Share corporate social responsibility best practice and forgo competitive advantage

Cross-sector partnerships are capable of achieving solutions to large scale societal problems, which when successful, are well-publicized. Partnering organizations not only reap reputational acclaim but garner valuable organizational benefits. Membership within successful partnerships would undoubtedly be considered a competitive advantage, yet several of these successful relationships have chosen to forgo this valuable position. Instead of retaining intellectual property, partnering organizations are sharing successful processes and practices with peers and competitors. This research examined three examples of best practice cross-sector partnerships to identify relationship success factors, how they involved other organizations and why they shared successful social responsibility initiatives with others.

Virtue ethics, CSR and corporate citizenship

The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management values the dignity of the individual; human rights; and equal opportunity. Its Code of Ethics declares a professional’s duty to broader society. The code advocates education to reinforce this ethical outlook. This paper contributes a specific approach towards the practitioner’s ethical understanding. It enlists the critique of Alasdair MacIntyre who strongly criticises much conventional ethical theory. MacIntyre’s teleological approach is joined with a notion of a hierarchy of narratives of ethical expectations in an argument which counsels that public relations must always operate at the highest level of these narratives.

Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility disclosures : evidence from an emerging economy

We examine the relationship between corporate governance and the extent of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures in the annual reports of Bangladeshi companies. A legitimacy theory framework is adopted to understand the extent to which corporate governance characteristics, such as managerial ownership, public ownership, foreign ownership, board independence, CEO duality and presence of audit committee influence organisational response to various stakeholder groups. Our results suggest that although CSR disclosures generally have a negative association with managerial ownership, such relationship becomes significant and positive for export-oriented industries. We also find public ownership, foreign ownership, board independence and presence of audit committee to have positive significant impacts on CSR disclosures. However, we fail to find any significant impact of CEO duality. Thus, our results suggest that pressures exerted by external stakeholder groups and corporate governance mechanisms involving independent outsiders may allay some concerns relating to family influence on CSR disclosure practices. Overall, our study implies that corporate governance attributes play a vital role in ensuring organisational legitimacy through CSR disclosures. The findings of our study should be of interest to regulators and policy makers in countries which share similar corporate ownership and regulatory structures.

Corporate entrepreneurship and innovation part 1 : the missing link

Purpose – To examine the literature on corporate entrepreneurship and innovation and to develop a combined definition of these two terms. Moreover, the literature is used to construct a holistic model that seeks to explain the links between corporate entrepreneurial activity and the innovation process. Design/methodology/approach – A number of published works on entrepreneurship and innovation are critiqued. The findings from this literature review are used to develop a framework illustrating the relationships between the corporate entrepreneur and the innovation process. Findings – The paper presents a combined definition of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation and, from the literature review, concludes that previous models on entrepreneurship and innovation are fragmented because there is little exploration on the relationships and dynamics between these two factors. A framework of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation is constructed by synthesising the information gathered from previous literature. This model shows that there are missing links between the entrepreneur and the innovation process. The paper discusses three factors that may explain both the dynamics and the relationships between the entrepreneur and the innovation process. These are entrepreneurial attitudes, vision and actions. Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified gap in the literature, namely the lack of investigation into the links between the corporate entrepreneur and the innovation process, and suggests three factors that could be used to explain this gap. Part 2 of this paper will present a new holistic model of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation that illustrates the relationships between these two areas in more detail.

Corporate entrepreneurship and innovation part 2 : a role- and process-based approach

Purpose – To extend the discussion held in part 1, and develop a two-tier fifth-generation model of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The components that have been synthesized from a review of the literature in Part 1 are extended using evidence from the literature. These components are used to construct a two-tier model of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation; a macro model which presents the high-level environmental drivers of innovation and a micro model that discusses the contextual factors that underpin the corporate entrepreneurship and innovation process. Findings – From the analysis conducted in part 1 it is evident that there is a strong relationship between the role of the corporate entrepreneur and the innovation process. It is suggested that by separating the corporate entrepreneur from the innovation process previous models have been overly reductionist in their construction, and their utility has, as a consequence, been severely constrained. The study therefore combines the role and activities of the entrepreneur with the innovation process into a unified framework. In doing so the paper develops a two-tier fifth-generation model of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation. The final sections of the paper present the model's implications for management and suggestions for further research. Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified gap in the literature, namely the development of a new holistic model of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation, which illustrates the environmental and contextual relationships between the corporate entrepreneur and the innovation process.

Corporate social reporting preferences in a developing country : evidence from Iran

This paper provides new empirical evidence regarding corporate social responsibility information needs, perceptions and preferences in a developing country, Iran. While there is substantial research which has examined CSR practice, little reference has been made to the needs of major ‘users’ in developing countries. Results show that users of CSR information favor the corporate annual report as the primary disclosure source. They identified information about environment as the most important CSR information. While respondents believe that the level of CSR information provided is insufficient, the overall levels of understandability and credibility are acceptable. Users also indicated that they would prefer to have government as opposed to professional regulations governing CSR disclosure. This is a significant examination specifically directed at major users of CSR information in Iran; the findings presented in this paper contribute as a platform for the evolution of CSR disclosure guidelines in developing countries.

The effect of financial constraints, investment policy, product market competition and corporate governance on the value of cash holdings

This study empirically investigates the value shareholders place on excess cash holdings and how shareholders’ valuation of cash holdings is associated with financial constraints, firm growth, cash-flow uncertainty and product market competition for Australian firms from 1990 to 2007. Our results indicate that the marginal value of cash holdings to shareholders declines with larger cash holdings and higher leverage. However, firms that are more financially constrained, that have higher growth rates and that face greater uncertainty exhibit a higher marginal value of cash holdings. These findings are consistent with the explanation that excess cash holdings are not necessarily detrimental to firm value. Firms with costly external financing and that also save more cash for current operating and future investing needs find that the market values these cash hoarding policies favourably. Finally, there is limited evidence of an association between various corporate governance measures and the value of cash holdings for a shorter sample period.

Corporate governance and bank performance: evidence from Bangladesh

This study investigates the relationship between the corporate governance structure and performance of listed banks in Bangladesh. We find that board independence and board size have a significant positive impact on performance. However, female directors appear to have no impact on performance. Our evidence indicates that the extent of the managerial ownership level has a significant negative impact on bank performance. These results suggest that better corporate governance mechanisms are imperative for every banking company and should be encouraged for the interest of the investors and other stakeholders.

'Corporate affairs' - public relations and asbestos production: a social history

This paper focusses on asbestos production in Australia and the public relations campaigns used in the 1970s to enable their continued operations in the face of social resistance advociating for changes in policy and regulation.