Alone on the ramparts

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that corporate political positioning taking is playing in exacerbating political polarization and to suggest that, by contrast, corporations could also play a role in healing some of the increasing divides in democracies around the world. Design/methodology/approach: The paper looks at recent examples of companies taking political positions on controversial public issues and public reactions to those positions in the media. Findings: The author’s analysis suggests that with each subsequent political position announced by companies, the stakes for more extreme and noisy pronouncements become higher and higher. This threatens to be an unsustainable journey, and companies will need to find new ways to communicate their commitment to customers and other stakeholders. Originality/value: While there has been wide discussion of the increasing propensity of companies to take public positions on social and political issues, the author believes this is the first viewpoint to examine the consequences of this trends over the longer term and its impact on polarization.