Closed vs open corporate social networking communities : a case study of the Victoria Police and Dairy Australia.

The availability of affordable, user-friendly audio-visual equipment, software and the Internet, allows anyone to become a content creator or media outlet. This exploratory case study examines the adoption of social networking by Victoria Police and Diary Australia, a non-media and non-profit organization respectively, in corporate communication, public infmmation and community relations. The paper initiates discussions on the implications for traditional media and audiences of this phenomenon. It content analyzed the two websites during a two-week period and conducted interviews with their moderators about the sites' content, functions and efficacy. The purpose, role and community acceptance of these sites are examined, along with organizational motivations for establishing these channels to reach audiences, bypassing traditional media's gatekeeping function. It highlights how these organizations may set both media and public agendas when traditional media use this web content in their news gathering and reporting, similar to using press releases in the past.

Keeping gender on the agenda : theorising the systematic barriers to women lawyers in corporate legal practice

Despite the implementation of policies and procedures to redress the gender imbalance at the higher echelons in Australian corporate law firms, only a paucity of women successfully tread the path to equity partnership. In this article, it is argued that it is the systemic, rather than the overt, barriers that present the major obstacle to sexual equality within the corporate legal workplace. Neo-Marxian thought, in particular the work of Charles Derber on the proletarianisation of professional workers, as well as contemporary feminist thought, is utilised to explore why profoundly gendered assumptions in relation to the 'ideal worker' norm remain deeply embedded in the mindsets and attitudes of those organising the legal workplace. It is suggested that fear of change to work practices within firms has not only an ideological but also a material base. It is economically determined. Highly trained women lawyers with family work responsibilities who take up flexible work arrangements in firms are fulfilling a proletarian role and their under-utilised labour is being extracted to increase profit share at the apex and facilitate the progress of their unencumbered colleagues along the path to partnership.

A stakeholder approach to corporate social responsibility, reputation and business performance

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate business managers' assessment of stakeholders' influence on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The key stakeholders included "employees" and "unions" as internal and "public", the "media" and the "government" as external stakeholders. The purpose was to estimate the influence of stakeholders that managers perceive as important. Moreover, the study sought to identify association between the CSR construct and corporate reputation and in turn whether this influences business performance. Design/methodology/approach - This study uses a mail survey with a random sampling of senior managers sourced from Dun & Bradstreet's Australian business database, focusing on large organizations (i.e. minimum $10 million p.a. reported sales and minimum 100 employees) as the selection criteria. A conceptual model was developed and tested using structural equation modeling. Findings - The results identified that "employees" and the "public" are perceived to be the influential stakeholder groups in CSR decision-making. There was evidence of a positive relationship between the CSR construct and reputation, which in turn influenced market share, but not profitability. Research limitations/implications - This study examined a cross-section of organizations using Dun & Bradstreet's database of Australian businesses and may not fully represent the Australian business mix. The effective response rate of 7.2 per cent appears to be low, even though it is comparable with other research in the CSR area. There may have been some self-selection by the respondents, although there were no statistically significant differences identified in the corporate characteristics of those invited to participate and those responding with usable questionnaires. Practical implications - Managers can adopt a stakeholder-influenced CSR strategy to generate strong corporate reputation to improve business performance. It is important to ensure that the interests of "employees" and "public" stakeholders are addressed within organizational strategy. Respondents were less concerned about government stakeholders and thus government involvement in organizational CSR may need to be revisited. Social implications - The major concern that emerges from these findings is the absence of the perceived importance of regulatory stakeholders on firms' CSR activities. Regulatory controls of CSR messages could reduce or eliminate inaccurate and misleading information to the public. Originality/value - The analysis explains the perceived relative influence of stakeholders on CSR decisions. It also provides an understanding of the link between organizational CSR reputation and organization's performance.

