The authors, through this article, provide an in-depth examination of the strategies that can improve a company's competitive advantage. The article argues that non-market strategies can be useful for companies to gain competitive advantage. The article also presents an analysis of an unclear mechanism through which effective non-market strategies can determine the success of a company. With the specific end goal of exposing the analysis to address the uncertain mechanism, the authors study the role played by trust in the implementation of non-market strategies and the potential synergies between the two key components of non-market strategies that are responsibility corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social responsibility. Political Activity (CPA). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Since government is a fundamental element of non-market strategy, the article mainly focuses on government and its various policies. To outline the part of trust in the relationship between CPA, CSR and policy impact, the authors built a conceptual model. The model abstracts trust with three parameters: benevolence, integrity and capability, and argues that all three parameters must be present between businesses and the political system if businesses are to be successful in influencing politics (Mayer et al., 1995) . The authors also argue that to create strong trust, both strategies (CSR and CPA) should have all three parameters, which is not the case in reality. While both strategies have integrity in common, CSR possesses benevolence while CPA possesses political expertise and skills. By combining both strategies, CSR and CPA promote strong trust, create access to the political system, reduce voter resistance to corporate political activities, and enable broad political issues (Liedong et al., 2015). After providing significant support to the topic and through extensive research and examination, Hond et al's analysis of the non-market strategy model states that when CSR and CPA are aligned, additional value is created and synergies occur they will likely have fewer limitations than when CSR and CPA are not aligned or are misaligned (Hond et al., 2014). Similarly, in their study of lobbying efforts for social causes, Peterson and Pfitzer (2009) highlighted that companies that align their nonmarket strategies (CSR and CPA) are likely to witness an increase in positive reputational effects resulting by CSR. Any negative effect accompanied by a company's CSR (if any), then the alignment of non-market strategies mitigates the negative effects on CSR reputation. The same is the case with CPA (Peterson and Pfitzer, 2009). Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Overall, the authors have maintained the flow of the article and have provided clarity to most of the concepts by strongly supporting them with conceptual models and real-life examples where necessary. They highlighted that the demand for companies to engage in CSR has increased in recent years, but there are still some unanswered questions arising from the regulatory framework. The questions include further examination of the type of CPA strategies that help develop trustworthiness (Liedong et al., 2015). That said, further research is needed to clarify whether there is a trade-off in combining both strategies (CSR and CPA) that the author suggests integrating..