Convincing Political Stakeholders

In the new edition of his standard work, the founder of one of the most successful lobbying companies in the European Union (EU), Prof. Klemens Joos, bundles experience acquired over more than three decades to form a scientific theory on governmental relations. It focusses on the insight that, in view of the increasingly complex decision-making structures of the EU, the most precise possible knowledge of decision-makers and decision-making processes is at least equally as important to success as the content aspects of interest representation. In a new chapter, the author sets out the formula for science-based interest representation developed by him from his practical experience.
With the Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force on 1 December 2009, the EU de facto became a state territory stretching from Portugal to Finland and from Ireland to Cyprus. The European Parliament became an equal-status decision-maker alongside the Council of the European Union (Council). The previous co-decision procedure was elevated to become the standard procedure ("ordinary legislative procedure"). The so-called qualified majority (55 percent of the EU member states which simultaneously represent at least 65 percent of the EU population) was introduced for all important areas in the Council. As a result, the outcome of decision-making processes has become largely incalculable for the actors on the "European Union stage" - the EU member states, EU regions, companies, associations and organisations.

The second edition includes a new chapter, in which Prof. Klemens Joos makes the variables of successful interest representation even more tangible on the basis of his scientific formula: at the latest since the Treaty of Lisbon, the basic prerequisite for successful interest representation in the EU involves the continuous and close intermeshing of the affected party's content competence (of the four "classic instruments" of interest representation: corporate representative offices, associations, public affairs agencies, law firms) with process structure competence (i.e. the EU-wide maintenance of the required spatial, personnel and organisational capacities as well as strong networks across institutions, political groups and member states) on the part of an independent intermediary. The likelihood of success can be increased exponentially if success is achieved, firstly, in committing to the concern of an affected party through a change of perspective such that the positive effects on the common good are shifted into the foreground for the decision-makers in the EU (perspective change competence) and, secondly, in successfully integrating the concern into the crucial decision-making processes at the political level and continuously supporting it (process support competence).

Guest authors:
This work includes guest contributions from Prof. Christian Blümelhuber (Berlin University of the Arts), Prof. Anton Meyer (formerly LMU Munich), Prof. Armin Nassehi (LMU Munich) and Prof. Franz Waldenberger (Director of the German Institute of Japanese Studies, Tokyo) as well as a foreword by Prof. Gunther Friedl (Dean of the TUM School of Management) and a preface by Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann (President of TU Munich).

The president of Germany's most distinguished university, Prof. Hofmann (TUM), recommends buying the second edition of "Convincing Political Stakeholders": "Based on competencies and international experience obtained over a number of decades in politics, business and academia, Prof. Klemens Joos and his co-authors impressively show in this book how successful lobbyists in complex decision-making systems - companies in the multi-level system of the European Union, for instance - have to structure their negotiating strategy and procedural organisation. In doing so, the authors add flexibility to the previous concepts of rigid sociological, political science and economic functional mechanisms of lobbying work and skilfully combine theoretical and methodological bases with specific orientation aids for business practice."
Prof. Friedl, Dean of Germany's most distinguished university, recommends buying the second edition of "Convincing Political Stakeholders": "Klemens Joos succeeds once again in treading new ground with this second edition of his book. He tangibly packs the important distinction between content competence and process competence, without which successful interest representation is not possible, into a formula that reduces the complex task of interest representation to its core and the central relationships."

Autorentext
Prof. Klemens Joos studied business administration at Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) in Munich, where he obtained his doctorate on "Representing the Interests of German Companies vis-à-vis the Institutions of the European Union" in 1997. After working as a personal assistant to a Member of the European Parliament, he founded EUTOP International GmbH, now the EUTOP Group, in 1990. EUTOP is a governmental relations agency that deals on a scientifically founded basis with the structural and sustainable support of interest representation for private companies, associations and organisations amongst the institutions of the European Union and selected member states. In addition to Brussels, the EUTOP Group is now present in the capital cities of all important member states of the European Union with subsidiary companies or representative offices. The scientific basis of the EUTOP Group's business model has also led to close co-operations with Germany's Universities of Excellence: from 2013 to 2021, Prof. Klemens Joos was a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Business Administration at LMU Munich for the "Convincing Political Stakeholders" course. Since the summer semester of 2021, he has been a visiting lecturer at the TUM School of Management at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). In 2022, he was appointed as honorary professor for "business studies - convincing political stakeholders" at the TUM. Prof. Joos is also the founder and managing partner of his company group EUXEA Holding GmbH, which encompasses further companies in the business areas of Real Estate (Real Estate Group), Perspective Change (OnePager Group), Services and Handcraft in addition to the EUTOP Group.

Inhalt

Preface 17

Welcome to the second edition 19

Foreword to the second edition 21

Introduction 23

1 Set down in a formula: successful representation of interests in complex decision-making processes 31

1.1 Ways out of the complexity trap of political decision-making structures 31

1.1.1 Problem-solving in complex situations: process trumps content 31

1.1.2 Stakeholder versus shareholder approach 32

1.1.3 Decisions without decision-makers: complex multi-level system of the European Union (EU) 33

1.2 Political rebirth of the EU 33

1.2.1 Treaty of Lisbon as the background to a paradigm shift 33

1.2.2 Reorganisation of decision-making processes due to the Treaty of Lisbon 34

1.2.3 Effects on interest representation from the changed framework conditions of the Treaty of Lisbon 35

1.3 Successful representation of interests in the complex EU decision-making system 36

1.3.1 Formula for success 36

1.3.2 Example of applying the formula for success - the "mountain example" 37

1.3.2.1 Pre-Lisbon: successes for content-oriented interest representation 40

1.3.2.2 Post-Lisbon: process barriers to content-oriented interest representation 40

1.3.2.3 Overcoming the process barrier through process-oriented interest representation 43

1.3.2.4 Elements of process competence 45

1.3.2.5 Importance of process structure competence (PStC) 45

1.3.2.6 Importance of perspective change competence (PCC) 47

1.3.2.7 Importance of process support competence (PSuC) 53

1.4 Conclusion 55

2 Fundamental thoughts on the topic of interest representation and stakeholders 57

2.1 Differences of interest, sta…