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Government is often negatively viewed as a regulator, but the government is the largest procurer of commercial goods and the government market merits more attention to its changing requirements. Government purchasing is not motivated by economic considerations or by production and distribution. The rewards and risks vary considerably to those associated with the private sector.

The growth of political lobbying has increased the influence business has on European Union policy. The European Commission openly encourages lobbying, allowing 200 businesses to form direct links for lobbying through the Single European Agreement (SEA) of 1987. The SEA has led to the introduction of over 3,000 lobbies, both economic and public. Levels of influence are governed by the political power of the lobbying group, with direct lobbying strategies the most effective. Companies need to have access to lobbying services to ensure a voice within the market.

Entrepreneurship has been studied extensively in the West. It is assumed in the current literature that the focal entrepreneur operates in a market-based economy where property rights are protected and [...]

This article reviews the literature on business-government-society relations during the past three decades. It describes the growth of scholarship on business power, business political activity, the changing political agenda, interest group representation, and changing social expectations and explores in detail three approaches to the study of the political and social role of business: a comparative perspective, an emphasis on the contemporary political and social environment of business, and an exploration of the nature of business power. While we have clearly learned much about this important subject, the intellectual fragmentation of this field prevents it from realizing its full scholarly potential. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

The public service sector is reorganizing its management strategy and it is relying increasingly on a marketing approach to make its decisions. Such an approach as proven beneficial in many cases. However, it must be remembered that the needs of a consumer and of a citizen are sometimes different. Public service is the responsibility of the state and must therefore be managed primarily by political decisions. Marketing, although having a place in public service, should play only a secondary role to political decision-making.

US companies have realized the importance of developing environmental management programs that oversee operations management to accomplish goals such as entry into new markets and protection of current markets. Corporations encounter problems such as competition and government regulation. In order to respond to these challenges, corporations express their political views, as guaranteed under the First Amendment, in order to achieve their marketing and managerial objectives.

Political ideologies are as relevant in organizations as they are in national affairs. An organization has political features, and determining these characteristics can help promote organizational development. The political ideologies that can be applied to organizations include the conservative, radical, dictatorial/autocratic and republican approaches. These ideologies can affect employee development.

This article addresses the concern that the California initiative agenda has been 'captured' by the very business community it was designed to constrain. It discusses the various means by which the initiative agenda might be constrained, examines recent trends in the use of the initiative process by non-business groups, and evaluates claims that the cost of qualifying initiatives has become prohibitively expensive. Evidence suggests that the agenda has become more accessible in recent years, not less, and that the cost of qualifying remains relatively low for non-business groups seeking to place issues on the initiative agenda. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Are companies custodians of social values? For those of us raised somewhere between the invention of steam power and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, 'corporate values' suggests a [...]

If they were true profit-maximizers--textbook illustrations of rational self-interest--American corporations and their top executives would,be flooding Al Gore's campaign with money, and, not George W.'s. Rather than gamble on an [...]

The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning of the concept 'organizational politics' (OP) as it is perceived by members of organizations. 156 employees completed a critical incident scale presenting various combinations of OP definition elements. The results suggest that OP is more highly associated with informal rather than formal or illegal behaviour. The presence of other definition elements such as: power attainment, acting against the organization and concealment of motive, increases the likelihood of judging behaviours as political only when formal behavioural styles are employed. In the presence of informal and illegal behavioural styles the addition of the above elements has no effect. These results challenge the structure of most OP definitions offered in the literature by suggesting that employees perceive OP not as a rigid series of necessary conditions but as a set of variables which have complex and flexible inter-relationships. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Five types of political activity in which corporate entities involve themselves are: (1) building constituencies, (2) contributing to political action committees, (3) conducting advocacy advertising campaigns, (4) participating in lobbying activities, and (5) building political coalitions. The effectiveness of each activity when used to address single issues with perfect and imperfect information available, as well as to address multiple issues with perfect and imperfect information available, is determined. Corporations participating in a constituency program that generates communications with legislators at a grass roots level are more effective politically than corporations that do not participate in a constituency program.

Corporate political strategy can be approached systematically by using the regulatory life cycle method. This method recognizes that the possibilities of influencing the enactment or enforcement of laws and regulations change with time, and each cycle has uniquely appropriate strategies for effecting change. Corporations wanting to accelerate regulatory change should be aware of four factors affecting their chances to effect such changes; these are: demonstrating collective good properties of the desired change, issue plasticity, uncertainty and risk, and strategic focus. A study of environmental regulations in Germany further supports the regulatory life cycle approach to corporate political strategy as a way to focus on legislative action during certain laws' lives with well-developed strategies for change.

Corporate political entrepreneurs are primarily interested in exploiting the opportunities of politics to the advantage of their companies. Two highly successful companies in their political entrepreneurship are American Express and MCI. Both of them developed a political strategies in Washington that allowed them to expand and secure markets. Asserting their presence in enabled these companies to change laws, while enrolling the help of government to meet their corporate objectives. These two cases indicate that CEO involvement in political issues is crucial for the effectiveness of the corporate political strategy.

Corporations are beginning to emphasize the importance of political participation by their executives, due to increased government activity affecting the business sector, the increasing importance of special interest groups as voter participation declines, and the realignment of power in Congress. Political education is becoming more common among corporations that want to develop a 'grass roots' capacity to influence legislation. The growth in government activity directly influencing industry is evidenced by the fact that in the 1970s, 120 regulatory bills passed Congress, while in the 1950s only 30 bills of this kind passed Congress. Other factors that have motivated corporate grass roots political programs are also discussed.

It is argued that the belief that the intraorganizational environment is necessarily a political one represents a myth propagated and entertained to address various needs of organizational members. One consequence of subscription to the myth of the corporate political jungle is a belief in the necessity for, and as a result the performance of, 'political' behaviour itself. 'Political' responses by others to this behaviour empirically support the myth and justify the behaviour. It is argued that political behaviour incurs dysfunctional consequences that warrant its reduction or elimination. Because political behaviour responds to belief in its inevitability, reduction of political behaviour ultimately depends upon acceptance of the argument presented in this discussion that the workplace is not inherently political. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

¶ Business historians and students of political economy quite often analyze the success of foreign investors in the periphery in terms of the entrepreneur's competitive advantage and of the host [...]

Studies of business ethics fail to include the problems encountered by developing countries of the Third World. This exclusion gives business ethicists a negative picture while validating the significant relationship between business and politics. Thus, a renewal of the academic system in which business ethics is taught must be considered. As such, the continued disregard for these ethical problems must be stopped.