Kalle Pajunen

Vices and Virtues of Corporate Political Activity The Challenge of International Business

The authors give a critical reading of the research interests of state-of-the-art corporate political activity (CPA) literature. They demonstrate that a noncritical tendency in the literature to view CPA as a strategic activity, aimed at making profit, may encourage firms to sociopathic behavior in their political activities. Using psychiatric literature, the authors explore the nature of sociopathic CPA. They draw on a recent discussion initiated by virtue theorists, exploring firm moral agency in order to suggest the opening of several new research areas, within CPA literature, more sensitive to moral questions.

The Nature of Organizational Mechanisms

One of the basic objectives in organization research is to examine how some organizational occurrence or outcome comes about or, even more fundamentally, to explain how things work. I argue that we can shed more light on these issues by examining the mechanisms driving the organizational processes. In this article I attempt to elucidate the nature of organizational mechanisms, thereby providing a coherent explanatory foundation for process research and processual research strategies. In order to illustrate the nature of mechanisms and explanations by mechanisms, a case study of the organizational decline and failure process of the Finnish conglomerate Tampella is reported.

Stakeholder management and path dependence in organizational transitions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer an explanatory process model of stakeholder management. The model shows how and why path dependence is manifested in stakeholder management issues.Design/methodology/approach – The paper integrates stakeholder theory with key ideas from path dependence literature. The resulting propositions are examined in the context of a longitudinal case study of the United Airlines and US Airways abandoned merger in 2000‐2001Findings – The papers analysis demonstrates that initial conditions are accentuated by the sequence of actions, offering a plausible explanation for process outcomes.Practical implications – On the practical side, the paper provides a problem‐solving tool for stakeholder management to analyze the stakeholder linkages during strategic initiatives.Originality/value – The paper addresses an important research gap, exploring how stakeholder‐related path dependencies influence the process of conflict escalation.

MNE-NGO-Host Government Relationships in the Escalation of an FDI Conflict

Increased interaction among multinational enterprises (MNEs), host governments, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) has made the implementation of foreign direct investments (FDIs) more complex and potentially more prone to conflict. In this article, by drawing on a longitudinal case study of a conflict concerning a multinational forest industry company’s pulp mill investment in Uruguay, the authors argue that specific characteristics of the relationships between MNEs, host governments, and NGOs contribute to the escalation of FDI conflicts. When escalated, the conflict has specific effects on these relationships, which effectively prevent the parties from finding a solution to the conflict. Our findings highlight the importance of accurate, prompt responses to NGO demands, and warn against considering the host government as the only source of external legitimacy.