master of Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. In his 2015 paper with Rebecca Henderson, "Do Managers Have a Role to Play in Sustaining the Institutions of Capitalism?", Professor Ramanna argues that managers must define CPR differently in “thin” political markets. That is, where the public is not fully informed or adequately represented in decision-making, responsible corporate political influence must shift from narrow business interests to concern for the system overall

The full transcript for this module is available here. 

KEYWORDS: #CorporatePoliticalResponsibility #ESG #CivicEngagement #ClimatePolicy #LongTermValue