Gender and ethnic diversity on boards and corporate responsibility : the case of the arts sector

This study provides insights on sector-specific characteristics, challenges and issues that affect corporate responsibility (CR) in relation to ethnicity and gender on arts boards. Using stakeholder theory, the study explores how arts board composition (e.g. gender and ethnicity) sets the scene for dynamics that affect CR. Data analysis is based on interviews with 92 board members and stakeholders sitting on 66 arts boards in Australia. Results suggest that the dynamism of gender and ethnic diversity on arts boards makes them responsive to CR; however, their presence does not always lead to CR. For diverse boards to lead to CR, our findings indicate the significance of board member attributes of passion, skill and capability of developing networks, irrespective of gender and ethnicity. The article advances understanding of the implications and relevance of ethnic and gender diversity on non-profit boards and contributes to an important yet under-researched body of literature.

The raising of corporate sponsorship: a behavioral study

Research was conducted in order to define a "buyer behavior" process for the purchase of sponsorship at a corporate level. A series of interviews was carried out with a number of organizations that are currently involved in sponsorship of varying kinds. A consideration was made to include a balance of sponsorship types-small and large-as well as arts, sports, and events, although no attempt was made to identify how the process differs across sponsorship type. Our results show that while sponsorship and fundraising are flipsides of the same coin from the nonprofit sponsorship-seeker's perspective, the sponsorship provider sees the act of sponsorship as a commercial profit-making venture. This is a conundrum that has wide-reaching consequences for the sector. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

The implementation of corporate governance in Germany and Brazi l: a comparative case study

The recent promotion of best corporate governance standards by several different government institutions and non-for profit organizations resulted in the implementation of more sophisticated governance mechanisms. As consequence to the separation of ownership and control the concept of agency theory arose. Agency theory argues that without out proper control mechanism managers would behave exploit owners due to information asymmetry. Regulators have promoted corporate governance mechanisms in order to address this issue. This paper aims to contrast the implementation of best corporate governance practices in Germany and Brazil on the example of two practical examples. With this purpose in mind, this paper analyzed two companies listed in the main stock exchange in Germany and Brazil throughout a period of 5 years. In order to measure the degree of corporate governance practices implemented 3 different parameters have been chosen. In line with great part of the literature the parameters considered to be relevant are; composition, procedures and deviation from the local corporate governance code. The comparison of the data revealed that board composition in the two analyzed companies is similar regarding the proportion of independent representatives but does distinguish in size. While committees are related to the same topics it can be implied that Natura’s board is more involved in the actual management of the company. Lastly, Beiersdorf has been able to comply to a larger extend with the recommendations of the local German code than Natura to the recommendations published by Brazilian code of the IBGC.

Promoting corporate social responsibility in small and medium enterprises in the Caribbean: methodology report

Incluye Bibliografía

The relationship of automobile characteristics to list prices and profit margins -- a preliminary analysis. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Research and Development, Washington, D.C.

Individual spirit at work and its relationship with employee work attitudes and organisational outcomes:An empirical examination in corporate Thailand

The purpose of this thesis is to conduct empirical research in corporate Thailand in order to (1) validate the Spirit at Work Scale (2) investigate the relationships between individual spirit at work and three employee work attitudinal variables (job satisfaction, organisational identification and psychological well-being) and three organisational outcomes (in-role performance, organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB), and turnover intentions) (3) further examine causal relations among these organisational behaviour variables with a longitudinal design (4) examine three employee work attitudes as mediator variables between individual spirit at work and three organisational outcomes and (5) explore the potential antecedents of organisational conditions that foster employee experienced individual spirit at work. The two pilot studies with 155 UK and 175, 715 Thai samples were conducted for validation testing of the main measure used in this study: Spirit at Work Scale (Kinjerski & Skrypnek, 2006a). The results of the two studies including discriminant validity analyses strongly provided supportive evidence that Spirit at Work Scale (SAWS) is a sound psychometric measure and also a distinct construct from the three work attitude constructs. The final model of SAWS contains a total of twelve items; a three factor structure (meaning in work, sense of community, and spiritual connection) in which the sub-factors loaded on higher order factors and also had very acceptable reliability. In line with these results it was decided to use the second-order of SAWS model for Thai samples in the main study and subsequent analysis. The 715 completed questionnaires were received from the first wave of data collection during July - August 2008 and the second wave was conducted again within the same organisations and 501 completed questionnaires were received during March - April 2009. Data were obtained through 49 organisations which were from three types of organisations within Thailand: public organisations, for-profit organisations, and notfor-profit organisations. Confirmatory factor analysis of all measures used in the study and hypothesised model were tested with structural equation modelling techniques. The results were greatly supportive for the direct structural model and partially supportive for the fully mediated model. Moreover, there were different findings across self report and supervisor rating on performance and OCB models. Additionally, the antecedent conditions that fostered employees experienced individual spirit at work and the implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

