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We examine whether climate change news risk is priced in corporate bonds. We estimate bond covariance with a climate change news index and find that bonds with a higher climate change news beta earn lower future returns, consistent with the asset pricing implications of demand for bonds with high potential to hedge against climate risk. Moreover, when investors are concerned about climate risk, they are willing to pay higher prices for bonds issued by firms with better environmental performance. Our findings suggest that corporate policies aimed at improving environmental performance pay off when the market is concerned about climate change risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many companies are implementing trade-in programmes through multiple channels. This may ultimately lead to fiercer channel conflict and competition. Few studies have explored firms' optimal trade-in policies in such an environment. To fill the gap, we build a theoretical model that captures the features of a dual-channel situation in which a manufacturer implements a trade-in programme through retail and direct channels simultaneously. Compared with the case in which there is no trade-in rebate, the results show that a trade-in programme can intensify or mitigate the double marginalisation effect if the retailer can initially decide the trade-in rebate in the retail channel. This significantly relies on market segmentation. However, when the retailer cannot decide the trade-in rebate in the retail channel, the trade-in programme aggravates the double marginalisation effect. Second, the trade-in rebate offered by the retailer may be higher than the subsidy offered by the manufacturer, as long as the retailer can autonomously decide the trade-in rebate in the retail channel. Furthermore, we find that both the manufacturer and retailer prefer to obtain the right to autonomously decide the trade-in rebate in the retail channel, but the supply chain prefers that the manufacturer do it. Some numerical examples are provided to further explain these outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many firms attempt to manage their legal and regulatory environments by influencing policy makers. Typically, researchers have focused on how firms use nonmarket actions, including lobbying, campaign contributions, and related activities, to gain policy influence. We argue that firms may also attempt to change the effects of policies through market actions. Market actions may lead to both formal policy change (i.e., transformations of codified rules) and interpretive policy change (i.e., transformations of the effects of rules without changes in their codified form). We identify two pathways by which firms' market actions may produce interpretive policy change: implementation and innovation. Implementation-driven change occurs when firms' interpretations of incomplete laws alter and clarify the meaning of those laws. Innovation-driven change occurs when firms engage in novel activities that are difficult to interpret within existing regulatory frameworks and, thus, alter the effects of those regulations. We then theorize how firms' market actions may complement traditional, nonmarket political mobilization in an analysis of sequences of formal and interpretive policy change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which public organizations contribute to crosscutting policy programs is a question of organizational commitment, resource allocation, and monitoring. In this paper, we triangulate survey and interview data to study the explanatory power of organizational factors to understand the extent of organizational adaptation to crosscutting policy programs. In line with the hypotheses, the organizational task, culture, and the portfolio minister's level of control seem to explain the extent of adaptation. Policy development as a task has a positive effect on organizational adaptation. However, this effect disappears if we add cultural variables. The second model indicates that a customer-oriented culture has a negative effect on organizational adaptation, and an innovation-oriented culture has a positive one. The portfolio minister's level of control has a strong positive effect on organizational adaptation. Apparently, incentives are needed to hold organizations accountable and provide them clear direction regarding their contribution to crosscutting objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business organisation still reflects and reproduces the dated idea of 'economic growth as progress' irrespective of its social hazards. Recalibrating the grounding of business organisation's legitimacy requires radical legal reform in order to accommodate the relegation of growth as a lower order objective. However, this article shows that the normative debate in corporate law scholarship is unable to resolve the legitimacy problem of business organisation and ultimately reflects and reproduces the ideal of 'growth as progress'. The problem is corporate law per se. Thus, the article argues that, even if these normative difficulties could be surpassed, instituting a new legitimacy for business organisation through corporate law reform - the conventional remedy - is, at best, practically impossible or, worse, harmful, because it is bound to follow conformist logic. Consequently, it is preferable to abandon corporate law reform completely and policy should focus instead on enabling the radical organisational practice already occurring in the social margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic activities have always been organized around certain ideologies, yet little is known about how ideology shapes corporate behavior and how it is different from other political forces. We investigate the impact of politicians' ideology on corporate policies by exploring a unique setting of ideological change in China from Mao's ideology to Deng's around 1978. Using textual analysis based on keywords in People's Daily, we find a discontinuity in ideological exposure among people who later became city mayors. Those who were at least 18 years old in 1978 