The interaction of ownership structure and customer satisfaction as determinants of brand equity

In this paper we study the interaction between ownership structure and customer satisfaction, and their impact on a firm's brand equity. We find that customer satisfaction has a positive direct effect on brand equity but an indirect negative one, through reductions in ownership concentration. This latter effect emerges when managers are focused mainly on satisfying customers. It gives out a warning signal that highlights the perverse effect of implementing policies focused excessively on satisfying customers at the expense of shareholders, on a firm's brand equity. We demonstrate our theoretical contention, empirically, making use of an incomplete panel data comprising 69 firms from 11 different nations for the period 2002-2005.

Avoiding crimes of obedience: A comparative study of the autobiographies of M. K. Gandhi, N. Mandela and M. L. King

This research aims to provide a contribution towards understanding how and why certain people can display disobedience behaviors, to overcome unjust situations, and withstand persecutions deployed by authority. The paper presents a hermeneutic content analysis of the autobiographical speeches and texts of Gandhi, M. L. King and Mandela. Our results show that parents' value orientation, experience of injustice during childhood and exploration of alternative viewpoints during adolescence play a crucial role in structuring prosocial disobedience. Findings show also that social responsibility and ingroup communication are important conditions for facing persecutions without dropping original goals.

A IMPORTÃNCIA DA CONTABILIDADE AMBIENTAL NO CONTEXTO DAS EMPRESAS EM SÃO VICENTE

No mundo globalizado, com o desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias, novas formas de indústria e a escassez dos recursos, surge a necessidade de mudar o comportamento das entidades em relação à preservação do meio ambiente. É neste sentido que muitas entidades estão a adoptar a contabilidade ambiental nos seus relatórios, de forma a evidenciar os impactos que as suas acções provocam sobre o meio ambiente. O presente trabalho assenta-se principalmente na importância da contabilidade ambiental, na responsabilidade social e nos impactos que as actividades das empresas provocam ao meio ambiente. Neste sentido, apresentamos os conceitos de responsabilidade social e ambiental, e principalmente o conceito de contabilidade ambiental, onde fizemos a sua breve caracterização histórica, a sua importância, os seus objectivos e vantagens. Procuramos, de uma forma sintetizada, através dos relatórios de gestão disponibilizados nos Web sites de algumas empresas do País, saber qual o tratamento dado às questões de responsabilidade social e ambiental, e constatamos que muitas dessas empresas incluem nos seus relatórios acções relacionadas com a sociedade e o ambiente. Foi feito um estudo de caso na empresa de Produção, Transporte e Distribuição de Electricidade e Água, para ilustrar o tema de estudo. Fizemos uma análise nos documentos disponibilizados pela empresa de modo a saber qual a relevância dada às questões relacionadas com a contabilidade ambiental e qual o tratamento contabilístico dados as estas questões. Relativamente à metodologia utilizada durante a elaboração deste trabalho, baseámo-nos em revisões bibliográficas acerca do tema, em análises aos documentos da empresa e conversas tidas com alguns colaboradores da mesma. In this globalised world, with the development of new technologies, new types of industry and scarcity of resources, there is a need to change the behaviour of entities in what concerns protection of the environment. This is why many entities are including environmental accounting in their reports, in order to show the impact of their activity on the environment. This work is mainly focused on the importance of environmental accounting, the social responsibility and the impact on the environment caused by corporations’ activity. In this sense we begin with the introduction to the concept of social and environmental responsibility, with emphasis on environmental accounting, doing a brief historic characterization of it, its importance, objectives and advantages. In a synthetic way, going through the management reports shown on the websites of some enterprises in this country, we tried to learn how they deal with the matter of social and environmental responsibility, and we noticed that many of them include in their reports actions they take in the field of society and environment. To illustrate our theme, a case study was done in Electra, the electricity and water production and Distribution Company. We analysed documents made available by the company in order to know how they care about environmental accounting matters and how they treat them at the financial accounting level. Concerning the methodology used in performing this work, we based on reading bibliography about the theme, analyzing documents from that company and conversations with some of its workers.

Ownership structure, customer satisfaction and brand equity

This paper studies the interaction between ownership structure, taken as a proxy for shareholders commitment, and customer satisfaction - the main driver of consumer loyalty - and their impact on a firm s brand equity. The results show that customer satisfaction has a positive direct effect on brand equity but an indirect negative one because of reductions in ownership concentration. This latter effect emerges when managers are mainly customer-oriented. Such result gives out a warning signal that highlights the perverse effect of implementing policies, focused excessively on satisfying customers at the expense of shareholders, on a firm s brand equity. The empirical analysis uses an incomplete panel data comprising 69 firms from 11 nations, for the period 2002-2005.

Sports and journalism ethics: the coverage of 2012 London Olympics in the British, North-American and Spanish press

Sports and journalism ethics: the coverage of 2012 London Olympics in the British, North-American and Spanish press is a research focused on analysing the treatment that the quality press of three countries (United Kingdom, United States of America and Spain) will carry out in the London Olympic Games. Through a solid methodological approach based on the combination of the qualitative content analysis and qualitative indepth interviews, the investigation will study if the media provide a quality coverage,that is, if they adequate their pieces to the fundamental principles of journalistic deontology (truth, justice, freedom and social responsibility). Furthermore, the research will assess if the selected media comply with the prescriptions established in the ethical codes, stylebooks, newsroom statutes and national and international recommendations about journalism ethics, ranging from each media’s guidelines to key transnational codes established by the UNESCO, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) orthe Council of Europe.

