Corporate Lobbying: A Key Instrument for Positioning in the Business Environment and a Challenge for Regulation and Transparency

Abstract

This paper problematizes the role of lobbying in the world of large corporations, but also among smaller companies and firms, with an emphasis on regulatory challenges for development and progress in achieving a more transparent socio-business environment. It provides clearer and more concrete insights into the intentions of corporate lobbying, its objectives, and the consequences it may have for society and the state, as well as the negative connotations it carries in the public due to the lack of adequate legal regulation. The responsibilities and competences of corporations and the state are contextualized through the perspectives created by lobbying for capital interests, along with ways to overcome the obstacles that slow down social reforms.

The fundamental features and characteristics on which corporate lobbying is based are presented, which, in extreme cases, may pose a threat and a challenge to democracy. Finally, recommendations, ideas, and possibilities are offered that could lead to solutions beneficial to all – collectively – rather than merely serving the interests of the clients of corporate lobbyists who employ such political practices.