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The article points out that more than a half century into the modern leader continues virtually entirely to ignore, or at least badly to shortchange, the dark side of leadership. Bad leadership - which is, alas, as ubiquitous as pernicious. Given that bad leaders, and their bad followers, are part of everyday life - in companies and countries, and in cultures of every sort - the question is why leadership experts continue to relegate them. Why do we attempt to develop what is good while continuing even now largely to avoid the utterly urgent question of how to stop bad? On the assumption that bad leaders - including for example political leaders drunk on power and corporate leaders drunk on money - are part of the human condition the question is why we still stick our heads in the sand. To this question the article provides four answers - which in a perfect world would point the way toward a study of leadership that is more pragmatic, more grounded in the world as it is as opposed to how we would like it to be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces and discusses corporate movements, a contemporary phenomenon, in which social movement tactics are deployed in and for the benefit of corporations. Recently, new digital economy businesses have deployed social movement practices and language as part of campaigns for deregulation, building on and mainstreaming practices of ‘corporate grassroots lobbying’. From Uber creating dozens of corporate petitions aimed at authorities, to Airbnb creating hundreds of ‘Host Clubs’ worldwide, and delivery companies organising protests against rules that would benefit couriers, businesses are adopting activist repertoires in order to legitimate their visions for society and shape regulation. This piece discusses recent examples where social movements and activism are being deployed by corporations. It describes the core characteristics of corporate movements, their history, and the wider context of neoliberalism, which has seen increasing intersections and tensions between business and civil society. It discusses some of the themes and debates in social movement studies relevant to this development in platform capitalism, such as resources, grassroots politics, corporate power, and cooptation. It reviews the controversy around corporate movements, and what the risks are of their continued development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the relationship between AI applications and supply chain concentration. We measure the AI applications of Chinese listed firms based on text analytics on annual reports from 2007 to 2021. Our results show that AI applications reduce supply chain concentration, and these results are robust to endogeneity examination. In addition, AI reduces companies' supply chain concentration by enhancing their bargaining power and, in turn, improving their operational performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing interest in workplace democracy, the question whether nonworker stakeholders, like suppliers and local communities, warrant inclusion in the governance of democratic companies, as workers do, has been largely neglected. We inspect this question by leaning on the boundary problem in democratic theory. We first argue that the question of who warrants inclusion in democratic workplaces is best addressed by examining why workplace democracy is warranted in the first place, and offer a twofold normative benchmark—addressing objectionable corporate power and upholding efficiency—to assess the principles of democratic inclusion on offer. Against this benchmark, we next argue that the All-Affected Principle is unfit due to its over- and underinclusive extensional results, and that the All-Subjected Principle, whose variants we examine alongside their extensional results, holds more promise when coupled with independent considerations of justice or a constrained variant of the All-Affected Principle. These combinations need not entirely preclude, but speak against, nonworker stakeholder inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International governmental organizations have brought issues of forced labour, child labour, and human trafficking into the realm of corporate social responsibility with voluntary principles and guidelines for businesses to follow. Such efforts have been characterized differently by world society scholars, who see them as mechanisms for the diffusion of global norms, and critical scholars, who seem them as reflections of corporate power. I contribute to this debate by analyze framings of labour exploitation in the United Nations Global Compact’s written and verbal communication, exploring what is being conveyed. I find that the texts emphasize western businesses as the ‘real’ victims, threatened by human traffickers, suppliers, and consumers, while workers themselves are de-centered. The findings lend weight to critical scholars’ views, suggesting that the framings reflect business interests and support a status quo in which the political economy of labour exploitation can continue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that instituting Citizen Boards of Governance (CBGs) is the optimal strategy to democratically contain Big Tech's algorithmic powers in the digital public sphere. CBGs are bodies of randomly selected citizens that are authorized to govern the algorithmic infrastructure of Big Tech platforms. The main advantage of CBGs is to tackle the concentrated powers of private tech corporations without giving too much power to governments. I show why this is a better approach than ordinary state regulation or relying on market mechanisms. My proposal follows from the critique of Big Tech's concentrated powers and explains how this justifies democratizing algorithms in the digital public sphere. My approach thus speaks to a core commitment in democratic theory: enhancing the autonomy of the public sphere from the centers of powers in modern societies, be it corporations or governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Political Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), based on ideas about deliberative democracy, have been criticised for increasing corporate power and democratic deficits. Yet, deliberative ideals are flourishing in the corporate world in the form of dialogues with a broad set of stakeholders and engagement in wider societal issues. Extractive industry areas, with extensive corporate interventions in weak regulatory environments, are particularly vulnerable to asymmetrical power relations when businesses engage with society. This paper aims to illustrate in what way deliberative CSR practices in such contexts risk enhancing corporate power at the expense of community interests. