Emergence of Guinness's Corporate Political Activity to Regulatory Change.

Drawing from the rich historical case of Guinness's responses to updates in Australian customs regulations in 1924, we unpack the interrelated dynamics of MNEs' corporate political activity (CPA) responses in the face of regulatory shock. We provide a model of how an MNE's CPA responses evolve at the level of individual managers. Our model specifically explains how (1) the strategic choices emerged in the tension between two actor groups who had distinct roles and motives and crucially influenced the trajectory of these responses; (2) the process was driven by the interrelated dynamics of strategic responses, where any given response shaped other responses' boundaries, motivations, and goals; (3) the distinction between materialized and considered (i.e., non-materialized) strategic responses played a significant role. In conclusion, we discuss how our theoretical insights advance the CPA literature concerning MNEs' political activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]