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. 2021 Jan 25;11(8):1251–1261. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2021.05

Table. An Overview of the 22 Identified Conceptual Frameworks and Models for Examining the Ways in Which Corporations Influence Health, and Their Key Features From a Power Perspective .

Author(s) and Year of Publication Title of Framework Document Explicit Reference to Power Theory of Power Integrated Into the Framework Key Features
Saloojee and Dagli, 2000 Tobacco industry tactics for resisting public policy on health No No One of the first studies in the public health literature to aggregate strategies and tactics used by the tobacco industry to influence public health policy
Spitzer, 2005 A systemic approach to occupational and environmental health Yes No Strong focus on the social structures that enable corporate power and reinforce population harm
Freudenberg and Galea, 2008 The impact of corporate practices on health: implications for health policy No No The use of case studies from different industries to highlight how corporate practices influence health
Jahiel, 2008 Corporation-induced diseases, upstream epidemiologic surveillance, and urban health Yes No Uses an upstream multilevel epidemiologic approach to explain the flow of corporate power through social environments
Holden and Lee, 2009 Corporate power and social policy: the political economy of the transnational tobacco companies Yes Yes – Farnsworth and Holden’s corporate power framework55 The use of power theory to examine the corporate involvement of transnational tobacco companies in social policy
Wiist, 2010 Tactics of the Corporation (In: The Bottom Line or Public Health) Yes No Strong focus on treating the corporation as a distal, macro-level social structure
Freudenberg, 2012 The manufacture of lifestyle: The role of corporations in unhealthy living Yes No Explores how corporations influence lifestyles that shape patterns of ill-health
Moodie et al, 2013 Profits and pandemics: prevention of harmful effects of tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed food and drink industries Yes No The use of extensive unhealthy product sales data across numerous countries to support claims
Millar, 2013 The corporate determinants of health: how big business affects our health, and the need for government action Yes No Coined the phrase ‘corporate determinants of health’
Mialon et al, 2015 A proposed approach to systematically identify and monitor the corporate political activity of the food industry with respect to public health using publicly available information No No Adapted existing tobacco industry-related corporate political activity frameworks to the food industry
Kickbusch et al, 2016 The commercial determinants of health Yes No Defined and popularised the ‘CDoH’
Baum et al, 2016 Assessing the health impact of transnational corporations: its importance and a framework Yes No Focus on both positive and negative effects of corporate actors; description of outcomes of corporate practices in broad range of social and environmental contexts
Knai et al, 2016 Systems thinking as a framework for analysing the commercial determinants of health Yes No The use of a systems thinking framework in order to analyse a complex issue from multiple perspectives
Ulucanlar et al, 2016 The policy dystopia model: an interpretive analysis of tobacco industry political activity Yes No Provides a comprehensive approach to understanding the discursive and instrumental political strategies used by tobacco corporations that influence public health policy
Madureira-Lima and Galea, 2018 Corporate practices and health: a framework and mechanisms Yes Yes – Lukes’ three faces of power 30,31 The use of power theory to explain how different corporate practices can translate into expressions of power, depending on the context in which the practice is deployed
Thorn, 2018 Addressing power and politics through action on the commercial determinants of health Yes No Focus on political science literature critical of the pluralist view that business corporations are subordinate to the political process and an elected government
McKee and Stuckler, 2018 Revisiting the corporate and commercial determinants of health Yes Yes – VeneKlasen and Miller’s power framework56 The use of power theory to how the expression of corporate power is becoming increasingly hidden and invisible
Rochford et al, 2019 Reframing the impact of business on health: the interface of corporate, commercial, political and social determinants of health Yes No Encourages a stronger focus on the positive aspects of the influence of business on health; explores the internal processes of business
Brown, 2019 Legislative capture: a critical consideration in the commercial determinants of public health Yes Yes – Flyvberg’s phronetic research methodology57 Draws from phronetic research methodology to explore the role of power and values in legislative capture by corporations
Eastmore et al, 2020 Non-market strategy as a framework for exploring commercial involvement in health policy: a primer No No The use of a non-market strategy perspective from business literature to explore commercial involvement in health policy
Walls et al, 2020 Advancing alcohol research in low-income and middle-income countries: a global environment framework Yes No Use of a novel conceptualisation of the alcohol environment to explore how alcohol corporations influence local alcohol use
Jamieson et al, 2020 Oral health inequalities and the corporate determinants of health: a commentary Yes Yes – Lukes’ three faces of power 30,31 Explores how corporate power influences oral health by integrating Lukes’ three faces of power with Kickbusch and colleagues’ channels of corporate power

Abbreviation: CDoH, commercial determinants of health.