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a retrospective qualitative study of a Canadian oil company, operating in an Albanian oilfield between 2009 and 2016. Through a study of three different deliberative CSR practices – market-based land acquisition, a grievance redress mechanism and dialogue groups – it highlights how these practices in various ways enforced corporate interests and prevented further community mobilisation. Findings: By applying Laclau and Mouffe's theory of hegemony, the analysis highlights how deliberative CSR activities isolated and silenced community demands, moved some community members into the corporate alliance and prevented alternative visions of the area to be articulated. In particular, the close connection between deliberative practices and monetary compensation flows is underlined in this dynamic. Originality/value: The paper contributes to critical scholarship on political CSR by highlighting in what way deliberative practices, linked to monetary compensation schemes, enforce corporate hegemony by moving community members over to the corporate alliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The use of corporate power to undermine public health policy processes is increasingly well understood; however, relatively little scholarship examines how advocates can leverage power to promote the successful adoption of public health policies. The objective of this paper is to explore how advocates leveraged three forms of power – structural, instrumental and discursive – to promote the passage of the Promotion of Healthy Eating Law (Ley 27,642) in Argentina, one of the most comprehensive policies to introduce mandatory front-of-package (FOP) warning labels and regulate the marketing and sales of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) adopted to date. Methods: We conducted seventeen semi-structured interviews with advocates from different sectors, including civil society, international agencies, and government. Both data collection and analysis were guided by Milsom's conceptual framework for analyzing power in public health policymaking, and the data was analyzed using hybrid deductive and inductive thematic analysis. Results: Advocates harnessed structural power through the leveraging of revolving doors, informal alliances, and formal coalitions, enabling them to convene discussion spaces with decision-makers, make strategic use of limited resources, and cultivate the diverse expertise (e.g., research, nutrition science, advocacy, law, political science, activism and communications) needed to support the law through different phases of the policy process. Advocates wielded instrumental power by amassing an armada of localized evidence to promote robust policy design, building technical literacy amongst themselves and decision-makers, and exposing conflicts of interest to harness public pressure. Advocates exercised discursive power by adopting a rights-based discourse, including of children and adolescents and of consumers to transparent information, which enabled advocates to foster a favorable perception of the law amongst both decision-makers and the public. Key contextual enablers include a political window of opportunity, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ability to learn from the regional precedent of similar policies. Conclusions: Public health policymaking, particularly when encroaching upon corporate interests, is characterized by stark imbalances of power that hinder policy decisions. The strategies identified in the case of Argentina provide important insights as to how advocates might harness and exercise structural, instrumental, and discursive power to counter corporate influence and promote the successful adoption of comprehensive UPF regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing concern regarding the influence corporations have over the global food system. The extent of this power is so great that it is described as a defining feature of the current global food regime. In this paper, I explore the case study of regenerative agriculture, a growing transnational sustainable agriculture movement which has received increasing interest from corporate actors. Existing literature has highlighted the risks of corporate co-optation in regenerative agriculture but has failed to explore these patterns in any great depth. To address this gap, I analyse 21 multi-national corporations with regenerative agriculture programs and policies. Combining food regime theory with a three faces of power framework, I document the nature of corporate involvement in regenerative agriculture and how it reflects a broader attempt by agri-food corporations to legitimize their power in the global food system via the corporate environmental food regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent efforts to rethink drug-related stigma have been increasingly considering the power dimension of the concept, to show how stigma formations flow top-down from governments, as well as other political or corporate stakeholders, towards the powerless and marginalised. Stigma attaches itself to the individual and collective identities of the substance-using subject. But it equally alters the multiple lives of the substance. In the US opioid crisis of recent decades, big pharma companies could be seen lobbying the medical profession and harnessing their power to destigmatise opioid painkillers, as part of wider marketing and sales strategies. This has been subsequently linked with rising opioid-related fatalities and spiralling harms among some of the most vulnerable groups. This theoretical paper locates the object-stigma of drugs between the cultural confines of 'limbic capitalism' (the drive to seek pleasure and meaning through consumption) and 'palliative capitalism' (the drive to pathologise and medicate ills attributed to the individual, but not the system). It argues that stigma should be viewed as a dynamic force which, under the guise of consumer culture and the veil of scientific