and had joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are more likely to have adopted Mao's ideology, and those who did not join by 1978, due to age limit, but joined soon thereafter were more likely to have adopted Deng's ideology. This ideological difference has had an enduring effect on contemporary firm and city policies. Firms in cities governed by mayors with Mao's ideology have made more social contributions, lowered within-firm pay inequality, and pursued less internationalization than those with Deng's. These effects are stronger in firms with political connections, less state ownership, and more government subsidies as well as in regions that are more market-oriented and not "revolutionary bases." Our results are robust to OLS regressions with various pair fixed effects besides regression discontinuity. We further find that corporate policies promoted by Mao's ideology are associated with slower firm growth but greater stakeholder engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Professor Redish's review of my new book, The Conservative Case for Class Actions, he argues that liberals should oppose the class action because the cy pres doctrine used to distribute settlement money is democratically illegitimate and that conservatives should oppose it because it is inferior to government policing of the marketplace or no policing at all. But cy pres is a longstanding common law doctrine and relying on it is no more illegitimate than relying on any other common law doctrine that has not been abrogated by legislation. Moreover, contrary to popular caricatures, conservatives actually do believe the marketplace needs some policing, and, for all the reasons we prefer private solutions over government solutions in other areas, we should prefer a private police force staffed with class action lawyers over government bureaucrats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent corporate scandals raise an old question anew: is capitalism fundamentally infected by immorality? A now almost forgotten answer to this question was advanced at the dawn of capitalism, an answer that students of business ethics would find profit in considering. In the early eighteenth century, Bernard Mandeville authored The Fable of the Bees, which became notorious in its day for arguing that capitalism created wealth while necessarily relying on vicious impulses. The fundamental dilemma is that morality requires self-denial while capitalism runs on self-interest. As such, Mandeville claims that business and ethics are essentially separate. While this would appear to align him with skeptics of business ethics, Mandeville does suggest a role for moral theorists in dealing with the challenges of commercial societies. The Mandevillean business ethicist proceeds by separating the public and private spheres. In the former, where government policy toward business is at issue, the Mandevillean ethicist applies a market-friendly utilitarianism. In the latter, where individual conduct is at issue, the Mandevillean gently articulates a market-critical ethic predicated on self-restraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the voluntary disclosure of qualitative information about actions involving governmental agencies and managerial intentions or beliefs in R&D project announcements in The Wall Street Journal. Our analysis indicates that information regarding government approval and managerial intentions/beliefs voluntarily disclosed in R&D project announcements interacts with industry/firm variables to provide significant incremental explanatory power in both the innovation and commercialization stages of R&D projects. Our data also indicate that the biggest impact is from managerial intentions, especially an intent to increase market share when coupled with being a larger firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on data collected from ASX 50 listed corporations. As the UNGP makes clear a visible and accessible policy commitment is the most basic form of recognition that corporations can afford to human rights under the schema it offers. The paper takes the position that this policy commitment gives corporations a chance to declare a positive relationship with human rights. The presence or not of a policy statement, and the form that the statement takes, tells us much about the relationship between the corporate sector in Australia and human rights. The data reveals a low prevalence of policy commitment across the largest publically listed corporations in Australia. The paper selects a range of variables against which to examine whether commitment occurs or not. The most significant factor that supports policy commitment is membership of human rights engaged global Business and Industry Non-Governmental Organisations (BINGOs). We might expect a rather stronger public commitment to human rights reflecting the position apparently taken by Australian corporations on other ESG standards. However this expectation has to be set against the absence of human rights discourse as a political and cultural artefact at the domestic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementation of company human rights policies through the supply chain necessarily includes access to the full range of contractual remedies. Many corporations already have corporate human rights policies respecting a wide number of human rights that might be violated in the supply chain, yet having corporate policy is not akin to action. To the extent commercial buyers implement corporate policies in supply chain contracts the contractual obligations are answerable for breach. The Uniform Commercial Code and the UN Convention for the International Sale of Goods provide access to contractual remedies using a market-based remedial framework that would assist in curbing breaches arising from the use of forced or slave labor in international supply chains. This Article provides an overview and analysis of available remedies for breach of a corporate human rights policy implemented in the supply chain. Buyers have access to these remedies either through default or as specifically contracted for remedies, subject to the general