From Public Diplomacy to Corporate Diplomacy: Increasing Corporation’s Legitimacy and Influence

Abstract

Public diplomacy is an increasing popular preoccupation of governments worldwide, especially aimed at achieving acceptance of their foreign policies abroad, in which corporations have traditionally played a secondary role. However, as it happens with governments, corporations have understood long ago the challenges of being accepted abroad. In this paper the authors suggest that 'corporate diplomacy' is also a process by which corporations intend to be recognized as representatives of something that might be a concept or a country or its related values. In this case, it is essential to create a sincere adaptation of the corporate values to the societal values if a corporation wishes to have a symbiotic relationship with key stakeholders. 'Corporate diplomacy' thus becomes a complex process of commitment towards society, and in particular with its public institutions, whose main added value to the corporation is a greater degree of legitimacy or "license-to-operate," which in turn improves its power within a given social system. By proposing a certain notion of 'corporate diplomacy' the authors intend to evocate an important role that modern corporations are increasingly playing through their public relations practice and which might be shaping the definition of corporations as institutions within society.

Corporate diplomacy and political CSR: Similarities, differences and theoretical implications

“…Previous studies have related CD to PCSR (Westermann-Behaylo et al, 2015;White et al, 2011) and suggested embedding CD in a PCSR framework, since PCSR recognizes "the power of corporations in society and the responsible use of power in the political arena" (White et al, 2011, p. 283). In fact, social power and political responsibilities are key aspects of CD (Mogensen, 2017;Ordeix-Rigo & Duarte, 2009). Moreover, the core challenges of CD lie in responding to social pressure through external stakeholders and meeting the expectations of (foreign) corporate stakeholders in order to gain legitimacy (Ordeix-Rigo & Duarte, 2009;Weber & Larsson-Olaison, 2017).…”

“…2 2015; Mogensen, 2017;Ordeix-Rigo & Duarte, 2009). By engaging in CD, multinational companies are able to respond to changing social expectations and to grow their legitimacy and influence in their host countries (Ordeix-Rigo & Duarte, 2009).…”

“…2 2015; Mogensen, 2017;Ordeix-Rigo & Duarte, 2009). By engaging in CD, multinational companies are able to respond to changing social expectations and to grow their legitimacy and influence in their host countries (Ordeix-Rigo & Duarte, 2009). Moreover, CD is a highly valuable approach for public diplomacy (PD), since multinational companies have the power and the resources to contribute to the national interests of their host countries (Ordeix-Rigo & Duarte, 2009).…”

¿Evolución o revolución? Análisis de opinión y de percepciones por parte de los principales agentes transformadores de la cultura green en el ámbito del coche eléctrico en Londres y Barcelona

“…C) La legitimidad y el medio plazo La industria automovilística, las eléctricas, el sector tecnológico y logístico, así como la administración pública de ambos países están esperando que los grupos influentes de la sociedad se activen y actúen como verdaderos actores de cambio social. El conocido social engagement es de vital importancia en el proceso comunicativo institucional (Ordeix, Duarte, 2009). La influencia de base o soporte social es de suma relevancia, como para vencer los agravios comparativos con el uso del coche convencional, y poder potenciar su producción en serie.…”

Analysing Foreign Policy in a Context of Global Governance

“…9 Regularly, non-traditional foreign policy players are not recognized formally as actors under international law, that is their access to institutionalized fora such as UN bodies is restricted. De facto, however, they are present, at times gaining observer or more wide-reaching formal statuses, and are informally fully involved in a broad array of global politics, ranging from financial, through development, to environmental governance (Betsill and Corell, 2008;Ordeix-Rigo and Durante, 2009;Fogarty, 2012). This implies that they acquire such notoriety that other foreign policy actors cannot afford to ignore their demands, and that a real competition between various (types of) players inevitably sets in.…”