Lobbying as a corporate strategy

Abstract

The paper examines the concept lobbying in different contexts. There is a difference between the way lobbying is carried out in India and in other western countries. The aim of this paper is to understand the need for such activities in a democratic setup such as our country. Participative form of democracy is widely appreciated and lauded all over the world. And lobbying is a means of promoting participative democracy. It is very difficult for the parliamentarians to sit and plan out growth for every segment of society and thus it becomes the responsibility of specific interest groups to put forward their case and push for their own development as it will lead to overall development of the society and economy of the country at large. This paper attempts to structure the ways in which various pressure groups can strategically influence the government in support of a cause. The matrix for interest groups made helps understand the differences in the methodologies that can be used by each. This paper identifies lobbying as a consulting process where the entire game plan has to be evolved and explained to the client effectively. The consulting process is a holistic approach at understanding the law and providing the best strategy to both the legislator and the interest group. The consultants also play an important role in determining the economic and social costs associated with the activity of lobbying. India is in a nascent stage as far as transparency in lobbying is concerned and there is a lot we can learn from the regulations installed for checking lobbying activities in different countries around the world. This paper recommends changes that need to be brought about in the Indian lobbying process so as to be able to make it an efficient form of participative democracy.