Designing lobbying capabilities: Managerial choices in unpredictable environments

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how, in unpredictable policy environments, specific managerial choices play a vital role in designing lobbying capabilities through the choice of levels of investment in human capital, network relationships and structural modification. Design/methodology/approach: Using an inductive case study approach, data were collected through 42 in-depth, semi-structured interviews and documented archival data. Cross-case pattern sequencing was used to construct an interpretive model of lobbying capability design. Data were framed by the dynamic resource-based theory of the firm. Findings: Heterogeneous lobbying capabilities are adapted differently in private and state-owned airlines as a result of diverse ownership structures and time compositions that interplay with organizational processes. The result is a divergence between private- and state-owned airlines in how they engage with governmental actors and policies. Research limitations/implications: The paper contributes to ongoing discourse in and between the dynamic capabilities and corporate political activity literatures, particularly on how state/non-state-owned airlines design their political lobbying capabilities. The research is limited in so far as it only studies the European airline industry. Originality/value: The paper illustrates how a specific and far-reaching unanticipated external policy stimulus (the 9/11 terrorist attacks) impacted on management choices for lobbying design in the European airline industry.