rationality, can be manipulated by business elites to shift meanings around pain, pleasure, and addiction, in ways that are potentially conducive to social harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms face increasing pressure to provide comprehensible organizational reports. The CEO annual letter to shareholders (CEO letter) is an important communication medium (Craig and Amernic in J Bus Ethics 101:563–575, 2011) and the most widely read section of the annual report (Courtis, 1982; Hyland, 1998). In this study, we investigate whether CEO narcissism affect the readability of CEO letters. We test the hypothesis that narcissistic leaders write complex and confusing CEO letters. We also examine the role of the board of directors in mitigating this relation by looking at board power as a critical corporate governance mechanism. Based on an analysis of 462 CEO letters published by French companies between 2010 and 2014, we find that CEO narcissism is associated with less readable CEO letters. However, a vigilant board of directors is positively associated with readability in terms of the length of the CEO letter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agri-food tech sector is touted for its potential to disrupt established industry. Yet research reveals that incumbent agribusinesses are buying their way into the sector through startup investments and acquisitions. Drawing from extensive qualitative research, we show that incumbent influence also shapes agri-food tech in more subtle and pervasive ways. Startups rely on incumbents' social and material infrastructure to achieve the rapid growth demanded by their venture capital funders. Incumbent influence, we argue, is ambient, continuous, and frequently indirect. It saturates the spaces where malleable startups take shape, influencing even those with whom incumbents have no direct contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aims to analyze the influence of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) power factors on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure by listed companies on the Vietnamese stock market. To examine the relationship between CEO power and CSR disclosure (CSRD), our study used the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation method with panel data from 210 listed companies on the Vietnamese stock market during the period 2015–2022. The research results indicate that factors such as duality, tenure, share ownership, and CEO compensation reduce the level of CSR disclosure by companies. On the other hand, CEO education and age show a positive relationship with disclosure level. The empirical results of this study provide a solid foundation for managers to establish effective corporate governance mechanisms and enhance the quality of sustainable reporting by companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era where businesses are increasingly scrutinized for their societal impact, this study delves into the transformative power of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by examining the initiatives of Godawari Power and Ispat Ltd. (GPIL) and Jayswal Neco. By looking beyond traditional financial metrics, the research seeks to uncover the broader benefits of CSR initiatives, focusing on their influence on employee awareness and societal well-being. Data was collected through surveys of employees and local community members, allowing for a comprehensive analysis of the connections between CSR efforts and their outcomes. Employing robust statistical tools such as the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), the findings reveal that both companies are not only committed to CSR but are also making meaningful strides toward societal improvement. This research highlights the essential role of CSR in fostering sustainable business practices that resonate far beyond the bottom line. Firstly, due to the company's exhibited evenhandedness, the companies' socially responsive initiatives reduce employee turnover. Secondly, the company's initiative to meet customers' justice needs tends to increase customer satisfaction. Above all, CSR initiatives' implementation in a healthy way also builds the company's reputation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study how CEO power impact corporate tax avoidance. In particular, this paper aims to empirically examine the moderating impact of institutional ownership on the relationship between CEO power and corporate tax avoidance. Design/methodology/approach: The multivariate regression model is used for hypothesis testing using a sample of 308 firm-year observations of Tunisian listed companies during the 2013-2019 period. Findings: The results show that CEO power is negatively associated with corporate tax avoidance and that institutional ownership significantly accentuates the CEO power's effect on corporate tax avoidance. This implies that CEOs, when monitored by institutional investors, behave less opportunistically resulting in less tax avoidance. Practical implications: Our findings have significant implications for managers, legislators, tax authorities and shareholders. They showed that CEO duality, tenure and ownership can mitigate the corporate tax avoidance in Tunisian companies. These findings can, hence, guide the development of future regulations and policies. Moreover, our results provide evidence that owning of shares by institutional investors is beneficial for reducing corporate tax avoidance. Thus, policymakers and regulatory bodies should consider adding regulations to the structure of corporate ownership to promote institutional ownership and consequently control corporate tax avoidance in Tunisian companies. Originality/value: This study differs from prior studies in several ways. First, it addressed the emerging market, namely the Tunisian one. Knowing the notable differences in institutional setting and corporate governance structure between developed and emerging markets, this study will shed additional light in this area. Second, it proposes the establishment of a moderated relationship between CEO power and corporate tax avoidance around institutional ownership. Unlike prior studies that only examined the simple relationship between CEO power and corporate tax avoidance, this study went further to investigate how institutional ownership potentially moderates this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the