Corporate restructuring: empirical evidence from the UK

Corporate restructuring is perceived as a challenge to research. Prior studies do not provide conclusive evidence regarding the effects of restructuring. Since there are discernible findings, this research attempts to examine the effects of restructuring events amongst the UK listed firms. The sample firms are listed in the LSE and London AIM stock exchange. Only completed restructuring transactions are included in the study. The time horizon extends from year 1999 to 2003. A three-year floating window is assigned to examine the sample firms. The key enquiry is to scrutinise the ex post effects of restructuring on performance and value measures of firms with contrast to a matched criteria non-restructured sample. A cross sectional study employing logit estimate is undertaken to examine firm characteristics of restructuring samples. Further, additional parameters, i.e. Conditional Volatility and Asymmetry are generated under the GJR-GARCH estimate and reiterated in logit models to capture time-varying heteroscedasticity of the samples. This research incorporates most forms of restructurings, while prior studies have examined certain forms of restructuring. Particularly, these studies have made limited attempts to examine different restructuring events simultaneously. In addition to logit analysis, an event study is adopted to evaluate the announcement effect of restructuring under both the OLS and GJR-GARCH estimate supplementing our prior results. By engaging a composite empirical framework, our estimation method validates a full appreciation of restructuring effect. The study provides evidence that restructurings indicate non-trivial significant positive effect. There are some evidences that the response differs because of the types of restructuring, particularly while event study is applied. The results establish that performance measures, i.e. Operating Profit Margin, Return on Equity, Return on Assets, Growth, Size, Profit Margin and Shareholders' Ownership indicate consistent and significant increase. However, Leverage and Asset Turn Over suggest reasonable influence on restructuring across the sample period. Similarly, value measures, i.e. Abnormal Returns, Return on Equity and Cash Flow Margin suggest sizeable improvement. A notable characteristic seen coherently throughout the analysis is the decreasing proportion of Systematic Risk. Consistent with these findings, Conditional Volatility and Asymmetry exhibit similar trend. The event study analysis suggests that on an average market perceives restructuring favourably and shareholders experience significant and systematic positive gain.

The absence of corporate social responsibility reporting in Bangladesh

This paper aims to broaden the present corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting literature by extending its focus to the absence of CSR reporting within a developing country, an area which, to date, is relatively under researched in comparison to the more widely studied presence of CSR reporting within developed Western countries. In particular this paper concentrates upon the lack of disclosure on three particular eco-justice issues: child labour, equal opportunities and poverty alleviation. We examine why this is the case and thereby illuminate underlying motives behind corporate unwillingness to address these issues. For this purpose, 23 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with senior corporate managers in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that the main reasons for non-disclosure include lack of resources, the profit imperative, lack of legal requirements, lack of knowledge/awareness, poor performance and the fear of bad publicity. Given these findings the paper raises some serious concerns as to why corporations would ever be expected to voluntarily report on eco-justice issues where performance is poor and negative publicity would be generated and profit impaired. Further research is still required to uncover current injustices and to imagine what changes can be made.

Individual spirit at work and its outcomes:an empirical examination in corporate Thailand

The purpose of the present study was to conduct empirical research in corporate Thailand in order to (1) investigate the relationships between individual spirit at work and three employee work attitudinal variables (organisational identification, job satisfaction and psychological well-being) and three organisational outcomes (in-role performance, organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB), and turnover intentions) (2) further examine causal relations among these organisational behaviour variables with a longitudinal design (3) examine three employee work attitudes as mediator variables between individual spirit at work and three organisational outcomes and (4) explore the potential antecedents of organisational conditions that foster employee experienced individual spirit at work. The 715 completed questionnaires were received from the first wave of data collection during July 2008 and the second wave was conducted again within the same organisations and 501 completed questionnaires were received during April 2009. Data were obtained through 52 organisations which were from three types of organisations within Thailand: public organisations (N=237,185), for-profit organisations (N=244,155), and not-for-profit organisations (N=234,161). Confirmatory factor analysis of all measures used in the study and hypothesized model were tested with structural equation modeling techniques. Results were strongly supportive. In addition, although the model was invariant across rater of performance and OCB, there were differences across self report and supervisor rating. Additionally, the antecedents of organisational conditions that fostered employees experienced individual spirit at work and the implications of these findings for practice and research are discussed.

