Confrontation, collaboration and/or compromise are stances instigators might take toward corrupt industries and their corporations. I will tell you three short stories of collaboration and compromise. The lesson taken from them is that mice should never sit down at the table with hungry cats.
The " apparel industry partnership ." Several unions, human rights groups, and religious groups sat down at the table with the apparel industry to seek a compromise solution on curbing or controlling sweatshops. Guess who got suckered and walked away with nothing?
The Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics. Its mission is to bring "together leaders from business and academia to---renew and enhance the link between ethical behavior and business practice through executive education programs, practitioner-focused research and outreach." Do you know anything about the Business Roundtable? If you do you know which "partner" carries the day.
Peace through commerce. This is the partial title of a book I reviewed a year ago. Its editor advocates collaborations between multinational corporations and NGOs aimed at reducing violence. The editor lets various contributors illustrate with true stories their collaborations in several different countries. The cited corporations mostly have a history of corruption and the illustrations clearly tell me that the editor, the NGOs, and the contributors (except for contributors who were executives in corporate PR departments) were hoodwinked.
How possibly to achieve corporate reform: Follow these suggested steps
1. With the exception of the death merchants, for each of the industries and their corporations with records of the most harmful wrongdoing a large strike force cadre of NGOs and the most relevant movement(s) would be established. Where a bona fide movement did not exist the cadre would be responsible for developing one (possibly relying on the guidance of authoritative sources such as Si Kahn and his book "Organizing guide for grassroots leaders"). A large cadre would also be established for allies that are common to all of the industries such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and think tanks). This strategy of using specific cadres would represent a modified and scaled-down version of my two-fisted democracy proposal.
2. For each selected industry the corresponding cadre would target specific corporations and any specific allies unique to them. Priorities in order and timing of the confrontations would depend on the behavioral profiles of the corporations and their allies.
3. The different cadres would coordinate their plans and strategies but tailor them as necessary to the specific nature of each target. All of the cadres should collaborate in planning and carrying out a campaign of blitzing the public about their entire venture and soliciting support for it (such as e.g., joining in any planned massive demonstrations or boycotts).
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