Many firms have increased their expenditure on Corporate Political Activity (CPA) in an attempt to both influence the public policy process and to increase the corporate reputation (CR) of the firm. We first discuss the literature on the context and proactive political strategies involved in CPA, and the literature on CR. Our empirical study draws on this literature to examine the German food manufacturing industry, utilising expert interviews with nutritional scientists and NGO representatives, analysed using a qualitative, thematic analysis. Our findings and managerial implications centre around the reputational effect on the firm and competitors, and upon the metaphor of ‘issue islands’. Proactive CPA strategies and constituency-building, whilst seen as risky, had a positive effect on firm CR amongst the industry stakeholders if adopted over the long-term. CPA strategies can also provide a first-mover competitive advantage; competitors that subsequently adopt the same strategy do not receive the same reputational benefits. ‘Issue islands’ was a metaphor used by one industry stakeholder to describe how the stakeholder-specific perception of one issue does not necessarily affect another; for example, the nutritional scientists focused on product nutrition and not a commercial organisation’s advertising when constructing the CR of that organisation.

许多公司增加了在公司政治活动 (CPA) 上的支出，以试图影响公共政策过程并提高公司的公司声誉 (CR)。我们首先讨论关于 CPA 的背景和积极的政治策略的文献，以及关于 CR 的文献。我们的实证研究利用这些文献来考察德国食品制造业，利用对营养科学家和非政府组织代表的专家访谈，并使用定性主题分析进行分析。我们的研究结果和管理意义围绕着对公司和竞争对手的声誉影响以及“问题孤岛”的隐喻。积极的注册会计师战略和支持者建设，虽然被视为有风险，如果长期采用，将对行业利益相关者中的企业 CR 产生积极影响。CPA 策略还可以提供先发竞争优势；随后采用相同策略的竞争对手不会获得相同的声誉收益。“问题孤岛”是一个行业利益相关者用来描述利益相关者对一个问题的特定看法如何不一定影响另一个问题的比喻；例如，在构建组织的 CR 时，营养科学家专注于产品营养而不是商业组织的广告。“问题孤岛”是一个行业利益相关者用来描述利益相关者对一个问题的特定看法如何不一定影响另一个问题的比喻；例如，在构建组织的 CR 时，营养科学家专注于产品营养而不是商业组织的广告。“问题孤岛”是一个行业利益相关者用来描述利益相关者对一个问题的特定看法如何不一定影响另一个问题的比喻；例如，在构建组织的 CR 时，营养科学家专注于产品营养而不是商业组织的广告。