Caught in the Crossfire: Anti-corporate activism and non-market strategies of corporate targets in the creation of emissions controls

Abstract

While a large body of research explains how social movements elicit corporate change by focusing on confrontation of activists against targeted organizations, it remains unclear how the conflicts between activists and their primary targets affect non-target firms. Drawing on social movements research and non-market strategy literature, we examine how non-target firms respond to social contentiousness in the non-market environment in the context of the creation of automotive emissions controls in Japan in the early 1970s. Our findings challenge the somewhat linear assumption that confrontation and direct action against focal firms is a necessary condition for activists seeking change. Instead, our findings underscore the importance of also considering non-target firms in understanding the impact and influences of movements on the broader non-market environment. Moreover, our findings contribute to the non-market strategy literature by revealing that social value-based strategies can serve as an alternative way for corporate targets to exert influence in non-market environments. Specifically, we present a model that shows the linkages between intentional non-market strategies and strategic motivation in market competition, thus responding to calls to consider the linkage between non-market and market strategies.