blot in A Gambler’s Anatomy exists in a long line of deep metaphors in Lethem’s work, an ancestor of “Lack” in As She Climbed Across the Table (1997) and the giant hole in the center of Manhattan in Chronic City. In the context of this story, which casts Stolarsky as the pantomimic capitalist villain, it can be interpreted as an ideological blind spot which prevents the protagonist from recognizing his entrapment in a cycle of economic dependency. Its removal should signal an awakening, therefore, but Lethem resists this move. Instead, Bruno is forced to don a mask and is ensnared within a Stolarsky empire which seems to have no outer limits. Even the anti-capitalist riot in which Bruno becomes involved might well have been orchestrated by the arch-capitalist himself. A Gambler’s Anatomy, then, represents Lethem’s most committed critique of corporate power and asks whether it is even possible to step outside its structures and demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a range of actors respond to poverty in the cost of living crisis, this paper addresses a long‐standing blind spot in social policy analysis by examining the role that corporations are playing in voluntary responses in the UK. To do this the paper introduces theories of corporate power to extend approaches to researching mixed economies of welfare, which have traditionally looked at the role of commercial entities principally in terms of their role alongside other actors in the welfare state. Building on existing food charity research, which has explored the dynamics and implications of corporate‐food charity relationships, this paper applies theories of corporate power to an analysis of the food charity related activities of the top 20 leading food retailers and casual dining brands in the UK. The analysis reveals how UK corporations exercised instrumental, structural and discursive forms of power to influence policy, set agendas and norms within food and charity systems and frame issues of food charity and hunger. The paper illustrates how a corporate power framework can add important layers to social policy analyses of mixed economies of welfare, by introducing a focus not just on operational aspects of corporate involvement, but also on the impact these corporations might be having on policy, how they are shaping the structure of welfare and the drivers of poverty through agenda setting in their markets, and the ways in which corporations influence public perceptions of social policy issues and how best to respond to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of investor attention and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) power on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within Vietnamese family businesses. Unlike most of the past literature, this study further investigates the potential moderating effects of CEOs' power on the relationship between investor attention and CSR. Utilizing the dynamic system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), this study analyzes a dataset comprising 116 Vietnamese family businesses from 2005 to 2020. The findings reveal an inverted U-shape between CEO power and CSR within family businesses; meanwhile, investor attention demonstrates a negative impact on CSR. Moreover, the results report that CEO power is a moderating factor in the relationship between investor attention and CSR. These results are consistent with various theoretical frameworks, including agency theory, overinvestment, career concern, career horizon, and conflict-resolution hypotheses. Finally, our study offers management implications to foster the sustainable development of CSR within family businesses, particularly within emerging markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of its European Data Strategy, the EU wants to create a market for non-personal data and unlock the sharing of industrial data between companies. This theory-building case study suggests that businesses' data governance preferences are determined by their position in the data value chain and thus whether firms monetise data as data holders (producers) in the upstream or as data reusers (access seekers) in the downstream segment. While the latter favour legal rules for governing data sharing, the former prefer only contractual agreements. The data value chain theory draws on concepts of the role of data in value creation in the digital economy and on case evidence from the automotive and financial sectors, which are typical cases of digital disruption. The theory helps to better understand coalition building in business lobbying activities, the potential dynamics between private self-regulation and public policies, and the probable feedback effects of digital policies on corporate power sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) power and the level of tax avoidance of Tunisian listed companies. It also examines the moderating role of institutional ownership in this association. Design/methodology/approach: The sample comprises 306 firm-year observations of companies listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange during the 2013–2020 period. Findings: The results indicate that CEO power reduces tax avoidance levels. Moreover, the relationship between CEO power and tax avoidance is more pronounced in the presence of institutional ownership, suggesting that CEOs act less opportunistically when monitored by institutional investors, which results in a reduction in tax avoidance. Practical implications: This study suggests that CEO power and institutional shareholders' influence are important factors in determining firms' avoidance behavior. This study has significant implications for shareholders and regulatory bodies. Indeed, shareholders apprehend the impact of appointing a powerful CEO on tax avoidance practices. This study may also provide regulators with new insights into the influence of CEO power dimensions and institutional ownership on tax aggressiveness. Originality/value: This study fills the gap in the accounting literature by investigating how CEO power may impact tax avoidance behavior and provides empirical evidence on the moderating impact of institutional ownership on this relationship in an emerging economy context characterized by a weakly protected investor setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporations significantly influence the public and political