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  • December 2016
  • Article
  • Strategic Management Journal

Through the Mud or in the Boardroom: Examining Activist Types and Their Strategies in Targeting Firms for Social Change

By: Charles Eesley, K. A. DeCelles and Michael Lenox
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Abstract

We examine the variety of activist groups and their tactics in demanding firms’ social change. While extant work does not usually distinguish among activist types or their variety of tactics, we show that different activists (e.g., social movement organizations vs. religious groups and activist investors) rely on dissimilar tactics (e.g., boycotts and protests vs. lawsuits and proxy votes). Further, we show how protests and boycotts drag companies “through the mud” with media attention, whereas lawsuits and proxy votes receive relatively little media attention yet may foster investor risk perceptions. This research presents a multifaceted view of activists and their tactics and suggests that this approach in examining activists and their tactics can extend what we know about how and why firms are targeted.

Keywords

Negotiation Tactics; Investment Activism

Citation

Eesley, Charles, K. A. DeCelles, and Michael Lenox. "Through the Mud or in the Boardroom: Examining Activist Types and Their Strategies in Targeting Firms for Social Change." Strategic Management Journal 37, no. 12 (December 2016): 2425–2440.
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More from the Authors
  • Strategy and the Institutional Envelope By: Gautam Ahuja, Laurence Capron, Michael Lenox and Dennis Yao
  • CSR Needs CPR: Corporate Sustainability and Politics By: Thomas Lyon, Magali A. Delmas, John W. Maxwell, Pratima Bansal, Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, Patricia Crifo, Rodolphe Durand, Jean-Pascal Gond, Andrew King, Michael Lenox, Michael W. Toffel, David Vogel and Frank Wijen
  • Trump Has a Great Opportunity to Save Our Environment By: Vanessa Burbano, Magali Delmas, Marian Chertow, Glen W. S. Dowell, Rodolphe Durand, Andrew J. Hoffman, Guy Holburn, Andrew A. King, Michael Lenox, Lin Lerpold, Thomas Lyon, John W. Maxwell, Eric Orts, N. Craig Smith, John Sterman, Michael W. Toffel, L. Beril Toktay, David Vogel, Judith Walls, Frank Wijen, Jeff York and Maurizio Zollo
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