The separation of ownership and control under a happiness-based theory of the corporation

Explores the happiness-based theory of the corporation, suggesting that there is no conflict between the pursuance of economic and social objectives on the basis that their interplay is required to facilitate shareholder happiness. Considers: (1) the Berle-Means hypothesis and the separation of ownership and control, the dominant governance structure for large companies; (2) a happiness-based perspective on the separation; and (3) law reform applicable to a happiness-based theory. Argues that the separation of ownership and control is not in shareholders' best interests because the structure is not conducive to the happiness of individual shareholders and should be reformed.

How transnational environmental advocacy networks socialize international financial institutions: a case study of the international finance corporation

Environmental organizations, characterized here as transnational advocacy networks, use various strategies to "green" international financial institutions (IFIs). This article goes beyond analyzing network strategies to examine how transnational advocacy networks reconstitute the identity of IFIs. This, it is argued, results from processes of socialization: social influence, persuasion and coercion by lobbying. A case study of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), as a member of the World Bank Group, is used to analyze how an IFI internalized sustainable development norms. The IFC finances private enterprise in developing countries by providing venture capital for private projects. Transnational advocacy networks socialized the IFC through influencing its projects, policies and institutions via direct and indirect interactions to the point where the organization now sees itself as a sustainable development financier. This article applies constructivist insights to the greening process in order to demonstrate how socialization can reshape an IFI's identity.

Where is a corporation's "centre of main interests" in international insolvency?

The international community has long sought the appropriate means by which insolvencies involving several jurisdictions should be conducted. Central to the solution proposed is the view that jurisdictions should primarily co-operate with the proceeding underway in a company's "centre of main interests". This concept will be of increasing importance to Australia with the passing of the Cross Border Insolvency Act 2008 , which enacts domestically the provisions of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law on Cross Border Insolvency. This article examines how this concept was intended to operate, the actual provisions of the relevant Instruments together with how it has been judicially interpreted. It will be shown that while some certainties concerning the operation of this concept have been achieved, determining this actual location remains surrounded with considerable vagueness. This article proceeds to suggest the most appropriate interpretation of this "centre of main interests" concept.

The relationship between Fiji Sugar Corporation's profitability and sugarcane production: an empirical assessment

The Fiji Government's inability to resolve the differences over land leases is widely seen as a major contributor to the difficulties experienced by the sugar industry. In this paper, however, a different perspective is provided on the industry's problems. In examining the relationship between the profitability of the Fiji Sugar Corporation and sugarcane production, it is found that profitability has had a statistically significant negative effect on sugarcane production, leading to the conclusion that the Fiji Sugar Corporation has been inefficient in the management of the mills, the rail transport system, and sugarcane research.

Shareholder participation in the corporation

Given that recent empirical happiness findings demonstrate that psychological needs are more important to individuals than the generation of wealth, the coporation should be considered as a mechanism utilised by individuals, through the acquisition of shares, to satisfy psychological needs, rather thean simply a means to generate and maximise wealth.

The transnational corporation, corporate social responsibility and the 'outsourcing' debate

Current popular debates in the United States and Australia on the topics of 'jobless recoveries' and the 'outsourcing' of skilled IT jobs to India (most conspicuously) evidence a confusion as to the institutional role of the business firm and its obligations to the broader stakeholder community, as well as to the more specific differences between outsourcing and the spatial restructuring of corporate value-chains. This paper will take up several issues in the hope of clarifying this confusion, including the essential nature of the business firm as an economic, political and social institution; the possibilities for social responsibility and stakeholder management in large internationalised firms; and the critical distinctions between domestic and international outsourcing and spatial restructuring. Data from the 'outsourcing' debate will be referenced to illustrate the differing logics/rationalities of relevant stakeholder groups.

The transnational corporation and new corporate citizenship theory : a critical analysis

A recent conceptualisation of corporate citizenship by Matten and Crane (2005) shifts focus onto the corporation's role in providing individuals with the rights they are entitled to as citizens. This expanded corporate role is depicted as filling an institutional vacuum resulting from the withdrawal of the state. Marking an innovation to the corporate citizenship literature, we devise a three-part analytical framework from political institutionalism to question the concept's ideological and empirical groundings. Incorporating a constrained game theory perspective, we use an example of the provision of Western corporate services by low-labour-cost nation-states to argue that the concept as strategy would in some circumstances exacerbate the implications of globalisation on individual citizenship rights. The analytical framework has application for research directed toward proposals to extend the reach of corporations in traditional public services and, more generally, for studies of corporate responsibilities. Future research on corporate citizenship would be strengthened in recognising, as we do, institutional incentives, constraints, decision-making modes and resources as used by the transnational corporation.