spheres. In light of this corporate power in society, academics have criticized the lack of legitimization (i.e., the legitimacy gap) and highlighted a potential divergence between corporate resource allocation and the needs and preferences of the public (i.e., the social issues gap). To address these problems, democratizing organizations has been proposed as a potential solution. In line with this, the authors argue that an increase in corporate power outside the economic realm should be counterbalanced by more democratic corporate governance (i.e., an internalization of democracy). While important groundwork exists, academic attention to these topics remains limited. The authors provide an overview of the literature linking corporate power and the claim for democratizing organizations, advocate for legitimization, identify research gaps, and develop a research agenda to inspire and guide future research efforts. The paper's findings suggest the importance of conceptual and empirical research on the micro‐, meso‐, and macro‐levels and the cross‐level effects, which is needed to advance this incipient research area. Future research must (1) clearly define corporate power and discuss how democratizing organizations can contribute to more legitimate organizational decisions, (2) unveil novel approaches for more democratic corporate governance, and (3) understand the organizational‐ and individual‐level factors necessary for the successful realization of democratic organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, we review and discuss potential changes to dominant governance approaches that may help business leaders play a more active role in global sustainability issues. Instead of refining the ideas from traditional management paradigms, we seek to be intentionally provocative by bringing in fresh ideas from new, influential works on political philosophy to unlock businesses' ability to enhance the long-term sustainability of the communities where they operate. Collectively, the reviewed books point to the importance of moving corporate governance approaches from their current dominance on shareholders' interests to a greater emphasis on more collaborative arrangements that integrate a broader set of stakeholders' interests in a manner that accounts for the financial as well as social and environmental implications of corporate action. It is not our intention to engage in a philosophical discussion of these works, but rather to obtain relevant insights from a related discipline that can help us add novel ideas to existing corporate governance debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Political theorists frequently utilize the ‘firm–state analogy’ (FSA) to support the arguments for democratic governance in firms. This article presents the FSA as an analogy with both justificatory and epistemic functions. Its justificatory function provides valid justificatory strategies for workplace democracy, while its epistemic function offers models that shape the understanding of corporate power. In this article, four limitations of the justificatory function of the FSA are identified: (i) the problem of ambiguity, (ii) the boundary problem, (iii) the issue of normative redundancy, and (iv) the universality problem. Furthermore, the article argues that the epistemic function of the FSA fails to adequately address some of the most concerning forms of corporate power wielded by large, particularly multinational, corporations in the realm of international trade. As a result, the FSA misses crucial reasons for the normative desirability of democracy in corporate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the disproportionate power of corporate and state fossil fuel interests to influence energy and climate policy is now well known, questions remain about the groups that enthusiastically consume such narratives, with far-reaching political consequences. Fossil fuel workers are one such group. Their positions within these debates are highly relevant to policy outcomes, yet their political positions are often assumed to oppose decarbonizing the economy to the detriment of otherwise well-intended interventions. We offer a more nuanced understanding of the sentiments of fossil fuel workers invoked through their public and political engagements. We use the Twitter profiles of 160 self-identified oil and gas workers to explore the nature of oil workers' masculinity and its implication in climate obstruction and far-right politics. We advocate for engaging workers in the energy transition through meaningful collaboration with workers to build trust and investment in a shared future narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effects of procedural justice and authority power on corporate taxpayers' decisions to accept tax audit assessments via an experiment related to a hypothetical tax audit. We find that authority power but not procedural justice increases corporate taxpayers' acceptance of tax authority decisions in a tax audit situation. However, when authority power is low, there is a significant effect of procedural justice in a tax audit on taxpayers' aggressiveness in their decisions to accept tax audit assessments. According to the results, a combination of policy measures that enhance procedural justice and traditional deterrence measures warrants consideration to increase overall corporate tax compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the developed economies, recent political economy scholarship has highlighted the growing role of intangible assets (brand equity, software, business processes, patents etc.) in corporate portfolios. Much of this literature has emphasized how intangible assets erect barriers to entry, produce artificial scarcity of key inputs, enhance the pricing power of firms and thus lead to greater and greater levels of concentration. Being as they are monopoly rights and privileges, intangible assets represent the relational power of their owner vis-à-vis those excluded from their ownership. While much of this literature has focused on the developed world, this paper turns its gaze to the case of a developing country and analyzes the patterns and trends of intangible assets for a sample of Indian firms for the period 2000–2022. The analysis reveals a substantial acceleration in the weight of net intangible assets relative to net physical assets, especially after 2008. It also suggests that the largest and most powerful corporations are the ones that have contributed to this spike. Ranked by assets, sales and ownership category, the results show that intangible asset accumulation has been the strongest in the highest echelons of the corporate hierarchy. Moreover, the patterns of intangible asset accumulation have been such that they have not been restricted to the traditional "rentier" sectors in the sense that their presence in the "productive" sectors has been as important if not more so. By focusing on firm-level patterns of intangible asset accumulation, the results show the internal and necessary connections between accumulation and value capture that undergirds modern day capitalism in the Southern peripheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate entrepreneurship is infused with power. Prior research has begun to shed light on the role of power in innovation contexts. Yet, we know much less about the day‐to‐day enactment of mundane power in corporate entrepreneurship, which, despite its partial subtlety, is no less consequential regarding decisions on pursuing or abandoning innovative ideas. This paper extends the literature on corporate entrepreneurship and power by exploring the discursive practices through which managers and employees of a corporate accelerator disciplined venture founders in the pursuit of innovative ideas. Based on a Foucauldian discourse analysis of ethnographic data, we show how a clash of entrepreneurship discourses invokes the day‐to‐day performance of three discursive practices—observing, exercising, and punishing—through which the accelerator's staff ensured that venture founders would adopt a dominant entrepreneurship discourse, with important implications for decisions on pursuing innovative ideas or not. These findings deepen our understanding of enacting mundane power in corporate entrepreneurship as well as the enablers and outcomes of such power enactment. We also outline the practical implications for emerging corporate innovation settings such as accelerators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate social irresponsibility continues despite institutional pressures for socially responsible behavior, resulting in disasters like the Kalamazoo River Oil Spill and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. We conduct an in-depth abductive analysis of the Kalamazoo River Oil Spill to explain factors that enable corporate forgetting work projects. Specifically, we illustrate how a corporation's political activities allow it to gain the power to suppress its mnemonic community's voices, thereby attenuating an irresponsible event's memory from the minds of its stakeholders, protecting its image, and maintaining legitimacy in the shareholder and state's eyes. We also highlight how the remembrance and forgetting of an irresponsible incident diverges between stakeholders based on their characteristics, future goals, and aspirations and whether they directly suffered from the disaster. Our research makes notable contributions to forgetting work literature by highlighting the importance of corporate political activities and context on the success of corporate forgetting work projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent years, inequality and the accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few have grown alarmingly in the world. The concentration of corporate power leads to oligopolies in almost all sectors and monopolistic power, economic and political, which seriously damage the well-being of the majority and the very foundations of democracy. The 2030 Agenda set the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that seek to alleviate inequalities in the world. An analysis of its various tracking indices does not invite optimism. The pandemic, wars and other concomitant factors have led to an even greater worsening at the beginning of the decade. Decisive action by governments is needed to control oligopolistic power and redistribute income and wealth. Only strong states will have the capacity to do so effectively. Tax justice must be an effective instrument for correcting inequalities and limiting excesses in the concentration of power and wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the impact of chief executive officers (CEOs) power on corporate strategies has attracted significant public debate in the academic milieu. In this study, we comprehensively review the academic literature on CEO power in relation to different corporate policies. We conduct a comprehensive review by dividing the literature into four streams: CEO power and firm performance, CEO power and executive compensation, CEO power and firm risk-taking, and finally, CEO power on other corporate strategies. Our review shows that the findings are mixed in relation to the effects of CEO power on firm strategies. Overall, the negative impact of CEO power on firm performance is attributed to agency theory, where CEOs pursue their own vested interests, thereby leading to weak corporate governance. The review reveals that the positive impact of CEO power on corporate outcomes is due to effective board monitoring, a powerful board, and high market competition. Our study also shows that most of the studies have adopted Finkelstein's (1992) four sources of CEO power but have taken different proxies to measure these powers. We have also identified several gaps in the current studies and recommend avenues for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background A major challenge to transforming food systems to promote human health and sustainable development is the global rise in the manufacture and consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). A key driver of this dietary transition is the globalization of UPF corporations, and their organized corporate political activity (CPA) intended to counter opposition and block government regulation. UPF industry CPA and the corporate interest groups who lobby on their behalf have been well described at the national level, however, at the global level, this network has not been systematically characterized. This study aims to map, analyse, and describe this network, and discuss the implications for global food policy action on UPFs, global food governance (GFG), and food systems transformation. Methods We conducted a network analysis of the declared interest group memberships