Statistics in science and in society: From a state-of-the-art to a new research agenda

Statistics occupies a prominent role in science and citizens' daily life. This article provides a state-of-the-art of the problems associated with statistics in science and in society, structured along the three paradigms defined by Bauer, Allum and Miller (2007). It explores in more detail medicine and public understanding of science on the one hand, and risks and surveys on the other. Statistics has received a good deal of attention; however, very often handled in terms of deficit - either of scientists or of citizens. Many tools have been proposed to improve statistical literacy, the image of and trust in statistics, but with little understanding of their roots, with little coordination among stakeholders and with few assessments of impacts. These deficiencies represent as many new and promising directions in which the PUS research agenda could be expanded.

Aging and Disability Resource Center and MHDS Commission Home Modification Assistance Program Plan, December 2015

This report was prepared as a directive to Aging and Disability Resource Centers and The Mental Health and Disability Commission to jointly develop a plan for a home modification assistance program to provide grants and individual income tax credits to assist with expenses related to the making or permanent home modifications that permit individual with a disability to remain in the homes.

Yhteiskuntavastuu Suomen metsäteollisuudessa

Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan yritysten yhteiskuntavastuuta Suomen metsäteollisuudessa. Tutkimuksessa yhteiskuntavastuuta tarkastellaan kolmen suomalaisen metsäteollisuusyrityksen kautta. Valitut metsäteollisuusyritykset ovat Stora Enso, Upm-Kymmene ja Metsäliitto. Aihetta on lähestytty aiheeseen liittyvän kirjallisuuden, yritysten vuosikertomusten sekä Kauppalehden artikkeleiden kautta. Yrityksen vuosikertomukset käsittävät noin kymmenen vuoden ajan jakson ja Kauppalehden artikkeleita on tutkittu kahden vuoden ajalta. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on kuvailla suomalaisten metsäteollisuusyritysten yhteiskuntavastuuta. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että Kauppalehden artikkeleiden ja vuosikertomuksissa kerrottujen asioiden välillä ei ole täysin selkeää yhteyttä. Näyttää siltä, että Kauppalehden artikkelit antavat taustatietoa vuosikertomuksissa tapahtuneille asioille. Kauppalehden artikkeleista käy ilmi, että suomalaiset metsäteollisuusyritykset ovat joutuneet viime vuosina käsittelemään vaikeina pidettyjä yhteiskuntavastuuta koskevia aiheita. Suomessa metsäteollisuusyritysten pitkän aikavälin trendinä on ollut siirtää tuotantoa pois kotimaasta halvan työvoiman sekä energian maihin. Näyttää siis siltä, että yhteiskuntavastuuta pidetään vielä nykyäänkin yrityksissä erillisenä käsitteenä ja pakollisenatoimintona pärjätäkseen kansainvälisessä kilpailussa. Sidosryhmät ovat myös nousseet yhä suurempaan rooliin yritysten yhteiskuntavastuu asioissa. Aineistosta voidaan päätellä, että Kauppalehden artikkeleissa tuotetaan erilaista todellisuutta yhteiskuntavastuusta kuin yritysten vuosikertomuksissa.

Authorship in scientific publications: analysis and recommendations.

In 2008, a Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences working group chaired by Professor Emilio Bossi issued a "Memorandum on scientific integrity and the handling of misconduct in the scientific context", together with a paper setting out principles and procedures concerning integrity in scientific research. In the Memorandum, unjustified claims of authorship in scientific publications are referred to as a form of scientific misconduct - a view widely shared in other countries. In the Principles and Procedures, the main criteria for legitimate authorship are specified, as well as the associated responsibilities. It is in fact not uncommon for disputes about authorship to arise with regard to publications in fields where research is generally conducted by teams rather than individuals. Such disputes may concern not only the question who is or is not to be listed as an author but also, frequently, the precise sequence of names, if the list is to reflect the various authors' roles and contributions. Subjective assessments of the contributions made by the individual members of a research group may differ substantially. As scientific collaboration - often across national boundaries - is now increasingly common, ensuring appropriate recognition of all parties is a complex matter and, where disagreements arise, it may not be easy to reach a consensus. In addition, customs have changed over the past few decades; for example, the practice of granting "honorary" authorship to an eminent researcher - formerly not unusual - is no longer considered acceptable. It should be borne in mind that the publications list has become by far the most important indicator of a researcher's scientific performance; for this reason, appropriate authorship credit has become a decisive factor in the careers of young researchers, and it needs to be managed and protected accordingly. At the international and national level, certain practices have therefore developed concerning the listing of authors and the obligations of authorship. The Scientific Integrity Committee of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences has collated the relevant principles and regulations and formulated recommendations for authorship in scientific publications. These should help to prevent authorship disputes and offer guidance in the event of conflicts.

El fútbol y el negocio del entretenimiento global. Los clubes como multinacionales del ocio

El artículo tiene como objetivo analizar el proceso de expansión internacional de los clubes más ricos del fútbol español durante la primera década del siglo XXI, Real Madrid y FC Barcelona. Después de que los clubes de la Premier League inglesa fueran los primeros en crear una estrategia de branding internacional, otras ligas y organizaciones deportivas han adoptado sus mismos sistemas de gestión empresarial. En España, el Real Madrid y el FC Barcelona son el ejemplo más evidente, por su número de fans en todo el mundo, por sus acuerdos internacionales en la comercialización de sus productos con otras organizaciones y por la presencia que tienen sus marcas en todo el mundo gracias a las inversiones de sus fundaciones en escuelas de fútbol en concepto de Responsabilidad Social Corporativa. Por eso, ambos clubes, Real Madrid y FC Barcelona, pueden calificarse de nuevas multinacionales del ocio.