From Research Funding to Public Relations

Appearing first in the United States before spreading to the rest of the world in the 1970s, think tanks have played a major role in the political strategies of corporations at a time when social movements called for a stronger regulation of their activities. Research on think tanks analyzes them as organizations that aim to influence public authorities in the field of ideas. As it focuses on their public activities, it says little about their internal operation, by which members from different backgrounds negotiate their participation. Through a case study of an organization founded in 1974 by French and multinational food companies, we view think tanks as “negotiated orders”, i.e., as places and products of continuous negotiation among their members. The major challenge for the food company executives who created the think tank in question was that of convincing academics to join it and to contribute to its activities. This chapter analyzes successive negotiations between these actors, both on the shape of the organization itself and on the content of its activities, which evolved from research funding to public relations in line with industry priorities.