Do corporate spin-offs engage in corporate political strategy? A resource dependence perspective
Mine Ozer, O. Volkan OzbekPurpose
Research on corporate spin-offs has examined various factors contributing to the success of spin-off firms. However, how these firms manage their political environment remains largely unexplored. This study integrates the literature on corporate political strategy and corporate spin-offs to investigate the conditions under which spin-off firms engage in political strategy. Drawing on insights from both domains and grounded in resource dependence theory, the authors propose that capital intensity and research and development (R&D) intensity increase the likelihood of political engagement among spin-off firms. The authors also propose that organizational slack strengthens this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 205 corporate spin-offs from 2012 to 2022, the authors obtain data on these firms' lobbying expenditures and campaign contributions. Their financial information is retrieved from the COMPUSTAT database. The authors estimate the generalized least squares regression model.
Findings
The results demonstrate that capital intensity and R&D intensity are positively related to spin-off firms' engagement in corporate political strategy. Furthermore, the results also show that organizational slack strengthens the positive relationship between R&D intensity and spin-off firms' engagement in corporate political strategy.
Originality/value
This study offers new insights into how corporate spin-offs navigate their political environment as they pursue strategic and operational independence from their parent firms. The authors introduce corporate political strategy as a novel factor to understand the success of spin-offs in their external environments. Practically, for executives of spin-offs, the findings underscore that success after separation depends as much on managing external dependencies as on optimizing internal resources. Corporate political strategy can help spin-offs reduce uncertainty, gain legitimacy and secure access to valuable resources.