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Actors in the arena of international business regulation have used different approaches to coordinating understandings, expectations and actions. But, what are the more specific tools they use?

Webs of Influence

Developing rules for regulating international business happens through relationships.

These relationships may be formal, taking place in board rooms, meetings and tribunals around the globe. However, many of the most important decisions may be made through informal ties or associations. Critical decisions may be made over a cup of coffee or in the lobby.

Also, relationships do not have to be direct (that is, you and I both know each other) in order to make a difference. For instance, the CEO of a large multinational corporation does not have to have a personal relationship with the chief administrator of a central bank to influence the administrator's decisions. The CEO may enlist the help of a government official who may, in turn, use her network of relationships to influence the central bank administrator.

Rather than visualize global business regulation occurring through a formal hierarchy of influence, some scholars suggest that these relationships are better understood as a “web”—a criss-crossing, tangled set of relationships (formal and informal), through which knowledge, know-how, common understandings and influence flow.

Forums

Where does global business regulation take place?

Scholars describe the sites where business regulations are created as “forums.” These forums have a wide variety of features, depending on the circumstances and the actors involved. Also, actors can use different forums strategically. That is, different forums or ties among forums may be used to accomplish an actor's goals. Some examples of different forums in which rules for global business are made include:

• Organizations of states. These include the United Nations, the WTO, the OECD and some international courts or tribunals. Organizations of states may also be based on region (like NAFTA) or common interests (like NATO).
• International financial institutions. These include such entities as the IMF, the World Bank and regional banks.
• Organizations of businesses. Business organizations include the likes the International Chamber of Commerce. These organizations may be important not only because they formulate or lobby for rules to govern international business, but may also include important forums for mediating disputes.
• Professions. Professions are defined by their areas of expertise. While committees and networks within professions may work out proposals and positions on different issues, professionals participate across other forums.
• Organizations based on shared commitments. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of various types may take a keen interest in how international business occurs. For instance, environmental interest groups may seek to influence how businesses are regulated.

The most effective forums may not be the most public. Indeed, it may be the meetings that occur in small, low-profile committee meetings and commissions that make the most difference.

Additionally, individuals organizations, states and professions may operate across different forums. Activities in one forum may have a heavy influence on other forums.

Tools and Technologies

In addition to webs of influence and different forums, actors use specific tools or methods to influence others.

Legitimacy

Does an actor's opinion or view count? That is, power and coercion aside, why should others take a particular actor seriously? Legitimacy is a characteristic that actors attribute to another actor, based on such things as expertise, reputation and moral excellence.

Legitimacy, like power in general, is not a simple concept. It is not an attribute an actor simply has or not. Actors have to work for legitimacy. They have to convince other actors that their understandings, approaches or behaviors are simply among the best options around.

Agendas

How do organizations and associations sort through various alternative rules for regulating business activity? There are a number of different ways:

• Some are more public than others
• Some are more democratic than others (that is, more democratic agendas allow and facilitate genuine participation by a range of actors)
• Some are more genuine than others (that is, some encourage real decision-making in the particular situation, while others are simply for “show,” while the real decisions are made elsewhere or by other actors).

Legal Technologies

Rules for coordinating actions and understandings take a number of forms. “Legal technologies” are the ways in which the rules are codified or expressed. For instance, a particular pattern of behavior could be formally mandated as a law or less formally expressed in the form of standards or guidelines.

Also, different technologies can be combined. For instance, a broad universal rule or goal can be combined with specific tools to help actors figure out how to meet that goal and even determine whether or not they are meeting the goal.

Different legal technologies serve different purposes and work differently to meet the interests of different actors. Sometimes, a conflict may be less about a general goal or principle than about the way that the principle is codified.