notions disfavoring penal damages. The Model Contract Clauses from the American Bar Association's Working Group to Draft Human Rights Protections in International Supply Contracts operate to provide such alternate remedies to buyers implementing human rights policies as contractual supply chain obligations that operate consistently with the existing legal frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question/Issue: Do institutions reinforce each other when it comes to shaping the economic and organizational environment? We investigate national institutional complementarities by examining how different types of institutions jointly influence the occurrence of hostile takeover attempts, a practice in corporate governance whose frequency differs across countries. We distinguish among regulative, normative, and cultural‐cognitive institutions and examine how they interact to influence the occurrence of hostile takeover attempts worldwide. Research Findings/Insights: Using panel data on hostile takeover activity of 45 countries between 1988 and 2016, we find evidence supporting the impact of institutions individually and of institutional complementarities. Theoretical/Academic Implications: This study shows that important corporate governance practices such as hostile takeover attempts are indeed influenced by different aspects of institutional environment. It thus helps us better understand the effectiveness of corporate governance practice across different countries. Practitioner/Policy Implications: This study sheds new light on policies facilitating certain corporate governance practice such as hostile takeovers. It also provides managers with a tool to analyze the prevalence of hostile takeovers in a country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of IUG Journal of Economics & Business is the property of Islamic University of Gaza and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The research is based on the need for the solutions of the problem of capital structure building, which is one of the crucial aspects of the companies' financial management activities. The aim of the research is to justify theoretical and methodological grounds for the optimization of the company's capital structure and its more efficient use. Having observed the contributions into this issue made by other scientists and the results achieved, one should admit that the effective solutions of problem of current assets structure optimization and their efficient use, in particular in some Russian companies, have not been found yet. All the above mentioned caused the need for this research. The paper outlines the relevance of the chosen policy on financing assets; it also describes the criteria for this policy based on “aggressive", “moderate" and “conservative" indicators. To assess the impact of internal and external environment, we built a cross sectional analysis matrix which can be applied to identify the most crucial for the capital structure factors and to find the ways to respond to them. We also suggest the way to optimize the company's capital structure by the “Sustainability" and “Profitability" criteria using the example of the Russian company. Having analyzed the factors of external and internal environment and the company's assets, we assessed the capital structure deviation from the optimal by criterion. The obtained results can be applied to assess the mechanism of building the company's current assets. Moreover, the analyzed and wellgrounded criteria can be taken into consideration for the development of the corporate policies in the majority of the Russian companies. Theoretical generalizations made in the paper can be used as a ground for scientific debates as well as for other scientific and educational purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sufficient evidence suggests that enterprises under strong government regulations suffer the economic effects of political connections, which not only leads to competitive disadvantages and loss of innovation, but also less willingness to take risks. This paper explores the relationship between political connections and corporate risk-taking behavior in corporate governance. Specifically, in 2008, the Chinese government announced new policies to regulate government officials concurrently holding the positions of independent directors in firms. We sample publicly listed firms in the Chinese A-share market over the period of 2005-2010 and investigate changes in risk-taking behavior due to the new policies. Our findings indicate that a reduction in politically connected independent directors may encourage risk-taking behavior subject to the factors of state ownership, industry regulations, local government control, and corporate characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Accelerated share repurchases (ASRs) represent an important recent innovation in repurchase methods. Although executives often mention signaling undervaluation as a motivation for ASRs, managing earnings per share (EPS) has been argued as a key alternative motivation in the financial press. This paper aims to investigate whether ASRs are driven by managerial opportunism (i.e. managing EPS) or managerial optimism (i.e. signaling undervaluation) and whether stock market participants see through these motives.Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of 293 ASRs conducted between 2004 and 2011. Firms suspected of using ASRs to manage EPS (EPS-suspect firms) were identified by examining actual reported EPS, as-if EPS (i.e. EPS that would have been reported in the absence of an ASR), and analysts’ consensus EPS forecasts. A logistic regression of EPS-suspect versus non-EPS-suspect ASR transactions was performed. Analysts’ reactions to ASR announcements and investors’ reactions to post-ASR earnings announcements were examined. Changes in post-ASR operating performance were also analyzed.Findings Twenty-nine per cent of ASR firms (EPS-suspect firms) would have missed the consensus EPS forecasts had they not implemented the repurchase. Managerial incentives – securing bonuses and maintaining reputation by avoiding EPS misses – appear to lie behind this opportunistic use of ASRs. Upward revision observed in analysts’ EPS forecasts upon the announcement of ASRs is short-lived, indirectly facilitating firms’ use of ASRs to meet or beat consensus forecasts. Investors, however, are not fooled by managers’ use of ASRs as an earnings management device. Unlike EPS-suspect firms, non-EPS-suspect firms exhibit positive abnormal operating performance during the post-ASR period, suggesting that these firms use ASRs as a signaling device rather than as an earnings management device.Practical implications ASRs can be used by managers to signal better future performance to investors. However, managers who intend to do so should carefully consider the timing of an ASR. Initiating an ASR when the company is facing the risk of missing analysts’ EPS forecasts may be interpreted as the ASR being motivated by EPS management concerns rather than signaling, diminishing the credibility of a positive signal intended to be conveyed through the ASR. Further, when considering payout policy and executive compensation decisions, corporate boards need to be cognizant of managers’ incentives for undertaking ASRs. The use of ASRs opportunistically to boost EPS is prevalent, and this action is followed by poor performance.Originality/value A number of novel results are documented using tests that are methodologically distinct from those used in related previous research. Notably, this is the first study to distinguish between EPS-suspect and non-EPS-suspect ASR firms and examine the determinants as well as consequences of using ASRs as an earnings management versus signaling device. One out of every four ASR firms are EPS-suspects. Analysts react to ASR announcements by only temporarily increasing their short-term EPS forecasts. Investors see through managers’ use of ASRs as an earnings management device. While ASRs are prone to managerial opportunism, a large number of firms use ASRs to communicate favorable information about their future operating performance to investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate crises--such as accidents, scandals, and product safety incidents--exacerbate stakeholder demands in such a way that conflict can arise between the interests of shareholders and crisis victims. We show that such conflict arises in the case of accidents, in which (1) the needs of victims are immediate and concrete and the potential corporate liability is great and (2) management can plausibly claim there are mitigating circumstances and factors beyond its control. In the case of accidents, if managers are accommodating to victims, shareholders are likely to suffer. The conflict does not arise in the case of scandals, for neither of those conditions holds. Shareholders benefit when managers are accommodating. This article discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the organizational sentencing guidelines. A brief historical overview of guidelines for sentencing corporations as outlined by the United States Sentencing Commission is presented. Several steps toward developing an effective organizational compliance program are outlined, including tailoring standards and procedures to the company's particular business, effectively communicating compliance standards to all employees, and consistently enforcing such guidelines. The merits of an incentives-based approach to corporate compliance is also considered.

This paper presents a preliminary framework for understanding why politically and legally strong corporations face significant regulatory pressures. Three general factors are addressed. First, divisions within and between industries bring about unlikely proregulation coalitions. Second, the responses of agencies to pressures do not reflect the balance of resources among interested organizations because (1) the marginal values of technical lobbying decline significantly after a point because of agency standardization of responses, and (2) regulatory organizations do not react in neutral ways to competing claims because of their cultures and stability. Third, proregulation litigation, the diverse dispositions of federal courts, and rules of judicial review interact to considerably offset better endowed corporate litigation. Studies are suggested on the variance of units within sectors and on the development of dialectical and decision-making perspectives on regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT) companies have proliferated in the past several years. Based on an analysis of genetic material submitted by consumers, these companies offer a wide array of services, ranging from providing information about health and ancestry to identification of surreptitiously-gathered biological material sent in by suspicious spouses. Federal and state laws are ambiguous about the types of disclosures these companies must make about how the genetic information they obtain is collected, used, and shared. In an effort to assist in developing such laws, this Article reports a survey of the privacy policies these companies purport to follow. It canvasses ninety DTC-GT companies operating in the United States and provides a detailed analysis of whether and to what extent those policies inform consumers about how their genetic information will be used and secured, with whom it will be shared, and a host of other issues. Using the Federal Trade Commission's articulation of the Fair Information Practice Principles and the agency's proposed Privacy Framework as the baseline, we conclude that most policies fall well short of the ideal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare two theories that relate the proportion of diversified firms in the economy and the implied discount for diversified firms: the first is a real-options model predicting a positive relationship between the discount and management’s choice to operate a diversified firm; the second is based on catering theory, in which a negative relationship is predicted, as management is attentive to investor preference concerning diversified firms.Design/methodology/approach This study proposes a new aggregate measure of the diversification discount. The authors’ measure allows for decomposition of the discount into firm-level mispricing, industry-level mispricing and long-run fundamental value components.Findings Results support a catering theory of diversification. The discount appears to be the result of firm-level mispricing. Thus, providing an explanation for why, in light of the observed discount, a large number of diversified firms persist.Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to provide evidence that firm-level mispricing may drive the observed diversification discount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The damaging and harmful effects of the activities of some corporations on the consumers, employees, and natural environment, have given rise to the need to subject corporate policies, decisions, and actions to a moral evaluation. But due to the peculiar nature of the corporation, being a collective and a legal creation engaged in the activity of business, such evaluation has become a controversial matter, at least among philosophers. This controversy can be formulated as a question of whether corporations have certain moral obligations which are over and above their legal and economic duties. Among the various ways of approaching this question, I focus on two general ones. The first concerns the ethical nature of corporate acts. Here I show why the business nature of corporate acts is no reason to exempt corporations from having moral obligations. The second concerns the moral status of corporations. Here I show why it remains meaningful to regard corporations as moral agents and thus as appropriate bearers of moral obligations. On the whole, I therefore argue for the view that corporations have moral obligations of their own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the topic of agency problems in service ecosystem for innovation. It specifically explores the corporate policies aimed at encouraging collaboration, so as to prevent opportunistic behaviors within the innovation hub, where service exchange is central for innovation creation. Design/methodology/approach: The authors apply the agency theory framework to the hub as a service ecosystem in order to understand how it would be possible to address agency problems between the firm (principal) and the other actors of the hub (agents), involved in peer-to-peer interactions. The research explores the case study of a high-tech leading company, which is a pioneer in the use of the hub for supporting its innovation process. Data are collected through semi-structured interviews to some key informants of the Hub Program regarding structure and organization; participation; incentives and monitoring. Findings: In service ecosystems, corporate policies are based on commitment, psycho-social incentives and social control may encourage collaboration among the actors, thus contributing to align their own interests to the hub's innovation common goals. Research limitations/implications: Given the exploratory nature of the research, the paper is based on a single case study. Thus, it is not possible to either generalize the results or evaluate any statistical correlation. Practical implications: The paper provides a wider awareness about the benefits and risks related to service ecosystems for innovation, and advise both managers and practitioners about appropriate corporate policies to better address the agency problems. Originality/value: This study enhances the literature on service ecosystems, highlighting the importance of corporate policies in preventing opportunistic behavior of actors in order to ensure the value co-creation process. It also extends the agency theory application to informal and not-hierarchical contexts. Besides, it suggests practitioners a way to reconcile the different interests of the firm and the other hub's participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a theory of how shareholder decision rights over policies and directors affect firm value. The model highlights the distinction between the right to approve and the right to propose. The right to approve is weak; the right to propose is impactful but can help as well as hurt shareholders. Managers have an incentive to deter proposals from activist shareholders by adjusting corporate policy; one might conjecture that external pressure leads them to choose policies more appealing to other shareholders in order to reduce the electoral prospects of activist proposals. However, we show that when deterrence occurs, it is always by moving policy toward the position favored by the activist, even if this reduces shareholder wealth. Our analysis stresses the central role of voting uncertainty in determining the value consequences of shareholder rights and proxy access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situated within geographical scholarship on policy mobilities, this article aims to direct attention to the state and corporate dimensions of corporate policy mobilizations as terrains that require further conceptual development. It argues that doing so is important for two reasons. First, it shows that national states should not be seen merely as functional and institutional infrastructures across and through which policies circulate, since national state policymakers also operate as active agents of policy mobilization across space and scale, especially in contexts of strong, centralized governance. Second, it illustrates how the economic dimensions of corporate actors engaged in mobilizing policy deserve more sustained analyses for a better conception of how firms' capitalist agendas shape their participation as policy transfer agents. We suggest that a relational economic geography perspective provides a set of conceptual tools — actors, networks, and value — to unpack the corporate rationalities and knowledge-sharing processes of firms. Drawing on research conducted on the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, we show how national state policymakers and transnational conglomerates are active agents in circulating urban sustainability expertise across space. An appreciation of these geographies of policy knowledge across the state and corporate domains of policy mobilization is a first step towards grasping these varied registers of expertise, and their implications for the form and content of policies on the move. