Sustainable Development and the Financial System: Society's Perceptions About Socially Responsible Investing

The debate surrounding the financial needs of investors and the impact on society of investment is considered to be an important research topic due to the growth of socially responsible financial markets. The main objective of this research is to study society's perception about socially responsible investing (SRI) and to identify investor's preferences regarding environmental, social and governance criteria, their real‐life investment needs and the most relevant sustainable financial products. To examine society's perception of SRI, we conducted a field survey among Spanish investors. The results show that SRI is at an early stage and Spanish investors need more exact information regarding social, environmental, and governance criteria in order to invest in socially responsible companies and products. This paper offers some guidelines that could be used by Spanish institutions, managers and investors and by foreign managers when approaching the Spanish market, in order to promote the growth of socially responsible financial products. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

土地征收与房屋拆迁中的公共利益界定

作为土地征收与房屋拆迁法定原因之一的"公共利益",因其内涵模糊不清、界定主体异化,往往成为达到征收与拆迁目的的"法器"。界定公共利益,应首先设定界定标准,同时构建公共利益的评价机制。对于前者,国家须在立法上明确公共利益的内涵,同时在实践中注意多种要素的综合考量;对于后者,国家应强调立法机关与司法机关的作用,摒除行政机关的评价,并赋予被征收人、被拆迁人参与评价的权利。     

A comparative assessment of community forest models in Cameroon and British Columbia,Canada

In this paper, a comparative review of the community forest models prevailing in two countries is made: the province of British Columbia in Canada and Cameroon in Central Africa. A series of assessment criteria emanating from community forest attributes in both jurisdictions were identified and employed as a basis for assessing and comparing the performance of both models. Results of this study revealed that fundamental similarities and differences exist in the two models and none of the models is superior to the other. However, it is argued that when both models are evaluated against specific criteria, one model often exhibits some sort of dominance vis-à-vis the other. To conclude, the paper prescribes a series of recommendations for improving the efficiency and quality of the community forest model in both jurisdictions.     

我国企业会计准则质量分析——基于高质量会计准则评价标准体系的构建

金融危机后,G20华盛顿峰会提出建立全球高质量会计准则的倡议,我国亟需系统性的高质量会计准则的评价标准,对新企业会计准则的质量作出评价。本文结合国内外已有观点及我国新会计准则的实施情况,构建以"高质量会计信息"为核心标准、具有细化标准的高质量会计准则评价标准体系,并对我国新企业会计准则的质量作出初步评价。     

Food or Medicine?

Abstract

Functional foods offer consumers a range of products that contain modified ingredients to treat specific diseases. The value of this product category has grown considerably since its introduction over a decade ago. This paper reports on qualitative research conducted into the choice criteria used for functional foods. It then compares these to the categories outlined in Khan's food choice model (1981) in order to determine whether functional foods should be treated as a food choice purchase. The findings of this research show that functional food can be treated as a food purchase because most of the choice influences found can be categorised into Khan's conceptualisation. However, additions and redefinitions are suggested. A separate category for family influence was found, as was the requirement to redefine “nutrition” within the model to accommodate the curative benefits of functional foods.     

Non-Parametric Estimation of Technical Progress

The modelling of technical progress in a production economy is a problem of great interest. Non-parametric approximation of technical progress through the use of an adaptively fitted spline function is presented as an attractive solution. An application demonstrates the sensitivity of estimates of technical progress and price elasticities to the specification of the time trend.     

Critical success criteria for B2B E-commerce systems in Chinese medical supply chain

The paper presents an exploratory investigation to determine and prioritise the critical success criteria, which can measure and guide the successful application and performance improvement of business to business e-commerce system (BBECS) in a medical supply chain's selling and buying functions, in the context of global business expansion. The research reveals that the buying and the selling functions have different prioritisations on the majority of the determined critical success measuring criteria. These criteria are categorised into three Critical Success Measuring Criteria Groups, for the selling and the buying functions, respectively, guiding medical supply chain members in harnessing the full advantage of a BBECS. For the selling function, the top critical success measuring criteria are as follows: integrating information searching/transmission and application processes, ensuring the reliability and timeliness of technical support, ensuring recognition and acceptance of e-commerce processes, displaying the organisation's business focus and product/service provisions online, securing a large scale/amount of business transactions, adjusting production outputs and inventory levels and having more registered users than competitors do. The top critical success measuring criteria for the buying function are as follows: securing the establishment of business relationships between businesses, displaying the measures ensuring mutual trust and cooperation online, ensuring employees' recognition of the benefit of e-commerce in increasing revenue, ensuring the contribution to the development and realisation of corporate strategy, achieving cost reduction for the organisation, making the purchase of famous brand products available/doable, securing a large scale/amount of business transactions, and ensuring the attainability of products/services at a lower price.     

Sustainability ranking of the UK major ports: Methodology and case study

Maritime supply chain sustainability has not been widely studied to date. This paper investigates the sustainability performance of five major UK ports. The UK port system is one of the largest and busiest port systems both in Europe and worldwide. The scope of sustainability narrows down to economical and environmental dimensions. A questionnaire is developed to collect data from port managers and logistics experts. The AHP method is utilized to rank the ports using the collected data. Sensitivity analysis is conducted on the obtained data to verify the consistency among data and outcomes.     

Commitment Strategies for Sustainability: How Business Firms Can Transform Trade‐Offs Into Win–Win Outcomes

This paper addresses a fundamental problem in corporate sustainability: How can corporations transform trade‐offs through win–win‐oriented governance strategies aimed at creating value? Drawing on new strands of research in business ethics, we employ an ‘ordonomic’ perspective and proceed in four steps. First, we sketch how sustainability semantics has evolved historically from a societal searchlight to a heuristics for business practice. Second, we discuss how business firms can make strategic use of moral commitments as governance contributions by deploying individual or collective self‐commitments as well as commitment services in their stakeholder relations. Third, we combine these four governance strategies with the three ESG (‘ecological, social and governance’) criteria of sustainability. We derive and illustrate with real‐life examples a 12‐box matrix as a tool for the strategic management of corporate sustainability. Fourth, we discuss the specific contribution of our ordonomic approach to the literature. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment