Lobbying for Good

Defying the stereotype that all corporate lobbying is self-interested, some companies are using their government affairs staffs and advocacy skills to lobby for important social issues. As a part of strategic CSR, lobbying for social change should focus on issues that matter to business. Published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2009.

Downloads

Article PDF

Rate:

Your Rating:

0.0

Average Rating:

5

Ratings:

1

Post Comment

Christopher Sperandio	(12/11/2010 8:06:16 PM)

Reply

|

Report

I'd love to see a dialogue develop regarding specific companies/industries for whom Lobbying for Good could make a potent impact.

For example, I could see Whole Foods benefitting from more public policy engagement. Lobbying for a fresh look at the Farm Bill with legislative emphasis on any number of areas - GMO labeling, reigning in corn subsidies, promoting sound organic methods, punishing fertilizer run-off, upping livestock care standards - could have immense impact on our collective health and the sustainability of our environment (and WF's and their stakeholders' sales numbers).

Also, as Michael Pollan mentioned in the NYTimes, perhaps without the ability to simply drop coverage of sick people, Health Insurance Companies will have incentive to lobby for a healthier agriculture system to decrease the rate of obesity and Type II diabetes in America.

Ideas? Where are other areas in which social dimensions of competitive context could be affected positively by corporate lobbying?