Factors Determining Corporate Political Activities in the U.S. Food and Tobacco Industries

The role and importance of special interest groups in the policy process in the United States is well documented. Activities of such groups include putting political pressure on the government through lobbying and political campaign contributions to repeal certain regulations that cut into firm or industry profits or to impose regulatory protections that raise firm or industry profits. Food and tobacco manufacturing firms in the United States actively participate in political activities to influence public policy formulation and implementation. This study empirically examines the conditions that must be met if food and tobacco firms are to organize and participate in corporate political activities to influence government. According to empirical findings, such conditions require that the industry is highly concentrated, has a large number of employees, has high average sales per firm, and has a high profit rate. Corporate political activities, however, decline beyond a critical level of concentration