From new therapies for drugs and energy production to computer chip technology, science has provided the foundation for many of the world’s most http://scorbe.de significant technological breakthroughs. While innovation is the primary power behind science but business is about making money and keeping shareholders happy. Business and science were traditionally thought of as two distinct realms. Both are interconnected, and it’s impossible to separate their impact on business from that of research.
While the business world is predominantly concerned with making money, its longer-term effects could have significant environmental, social and economic impacts. Science is also concerned with the consequences of its actions and its decisions, particularly those regarding resource exploitation and sustainability. A shrewd business, for instance will exploit the natural resources at an amount that science deems as sustainable – but the greed of some businesses has resulted in over-exploitation and ecological catastrophe.
We have categorized the different methods corporations employ to influence science at macro and meso levels, and then coded the intended outcomes and consequences of these strategies (TL conducted the initial analysis, AG second-coded 20 per cent of papers). We found that corporations use five macro-level strategies, which work together to diminish the credibility of unfavourable science and maximise favourable science. These strategies are implemented through meso-strategies, which over time skew evidence in favour of the industry. This eventually leads to three distal outcomes – to create doubt about the potential harms caused by industry products and practices, to support industry-favoured policy responses, and to maximise consumption, use, and sales of industry products and services – thus maximising profits for corporates.