of the world’s leading UPF corporations, extracted from web sources, company reports, and relevant academic and grey literature. Data on the characteristics of these interest groups were further extracted for analysis, including year founded, level, type, and headquarter location. Results We identified 268 interest groups affiliated with the UPF industry. The UPF manufacturers Nestlé (n = 171), The Coca-Cola Company (n = 147), Unilever (n = 142), PepsiCo (n = 138), and Danone (n = 113) had the greatest number of memberships, indicating strong centrality in coordinating the network. We found that this network operates at all levels, yet key actors now predominantly coordinate globally through multistakeholder channels in GFG. The most common interest group types were sustainability/corporate social responsibility/multistakeholder initiatives, followed by branding and advertising, and food manufacturing and retail. Most corporate interest groups are headquartered where they can access powerful government and GFG decision-makers, nearly one-third in Washington DC and Brussels, and the rest in capital cities of major national markets for UPFs. Conclusions The UPF industry, and especially its leading corporations, coordinate a global network of interest groups spanning multiple levels, jurisdictions, and governance spaces. This represents a major structural feature of global food and health governance systems, which arguably poses major challenges for actions to attenuate the harms of UPFs, and to realising of healthy and sustainable food systems.

This article illuminates an underappreciated political dimension of capitalism by elaborating media policy as a site for the dynamic interaction of corporate power and the state. Synthesizing Marxian analyses of monopoly capital, American political development (APD) perspectives on public policymaking, and communication studies conceptions of media systems as fields of democratic struggle, I trace the institutional mechanisms that enable corporate media interests to reinforce systemic imperatives and maintain political-economic dominance. I illustrate my argument with examples from the Telecommunications Act of 1996. My analysis sharpens APD's critical edge by defining path dependency, policy feedback, and policy drift as processes through which capital leverages structural power to fend off political challenges under changing economic, social, and technological conditions. State-sanctioned ownership and control of news outlets, communication platforms, and information networks furnish a unique mechanism for influencing the structural terms of public discourse on all issues, including media policy. This implicates corporate media power in the ongoing US political communication crisis and as a central force in the entrenchment of inegalitarian and undemocratic social relations. Lending greater theoretical coherence and empirical grounding to these material and ideological dynamics historicizes public communication and highlights contingent political openings for radical engagement with media policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure on corporate risk‐taking and how this impact is further affected by chief executive officer (CEO) power and incentives within US companies. We find that ESG disclosure decreases corporate risk‐taking based on both accounting‐based and market‐based returns. Further, we find that ESG disclosure is more effective in mitigating market‐based risk‐taking than accounting‐based risk‐taking in a firm with a powerful CEO. In contrast, CEO's ESG‐incentivized engagement bonuses weaken ESG disclosure impacts in reducing both types of risk‐taking. Our analysis helps understanding of different trade‐offs of ESG disclosure in aligning all stakeholders' benefits under different managerial‐related factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how organizational factors interact with individual factors in influencing female leaders' intentions to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) through the lens of planned behavior. Through in‐depth interviews with 20 female corporate leaders from Australia and China, seven themes emerged as factors shaping their CSR engagement. We examined those factors using the theory of planned behavior (TBP) conceptual framework, and found that organizational factors, especially corporate culture and peer influence, dominated female leaders' intentions to engage in CSR. Power interacts with culture and affects female leaders in two countries in different manners: in China, the distance to top corporate power determines female leaders' intentions toward and the way they engage in CSR, while lack of critical mass is often cited by their Australian counterparts as the main factor deterring their CSR engagement. This study demonstrates how organizational factors shape leaders' CSR decisions, reveals the nuances behind the gender–CSR link, and posits for different remedies to unleash the power of female leaders in different cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speculative fiction provides ways of imagining what our future, networked world might look like. Early media studies scholars such as Neal Postman have considered a world consumed by media. Applying this approach, the essay looks at two speculative texts, M. T. Anderson's Feed (2002) and Annalee Newitz's The Terraformers (2023), and discusses how the natural world and ourselves become entwined in corporate power and the so-called rewards of network connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The exploitative marketing of commercial milk formula (CMF) reduces breastfeeding, and harms child and maternal health globally. Yet forty years after the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes (The Code) was adopted by WHO member states, many countries are still to fully implement its provisions into national law. Furthermore, despite The Code, worldwide CMF markets have markedly expanded. In this paper, we adopt Brazil as a case study to understand the power of the baby food industry's marketing and corporate political activity, and how this influences the country's 'first-food system' in ways that promote and sustain CMF consumption. Methods: We used a case study design, drawing data from from documents and key informant interviews (N = 10). Results: Breastfeeding rates plummeted in Brazil to a historic low in the 1970s. A resurgence