Edelman: Corporate Affairs Gains Influence, But Challenges Remain

(MENAFN- PRovoke) NEW YORK - Corporate affairs leaders are playing a greater role in business decisions as CEOs face growing pressure to manage competing stakeholder demands, but organizational silos and difficulties measuring their impact remain significant challenges, according to a new Edelman report.

The Future of Corporate Affairs: The Age of Corporate Diplomacy report found that 78% of respondents are involved at the earliest stages of decisions related to external issues, yet 55% say organizational silos limit their ability to respond.

The findings come as 64% of respondents say their CEOs are increasingly expected to act as corporate diplomats, balancing business priorities with the competing interests of employees, policymakers, customers and communities. Nearly three-quarters say CEOs are expected to shape stakeholder trust.

The research also found that more than two-thirds (68%) of respondents said their organizations experienced a communications or reputational issue with an immediate business impact in the past year.

"CEOs are being asked to make decisions that balance business priorities with competing stakeholder expectations, often without a clear path to satisfying everyone," said Jonathan Jordan, Edelman's US head of corporate reputation. "Corporate diplomacy is now part of the CEO's job, and corporate affairs has the access it spent years asking for to help them do it. What it owes CEOs now is outside intelligence and judgment, delivered early enough to change a decision, before the consequences land."

The report suggests that greater access to senior leadership has created new challenges for corporate affairs leaders, who increasingly work across legal, government affairs, human resources and other departments on issues that no single function necessarily has the authority to resolve.

While 67% of respondents said they frequently act as a bridge between the C-suite and external stakeholders, the report emphasizes the need to clarify corporate affairs' responsibilities rather than making the function accountable for every issue involving external stakeholders.

The expanding role is also creating demands for expertise beyond traditional communications. Two-thirds (66%) of respondents said emerging issues often require additional expertise, while 49% said skills gaps hinder their ability to respond effectively to complex issues.

AI is a priority for many corporate affairs teams, although the findings suggest capabilities are still developing. Some 61% identified AI as a top investment area, but only 21% described their function's AI fluency as advanced or leading.

The report also identifies gaps in how corporate affairs functions prepare for emerging risks. While 96% of respondents said their functions have crisis plans and 83% use risk monitoring, 43% use AI-driven risk detection and 35% use predictive analytics.

The findings point to a need for corporate affairs teams to identify potential risks earlier, giving executives more time to consider their options before issues escalate.

Demonstrating the function's business value remains another challenge. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents said their current measurement approaches do not reflect the full scope of corporate affairs, while 62% said they lack clear ways to measure the impact of stakeholder engagement on business outcomes. Another 51% said it is difficult to directly link corporate affairs activity to business performance.

According to the report, traditional communications measures, such as coverage, reach and engagement, do not fully capture the function's contribution to business decisions. That contribution can include identifying risks before they become crises, helping executives reconsider a course of action or preserving important stakeholder relationships.

The report concludes that corporate affairs leaders need to demonstrate what changes because they are involved in business decisions, rather than simply showing that they have access to senior executives.

The research was based on a survey of 157 senior communications and corporate affairs leaders conducted in June and July 2026, along with 10 in-depth interviews. Respondents were senior leaders from large companies across a range of industries, with most headquartered in North America.

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