Profit és/vagy közösségi szerepvállalás? Vállalati társadalmi felelősségvállalás vezetői szemmel

A vállalati társadalmi felelősségvállalás (CSR – corporate social responsibility) fogalma és menedzsmenteszköztára nem ismeretlen a hazai gazdasági életben, díjak, konferenciák, felmérések kapcsolódnak hozzá évről évre. A szerző dolgozatában először röviden elemzi a vállalati társadalmi felelősségvállalás elméleti megközelítéseiben a menedzserek szerepét kiemelő irányokat, majd a felelősségvállalás tartalmára vonatkozóan címszavakban bemutat néhány meghatározó elképzelést, amelyek a vizsgálati kérdések alapjait is adják. Ezt követi a kutatási eredmények bemutatása, majd a további kutatási lehetőségeket is tartalmazó konklúzió.

The Foodservice Industry's Social Responsibility Regarding the Obesity Epidemic, Part II: Incorporating Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility into Foodservice Operations

Just as all types of business firms are now expected to go beyond their profit-oriented activities in boosting the well-being of the community, so, too, is corporate social responsibility (CSR) expected from foodservice firms. The significance of the obesity epidemic, combined with the foodservice industry's role in the development of this epidemic, suggests that the industry has an ethical responsibility to implement CSR activities that will help reduce obesity, particularly among children. CSR should be seen as an efficient management strategy through which a firm voluntarily integrates social and environmental concerns into its business operations and its interactions with stakeholders. Although costs are associated with CSR initiatives, benefits accrue to the firm. Decisions regarding alternative CSR activities should be based on a cost-benefit analysis and calculation of the present value of the revenue stream that can be identified as resulting from the specific CSR activities. CSR initiatives should be viewed as long-term investments that will enhance the firms’ value. Key areas for foodservice firms' CSR activities include marketing practices, particularly practices impacting advertising to children and marketing that will enhance the firms’ visibility; portion-size modification; new-product development; and consistent nutrition labeling on menus.

Corporate Social Responsibility och lönsamhet : Finns det ett samband mellan företags rapporterade CSR-arbete och dess lönsamhet?

Bakgrund: Vilken roll har företag i vårt samhälle? Vilken funktion ska de fylla? Är företagens funktion att vara vinstmaximerande och enbart se till sitt eget bästa, eller har de ett större ansvar och skyldigheter mot samhället? Dessa frågor har diskuterats under lång tid och bilden av företag och företagande förändras kontinuerligt i takt med att samhället förändras. Tankarna om att företag har ett socialt ansvar, vid sidan av det ekonomiska, har spridit sig över världen och frågor som har dykt upp är om det finns någon motsättning mellan socialt ansvar och företagens vinstintresse. Eller kan det vara så att socialt ansvarstagande kan leda till ökad lönsamhet? Syfte: Att genom en empirisk undersökning ge en förklaring om svenska noterade bolags rapporterade arbete med CSR har en positiv inverkan på dess lönsamhet. Metod: För att uppnå syftet valdes en deduktiv kvantitativ metod för att kunna göra en statistisk generalisering. Det rapporterade CSR-arbetet operationaliseras med hjälp av Folksams rapport "Index för ansvarsfullt företagande" och lönsamhet mäts via avkastning på totalt kapital (ROA) samt vinstmarginal. Analysen genomförs med hjälp av multipla regressionsanalyser. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att företags rapporterade CSR-arbete har en positiv inverkan på svenska noterade företags lönsamhet, både mätt i avkastning på totalt kapital (ROA) och vinstmarginal.