Abstract

"'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once': International Business Associations, Multinational Corporations and Regulation Attempts in the 1970s"

Maia Müller, Université de Lausanne (maia.muller@unil.ch)

Proof of the growing interest triggered by international business associations (IBAs), an expanding number of scholars now look at their impact on global governance (Ballor & Pitteloud, 2023; Rollings 2021, Pitteloud & al 2022). Scholars stress the importance of studying IBAs in their various evolving contexts, and in relation to different actors, such as states, international organisations (IOs), and individual firms.
Building on this growing scholarship, I focus on the attempts by international organisations to regulate multinational corporations (MNCs) from the 1960s to the 1990s. My paper will shed light on the multitude of attacks, criticisms, and regulatory attempts directed at multinational companies during these decades. Under an unprecedented attention and facing numerous attempts at regulation from the United Nations and other international organisations, these businesses had to develop an array of defense strategies. Collaboration and coordination were key. I examine the four IBAs (International Chamber of Commerce, International Organization of Employers, Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD and Union des industries de la Communauté Européenne) who spearhead the fight against these regulatory initiatives.
My research seeks to highlight the diverse approaches adopted by international business organisations in responding to these assaults. These strategies included for example advocating for non-binding regulation, closely monitoring the ongoing discussions, developing their own expertise on multinational corporations, or and seeking out connections with delegates and officials. Special attention will be given to the plurality of spaces, networks and actors involved in the drafting of these responses.
Using various collections of IBAs and national federations in Europe and the United States, as well as records of international organisations, this study examines how, during the peak of global regulatory efforts, international business groups played a crucial role in shaping a unified, collective response.