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the eQvet-us practice set composed of an implementation guide and a self diagnostic tool supporting implementation of the new eQvet-us framework that contains 61 indicators based on the 3 pillars of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental. The implementation guide is a series of 13 implementation steps organized in 5 stages, in a cycle arrangement explaining how to use the tools for the implementation of the eQvet-us framework. The self diagnostic tool is a table with questions derived from the indicators of the framework that are answered by evaluators and then evaluated on a scale with 4 levels. A quality indicator is calculated which is rated by means of the quality scale. It provides a general overview about organization's state in per cent, and further evaluation can be done on each indicator group in order to know the strengths and weaknesses of the organization and to develop an improvement plan. The employment of eQvet-us practice set in a VET organization is presented. The results can be used to develop sustainability policies and improve internal sustainability performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research summary: In this article, we investigate the firm-specific environment and its impact on firm strategy focusing on adverse changes in the policy environment and their effect on divestitures. We argue that experiencing a negative change in the firm-specific policy environment causes firms to reassess their exposure to policy risk and their ability to manage their policy environment, making them more likely to divest. Operationalizing negative shifts in the firm-specific policy environment through formal policy disputes between firms and governments, we find that following a dispute, firms are more likely to divest both in the country where the dispute occurs and in other countries in the same region. However, the impact of disputes on divestitures is firm specific, applying only to firms directly involved in a dispute. Managerial summary: What is the impact of change in the firm-specific environment on firm strategy? We argue that when firms directly experience a negative change in their policy environment that is specific to them, they negatively reassess their exposure to policy risk and their ability to manage their policy environment, which makes them more likely to undertake a divestiture. We analyze formal disputes between firms and governments that arise from adverse changes in policy and find that, following a dispute, firms are more likely to divest in the country where the dispute occurs and in other countries in the same region. However, the impact of disputes on divestitures is firm specific as it applies only to firms directly involved in a dispute. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In their target article, Jones, Arena, Nittrouer, Alonso, and Lindsey (2017) make a compelling argument that discrimination may be best conceptualized continuously rather than categorically with respect to dimensions of subtlety, formality, and intentionality. We agree that such a framework can help capture the multifaceted nature of discrimination. The authors note that subtle and interpersonal discrimination, in particular, are difficult to address through formal organizational policy. In the workplace, subtle and often interpersonal discrimination can be overlooked or attributed to misunderstanding and, thus, may go unpunished (Dovidio & Gaertner, 2004). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on the effort to encourage practices that will help stamp out human rights abuses. Topics discussed include the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in Great Britain, requirements of the act to deal human trafficking, slavery, and servitude, aims of the act, and new measures to provide courts tools which helps to prevent modern slavery and to assist victims of such crimes. It also discusses changes in the business policy by the government to prevent such crimes.

The paper examines how extended producer responsibility (EPR) as an environmental policy approach and, more broadly, product management strategies are characterized within corporate social responsibility (CSR). The author summarizes the key concepts and arguments for sustainable product management strategies with an emphasis on the collection of discarded products at end of life, and identifies primary tools for recognizing and advancing product management strategies within CSR such as sustainability reporting and product standard and certification programs. The article analyzes 121 CSR reports for references to EPR and, more broadly, end-of-life management strategies for discarded products. It concludes with recommendations as to how CSR practices can more effectively recognize product management strategies as well as how EPR policy can be enhanced to further embed product end-of-life management strategies and activities within the CSR activities of firms. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores whether a more responsible form of planning can be applied to resettlement in mining. The authors focus initially on existing international safeguard policies and performance standards. Embedded in these institutional mechanisms is an assumption that when key elements of a displacement are known, the timing, nature and intensity of the resettlement event can be forecast and planned for. The assumption that mining companies can and will effect a planned resettlement has carried over into the corporate policy statements of many mining companies and peak industry bodies. A key issue that is often overlooked is the difficulty that mining companies face in determining their land requirements for life-of-mine. The authors conclude that planning mechanisms for mining resettlements hold potential for safeguarding against major displacement risks. They also argue that this potential is challenged by an industrial context that is inherently volatile, where future land