Corporate Political Action and Global Trade Regimes: Fortune 500 Firms in the U.S. Trade Policy Formation Process

Corporate Unity in American Trade Policy: A Network Analysis of Corporate-Dyad Political Action

“…37 Somewhat surprisingly, however, market sector was not associated with a significant change in any of the saturated equations. While other research on firm-level participation in trade policy activism reveals a significant difference in mean affiliation (i.e., the intercepts) across two-digit sector classifications (Darves and Dreiling 2007), sector does not appear to exert a comparable effect on political unity of paired firms. This finding suggests that while sector influences the odds that a given firm will engage in trade policy formation and advocacy, other factors are more important to the structure of the relational networks created when two or more firms collectively engage in trade policy advocacy.…”

“…Likewise, several studies suggest that firms that coordinate their lobbying activities in the trade policy arena also make greater than average PAC contributions (Woodall et al 2000;Darves and Dreiling 2007). While it is conceivable that firms with larger than average PAC donations could also oppose one another on trade policy, recent research suggests that firms with larger PAC donations are more likely to be active in the major sites of business political coordination, such as the BR (Darves and Dreiling 2007;Burris 2008).…”

“…While it is conceivable that firms with larger than average PAC donations could also oppose one another on trade policy, recent research suggests that firms with larger PAC donations are more likely to be active in the major sites of business political coordination, such as the BR (Darves and Dreiling 2007;Burris 2008). Thus, we might expect that firms with the largest PAC expenditures will display higher levels of political unity in their support for U.S. trade policies.…”

“…The most important of such organizations in the area of trade policy include the Business Council, Conference Board, Emergency Committee on American Trade, National Association of Manufacturers, Council of the Americas, Trilateral Commission, and United States Council for International Business. Prior research suggests that firm affiliation with these organizations-part of the larger "policy network"-positively correlates with a range of political behavior, from campaign spending to participation in temporary issue alliances (Useem 1984;Boies 1989;Burris 1992Burris , 2008Martin and Swank 2004;Domhoff 2006;Darves and Dreiling 2007). Similarly, because these associations function as a site of ongoing business political coordination, their members can be expected to exhibit higher levels of political unity.…”