From the Harvard Business Review: 'Do Business and Politics Mix?'

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By: Doug Bedell

A couple of days after the midterm elections, we’ve come upon an article in the Harvard Business Review on what’s likely a vexing subject for many organizations: “Do Business and Politics Mix?” It’s written by Brian K. Richter, an assistant professor in the Business, Government, and Society Department at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School, and provided under the heading of Crisis Communications.

The crisis involved was one faced by Natural Foods, “a midsize chain of organic grocery stores based in Minneapolis” after it made a contribution to a super PAC called Minnesota Business First. One of the candidates backed by the group “had taken a strong stance against gay marriage.” The Minneapolis StarTribune ran a story about he company’s donation, and Natural Foods didn’t want to be seen as antigay.

The piece is quite a read.

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About the Author

Doug Bedell has a background in journalism and PR and is the owner of Resource Relations LLC in Central PA, focusing on organizational and crisis communication. He’s the community manager of SimplyFair.net, a social network on fairness. On the Web, Doug’s at www.ResourceRelations.com. On Twitter, he’s @DougBeetle.

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