The activists who have conducted these campaigns share a high degree of creativity, persistence and a refusal to be intimidated by corporations which inevitably denounce their demands as unreasonable. Corporations rarely agree to positive changes in their behavior without feeling pressure or facing the threat of pressure campaigns. Demonstrations, protests and nonviolent civil disobedience can apply a uniquely effective pressure on corporate adversaries. Community involvement and alliance building. Campaigns succeed when they are able to draw in other social actors, when organizers do the hard work of bringing together broad-based coalitions.
Corporations are more prone to concede when they risk ostracism from an entire community.
Thriving Old-Growth Forests. Working up the supply chain. Many of the campaigns illustrate how a strong movement can gain momentum, with previous victories and demonstrations of power making subsequent gains easier. One interesting, related phenomenon is how corporations can, over time and in the face of pressure, change the definition of their fundamental interests. Granting janitors or sweatshop workers a small raise, once bitterly resisted, can suddenly seem a reasonable concession.