acquisition is difficult to predict, and where the degree to which planning is able to serve as a protective mechanism for project-affected people is a critical outstanding question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper an attempt has been made to study dividend policy of Mumbai based companies of India. The study tries to assess the level of perceived awareness about models and use of dividends policies, analyses the factors affecting dividend distribution decisions and evaluates the impact of the same on the financial decision-making of companies. In addition the paper tries to understand the correlation between size of companies and distribution of dividend policies. The results of the research paper show that a majority of the fifty respondent Companies follow a policy of consistent dividend rate which is influenced by profit after tax, and finally the legal requirements. It is further observed that generous dividend or erratic divided policies are not popular choice among fifty respondent companies. The use of traditional method of dividend policies which suggests that market price increases with declaration of dividend is strong and dominant. Followed by the Modiglani Miller Method which indicates that dividend distribution has no impact on valuation. On the contrary it is found that Investment decisions influence share valuation. This is further followed by Walter Model where impact of dividend on share price depends on the IRR visa-a-vis cost of capital) and Gordon Method in which dividend policy has an impact on share valuation. Statistical tests such as Friedman's ANOVA test, Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA, and, Karl Pearson's Coefficient of Correlation analysis are used for analysis and the validity of the collected data is checked by using Cronbach's alpha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Sponsorship can be an effective strategic marketing tool yet it attracts criticism as a corporate indulgence shaped by the personal interests of senior executives. While research into the outcomes of sponsorship is extensive, the practices involved in sponsorship selections have been largely ignored. Today, sponsorship selection in large corporations is recommended to be a formal process involving evaluation criteria aligned to corporate policy and strategic priorities. Yet, in reality, corporate culture influences sponsorship selection, as do sponsorship managers’ beliefs about sponsorship types and motivations. The purpose of this paper is to explore sponsorship selection practices and to consider the interplay between corporate culture and sponsorship managers’ beliefs about sponsorship types and their motivations. The findings provide not only new interpretation of the literature but also reveal a detailed picture of sponsorship selection.Design/methodology/approach This exploratory qualitative study comprises in-depth interviews with senior sponsorship managers from eight large Australian companies that use sponsorship as a strategic marketing tactic.Findings This study concludes that the sponsorship selection process is strongly influenced by corporate culture as well as the sponsorship manager’s beliefs about sponsorship types and their motivations.Originality/value This study contributes to the sponsorship management research stream by providing important insights into under-researched factors that influence the sponsorship selection process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013 the European Commission presented a draft directive calling for member states to increase the presence of women on corporate boards. Some countries, such as France, have taken a quota approach by passing legislation requiring corporations to increase the numbers of women on their boards over time, while the governments of other states, such as the United Kingdom, have preferred measures to encourage corporations to have more inclusive boards. While there is a growing literature on the impact that an increased presence of women can have on corporate boards, as well as a solid feminist literature on the role of quotas in political structures, there has been relatively little attention to the specific ways in which political actors have viewed the question of women on corporate boards. This article compares the ways in which quotas for women in corporate boards have been examined by the legislatures of the United Kingdom and France, with attention also to parliamentary debates in Canada and Russia. It is hypothesized that variations in political discourse help explain why conservative governments adopted such different approaches toward gender balance on corporate boards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we presented some of the policies and strategies quality courier services implemented at DHL. We focused on this company because it is the only one that has achieved Superbrand status in category " Transport and Courier '. This company is an economic model to be followed, both in terms of the values it perpetuates the market and developed a business model. Company policy in quality, is to offer its customers high quality services in the field of courier services at a competitive price, under achieving a good profit for the company and a good salary for employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that identification and proper specification of ownership links among firms is an important factor and is affecting firm performance on different dimensions. We focus on the corporate wage policy, where we show that firms with same stockholders have similar average labour costs after controlling for standard factors of the wage equation. Moreover, we propose new measures of stockholders’ ability to influence firms’ decision; signal and its strength. The signal measures stockholder’s preferences over a given corporate policy, while the strength function describes stockholder’s ability to influence a firms’ corporate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of South East Asian Journal of Management is the property of Universitas Indonesia, South East Asian Journal of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)