Corporate Statecraft

Global corporations (in particular those based in the North Atlantic and its emanations) are as vulnerable to the political, social, economic, and physical environment as they are integral to it. They rely on stability in the rules that determine competition, even as the existing systems of state-based multilateral disciplines is under challenge. They rely on social stability in a wide diversity of often unstable and fragile polities to sustain long-term investments in plant, workforce, and markets. They rely on predictability in the economic environment, including the swatches of that environment under corporate management, to sustain vital flows of capital. They rely on predictable access to sustained access to raw materials, technology, and energy simply to operate. While they possess elements of virtual sovereignty, corporations do not yet, as a rule, engage with challenges in this external environment at a level that reflects either their capacity or their interests. This paper argues that they must do so, not necessarily from some sense of “social obligation” but because their vital self interest is engaged. To do so, they need to integrate management of the “outside” into their business model, just as states integrate the management of the foreign environment and the domestic realm in their statecraft. This paper argues not only that corporations need to adopt a form of “statecraft,” but that to do so, they need to develop the diplomatic culture and tools it demands. It also provides some practical ideas on how that might be done.