Corporate Diplomacy

Corporations are first and foremost economic entities, but they are also intrinsically linked to the wider world. Consequently they are increasingly subjected to explicit, and implicit claims from regulators, NGOs, investors and employees. Many organizations have found ways of dealing with the goldfish bowl transparency created by globalization, the Internet and the media, but the way they react depends largely on the level of external pressure to which they are subjected. Few see it as a strategic issue. Companies in general, and the most powerful ones in particular, tend to be insensitive to the business environment and often consider themselves to be invincible. This book argues against this irresponsible attitude. Underestimating the importance of stakeholders never pays off as companies such as Nike, Coca Cola, McDonalds, General Electric, Ford, and Exxon - just to name some recent and prominent victims - have all found to their cost. Corporate Diplomacy focuses on the strategic choices that companies have to make in order to keep to their business agenda and retain credibility with their stakeholders and the world at large by managing conflict or by co-operation. Based on a wealth of empirical studies, personal experience, and rigorous research, this book provides managers with an Early Awareness System that will alert them to any potential areas of conflict on the horizon. It has also developed a strategic approach and complementary toolkit to help companies deal responsibly and strategically with a fragmented, volatile, and sometimes hostile business environment. This is not a book on crisis management; it is a book on preventing the crisis you don't want to manage.