in breastfeeding from the mid-1980s onwards reflected strengthening political commitment for a national policy framework and breastfeeding protection law, resulting in-turn, from collective actions by breastfeeding coalitions, advocates, and mothers. Yet more recently, improvements in breastfeeding have plateaued in Brazil, while the industry grew CMF sales in Brazil by 750% between 2006 and 20. As regulations tightened, the industry has more aggressively promoted CMF for older infants and young children, as well as specialised formulas. The baby food industry is empowered through association with powerful industry groups, and employs lobbyists with good access to policymakers. The industry has captured the pediatric profession in Brazil through its long-standing association with the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics. Conclusion: Brazil illustrates how the baby food industry uses marketing and political activity to promote and sustain CMF markets, to the detriment of breastfeeding. Our results demonstrate that this industry requires much greater scrutiny by regulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We contribute to the literature on dividend policy by considering two largely ignored, yet important factors, namely CEO power and corporate risk management. We first disentangle CEO managerial ability from entrenchment - the two sources of leadership autonomy that are not normally distinguished in prior literature. Using UK (re)insurance data that allows us to objectively and reliably quantify risk management and to identify powerful stakeholders with monitoring incentives (e.g., shareholders and regulatory body), we find that risk management enables entrenched CEOs to increase dividends to avoid monitoring by shareholders without compromising financial resilience and increasing the risk of regulatory scrutiny. Further, we neither find the degree of CEO managerial ability nor its interaction with risk management to be related to dividends, suggesting that the competing incentives for talented CEOs to pay higher/lower level of dividends cancel out in cross-sectional tests. Nonetheless, we find that the signalling effects of dividends for future accounting earnings only exist in insurers with high ability CEOs. This is consistent with the view that talented CEOs are able to generate sustainable earnings, and when they choose to pay (more) dividends, they do so to externally signal their managerial ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of food democracy has been developed to articulate norms and ideals of democracy as a counterpressure to 'food control' from concentrated and transnational corporate power in the agri-food system. Yet to date, a comprehensive overview is missing to identify the various elements and dimensions of food democracy conceptualizations and to reflect on what exactly is democratic about food democracy. To address this gap, a systematic literature review was conducted to assess consensus, common and outlying dimensions of food democracy conceptualizations and the epistemological synergies and struggles around different understandings of democracy in the research field. Analysis uncovers more than 20 different food democracy dimensions, the most common of which (deliberation, knowledge democracy, food choice, civic co-planning, rights protection) diverge along two predominant schools of thought, epistemological positions and strategies for change: first, food democracy as a process of open and inclusive public deliberation in participatory settings; second, food democracy as the protection of individual rights, liberties and private (consumer) freedom. Through the lens of varied democracy perspectives, we discuss implications for further development of food democracy in research, policy and agri-food systems interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the attributes of Marvel World and the themes of heroism, love, grief and responsibility in Marvel movies. The desire to defend, hoard, or steal intellectual property are the frequent motivation of villains and heroes in Marvel Cinematic Universe such as in "Iron Man," as well as the anxiety about corporate control and uniformity in "Black Panther," and self-awareness and patience in "Spider-Man: Far From Home." Identification with power is said to explain the quality of Marvel fandom. However, the association of Marvel with quality is no longer the case for several projects like "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" whose visual effects were mocked by fans and critics and "Infinity War" wherein the Thanos storyline was the apotheosis of emotional arms race.

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Economists usually shy away from talking about power. They assume an economy comprised of many small and medium-sized firms, each competing for consumer dollars. This circumvents the problem of economic power. John Kenneth Galbraith, however, refused to ignore power. It stood at the center of his economics, and he saw it as a key reason the US economy thrived in the years following World War II (WWII). This chapter examines Galbraith's changing views regarding economic power. American Capitalism explains how countervailing power, or power on the other side of the market, solves the problem of economic power. In The New Industrial State, scientists and educated managers within the firm (the technostructure) mitigate the negative consequences of economic power wielded by large firms. The Affluent Society and Economics and the Public Purpose look to the government as the main check on corporate power. It does this through labor legislation or programs such as the New Deal and Fair Deal. This chapter then evaluates the different solutions Galbraith proffered to the problem of economic power. It contends that Galbraith got three things right when analyzing economic power. First, we no longer live in a world of scarcity due to oligopolistic firms. Second, capitalism was different in the post-WWII era because the US economy thrived and gains were shared widely. Third, Galbraith understood that power was unequally distributed – both between the public and private sectors and within the private sector itself. On the other hand, Galbraith was overly optimistic in believing the market economy or the public sector could counter corporate power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]