Businesses' Role in Civic Reform

Seeks to advance the rule of law by engaging responsible business to support the building and strengthening of legal frameworks and accountable institutions – serving as a complement to, not substitute for, government action. 

This article advocates for and examines the role of managers in weighing corporate political responsibility with traditional shareholder primacy when lobbying. Builds a strong case and suggests that companies consider whether the public is informed or has the necessary expertise.

Dominic Barton, Mark Wiseman, Laurence Fink, Richard Edelman, Henry M. Paulson Jr., Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Nicholas Carr, Nitin Nohria, Paul Polman, Whitney MacMillan, Greg Page, Chanda Kochhar, Kathleen McLaughlin, Doug McMillon, Adrian Orr, John D. Rogers, Lim Chow Kiat, Euan Munro, Charles Tilley, Lei Zhang, Michael Sabia, James P. Gorman, David Walker, Angel Gurría, Ronald P. O’Hanley, Donald Kaberuka, Julie Hembrock Daum, Edward Speed, Angelien Kemna

This report compiles insights from CEOs, investors, and regulators emphasizing how quarterly earnings pressure and misaligned incentives restrict long-term strategic thinking, and it proposes governance reforms to realign business purpose with sustainable, multi-stakeholder value creation.

Lays out core principles—transparency, integrity, accountability, and effectiveness—with practical examples to help professionals and organizations engage in ethical and responsible lobbying. 

This chapter introduces a “market failures” approach to business ethics, arguing that while profit is a core obligation, businesses also have a duty to avoid exploiting legal or structural gaps in the market in order to preserve trust, fair competition, and long-term legitimacy.

This article links corporate political responsibility to a company’s broader ability to uphold commitments to customers, employees, investors, and communities—which are critical to building and maintaining trust. It summarizes research that shows that, despite the best of intentions, companies often struggle to keep track of their commitments and coordinate to fulfill them. It goes on to offer seven practical strategies to avoid gaps between word and deed, and help companies sustain critical relationships and reputation. 

This 60-page report elaborates on the “how” of engaging in meaningful climate policy engagement. Illustrative examples spanning the globe are grounded by five core elements of responsible policy engagement and three key actions to put said elements into practice. 

Advances the argument that American CEOs, seemingly more powerful today than ever, have abrogated the key leadership role they once played in addressing national challenges, with grave consequences for American society. 

Widely accepted multi-sector framework outlining expectations for companies to evaluate and disclose their commitment to human rights, identify salient issues, identifying processes for responding to claims, conducting due diligence and identifying strategies to prevent, mitigate or remediate adverse impacts on individuals and communities. Supports corporate political responsibility by outlining political rights as human rights, and providing established processes to draw on. 

This article outlines how crony capitalism distorts the market, violates the principles of free markets, and risks value creation for all, as reflected in the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom.

Outlines a framework to help companies determine how to engage with social issues and an appropriate level of engagement—ranging from supporter to champion—describing the key to an effective engagement plan that integrates functional silos, all bolstered by compelling case studies.

This seminal report from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, addresses the question of whether institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance companies are legally permitted to integrate environmental, social and governance issues into their investment decision-making and ownership practices. The study describes the legal framework for institutions in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK and the US.

This guide provides a framework for companies and NGO's to use to determine whether their lobbying practices are responsible.

The book opens by establishing the minimum expectation that businesses support the right rules of the game—those rewarding long-term value creation rather than destruction—and shows how companies can live their values through cross-sector collaboration, eco-efficiency, and strategies advancing prosperity, planet, and people, supported by real-world cases.

Mancur Olson’s classic work explains why individuals often fail to organize effectively around shared interests, even when collective action would benefit all. His “free rider” problem and distinction between small and large groups reshape understanding of labor unions, corporations, and political coalitions. Olson’s framework underlies modern theories of governance, lobbying, and institutional design—key foundations for Corporate Political Responsibility. 

Presents a framework for when companies should present forceful or tempered political positions based on their publicly stated values and materiality.

The Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE) listing standards include expectations that companies will take responsibility for long-term decision-making across strategy, governance, executive compensation, stakeholder engagement, and investor relations. These standards are designed to help businesses build sustainable value over time for all stakeholders, rather than focusing on short-term gains, allowing investors to better assess long-term capital investments.

This textbook section introduces major corporate and agency public-relations subfunctions: issues management, media and community relations, CSR and philanthropy, investor relations, marketing communications, government relations, lobbying, internal communication, crisis management, and more. It shows how communication, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement are structured inside organizations, shaping how they respond to risks, opportunities, and public scrutiny.