Behind closed doors: Unravelling corporate political activity concealment strategies

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

School of Business | Master's thesis

Authors

Date

2024

Department

Johtamisen laitos

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Global Management

Language

en

Pages

104

Series

Abstract

Existing research extensively examines corporate political activity, yet studies theoretically examining the concealment of CPA are lacking. We address this issue by analyzing the corporate political activity of an organization and identifying the CPA concealment strategies it employed in the past. We study the history of U.S. military contractor, Halliburton/KBR, during three periods: pre-Iraq War, Iraq War, and post-Iraq War, examining their controversial CPA to identify concealment strategies used by the organization. Our findings reveal their engagement in various CPA types, including unethical and illegal practices, to secure government contracts during the Iraq War. As a result, four concealment strategies were implemented: the use of intermediaries, manipulation of media channels, refusal to disclose CPA-related information, and reliance on political connections. These concealment strategies aimed to obscure involvement, evade accountability, and create plausible deniability. From these findings, we contribute four key insights to the discourse on CPA concealment: geopolitical context, mixed concealment approaches, the strategic use of political connections, and the influence of organizational culture on concealment success. The observations made from this research can be used by managers to ethical-ly implement CPA concealment strategies while minimizing adverse outcomes and in future research as a complementary work of literature to further add to the growing discourse on CPA concealment.

Description

Thesis advisor

Niittymies, Aleksi

Keywords

corporate political activity, concealment, organizational strategies, unethical corporate behavior

Other note

Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202406234809

Collections

[gradu] Kauppakorkeakoulu / BIZ