SPECIFICS OF GR-MANAGEMENT AND LOBBYING ACTIVITIES IN MODERN GERMAN BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS ON THE EXAMPLE OF CHAMBERS OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE AND CHAMBERS OF FOREIGN TRADE

The work is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of GR-management of business associations in Germany. Business associations are analyzed from the perspective of the neo-institutional theory of organizational fields developed by P. J. DiMaggio and W. W. Powell, which allows the authors to analyze the role of business associations in modern Germany, taking into account not only the economic and financial activities of such organizations, but also their political influence in the country, as well as the features of the development of corporate ethics and culture of industrial behaviour of companies. The main aim of the paper is to determine the role and place of the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHK) and Chambers of Foreign Trade (AHK) in representing and lobbying the interests of German business both within the national economic system and in the international arena. The main features of Chambers of Industry and Commerce as lobbying associations at regional and federal level in Germany are analyzed based on the law “On the Provisional Regulation of the Law on Chambers of Industry and Commerce” (Gesetz zur vorläufigen Regelung des Rechts der Industrieund Handelskammern (IHKG) from 1956. Particular attention is focused on the activity of Chambers of Foreign Trade, which is a unique highly-developed network of organizations with a well-established system of communication. The paper also decomposes the role of Chambers of Foreign Trade in implementing the concept of economic diplomacy of Germany, based on the so-called “three pillars” (Drei-Säulen Konzept). An important aspect of the paper is an analysis of the activity of both Chambers of Industry and Commerce and Chambers of Foreign Trade during the socalled lockdown caused by the pandemic of a novel coronavirus infection, their role in supporting business while supply chains were disrupted and changes in the legal framework for international trade increased in frequency.

GR-management, business associations, lobbying, Chambers of Industry and Commerce, Chambers of Foreign Trade, economic diplomacy, the concept of the three pillars of economic diplomacy (Drei-Säulen Konzept), communications, group interests, accumulation and articulation of group interests, COVID-19

Dzizel S. V., Lukashenko A. A., Egiazaryan D. A. Specifics of GR-management and lobbying activities in modern German business associations on the example of chambers of industry and commerce and chambers of foreign trade. Business. Education. Law, 2022, no. 3, pp. 99—105. DOI: 10.25683/VOLBI.2022.60.341.