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Article published In: Journal of Argumentation in Context
Vol. 14:2 (2025) ► pp.137–178

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Argumentation in shareholder activism

Context, stock issues and argumentative patterns

ORCiD logo with link | University of Liverpool
 | Università della Svizzera Italiana
 | Università della Svizzera Italiana
 | Università della Svizzera Italiana
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Liverpool.

Published online: 19 August 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jaic.24007.pal
Abstract
The present contribution systematically explores the argumentative dimension of activist investor campaigns, which constitute a very important and underexplored argumentative activity type in the domain of financial communication. Using the controversy between an activist investor (AltaFox) and Hasbro company as a case in point, we adapt the stock issue model to identity strategically relevant argumentative patterns. To do so, each issue is connected to key contextual features and characterised for the type of standpoint and argumentation advanced by the two contending institutional arguers. The findings reveal, in particular, the strategic role of some loci in relation to specific sub-issues of an investor activist’s proposal (e.g., analogy to discuss the alleged underperformance; efficient cause to attribute managerial responsibility, authority to legitimise the intervention of proxy advisory firms). Furthermore, we found trust to be one of the main points at issue, marking an important difference between these corporate controversies and the context of political policy debates out of which the stock issue model originated. We suggest that the proposed analytic approach to the analysis argumentative patterns represents a crucial starting point for the formulation of possible explanations for the outcome of a campaign. We conclude the paper by drawing implications from these findings for the study of argumentation in context and for strategic communication research.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: AICs as an underexplored argumentative activity type
  • 2.Contextualising AIC argumentation
    • 2.1The communication context of argumentative discourse
    • 2.2AICs as a communicative activity type
  • 3.The argumentative dimension of AICs: Stock issues under discussion
    • 3.1Alta Fox’s first announcement and presentation: Ill, blame and cure
      • 3.1.1The ill issue: Is Hasbro underperforming
      • 3.1.2Blaming the incumbent management and its strategy
      • 3.1.3The cure: The benefits of the WOTC spin-off and of new directors
    • 3.2Hasbro strikes back: Raising the cost issue and shifting trust
    • 3.3From #FreeTheWizards to #StrenghtenHasbro: Alta Fox’s revised argumentation
    • 3.4Hasbro recognises “illness” while exposing AF weaknesses
    • 3.5Appealing to the authority of proxy voting advisors
    • 3.6The concluding phase of the dispute
  • 4.Conclusions
    • 4.1Argumentative patterns in AIC
      • Sub-pattern 1 (ill issue): Questioning the peer group
      • Sub-pattern 2 (cure issue). Appealing to independent endorsements
      • Sub-pattern 3 (trust issue). From argumentative deficiencies to distrust
    • 4.2Towards an argumentative evaluation of AIC outcomes
      • (1)Missing the cost issue
      • (2)Weakening the blame and cure cases
      • (3)Leaving an issue unresolved
      • (4)Reinforcing the negative case
      • (6)Problem recognition: A partial victory?
    • 4.3Implications for future research in argumentation and strategic communication
  • Notes
  • References
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