UMI/ProQuest URL	http://80-wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/9705483
PUBLICATION NUMBER	AAT 9705483
TITLE	Levelling the playing field: How citizen advocacy groups influence corporate behavior
AUTHOR	Bliss, Tamara Judith
DEGREE	PhD
SCHOOL	FIELDING GRADUATE INSTITUTE
DATE	1996
PAGES	395
ADVISER	McWhinney, Will
ISBN	0-591-12273-1
SOURCE	DAI-A 57/09, p. 4153, Mar 1997
SUBJECT	SOCIOLOGY, SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT (0700); BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT (0454); POLITICAL SCIENCE, GENERAL (0615)
ABSTRACT	Since the 1960s citizen advocacy groups have taken their demands directly to corporations. In a variety of ways, rational and radical, peaceful and violent, they have directly confronted the social, environmental and economic policies of private companies to make changes. Outstanding leaders such as Saul Alinsky, Ralph Nader, and Gail Cincotta and advocacy groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund, ACT UP, and People for Ethical Treatment of Animals have forced companies to be more responsive to the concerns of environmentalists, the Christian Right, and many different citizen organizations concerned with a wide variety of issues. This is a study of how they have achieved results, the strategies and tactics they used against, and in cooperation with, corporations. The data were drawn from academic studies, newspaper and magazine articles, business school cases, and conversations concerning 100 issue campaigns targeted at major US corporations during the past 35 years. I introduced the change model in McWhinney's Paths of Change to create a typology of campaigns. The data indicated the need to extend this model to explain the power of boycotts and the types of symbiotic relationships among 2 or more diverse groups attacking particular issues and companies. The range of situations and models of advocacy is so great that it is not possible to build a general theory regarding effective advocacy. However, a detailed examination of 16 major cases leads to some general propositions about advocacy and the corporate responses that have been successful. It is clear that successful campaigns need to be directed against an industry's vulnerabilities, such as concern about their public image or their failure to comply with government regulations. It is also evident that the symbiosis of a bad guy-good guy teaming of a radical firebrand with reasonable collaborator got results over and over. Companies which take proactive steps to join with advocacy groups in building a common understanding produce 'win-win' outcomes. The insights of this study give us approaches to formulate effective strategies for advocacy. More significantly, the new model will lead to constructive resolution of public policy issues between corporations and their stakeholders.