CSR Business as Usual? The Case of the Tobacco Industry

Tobacco companies have started to position themselves as good corporate citizens. The effort towards CSR engagement in the tobacco industry is not only heavily criticized by anti-tobacco NGOs. Some opponents such as the the World Health Organization have even categorically questioned the possibility of social responsibility in the tobacco industry. The paper will demonstrate that the deep distrust towards tobacco companies is linked to the lethal character of their products and the dubious behavior of their representatives in recent decades. As a result, tobacco companies are not in the CSR business in the strict sense. Key aspects of mainstream CSR theory and practice such as corporate philanthropy, stakeholder collaboration, CSR reporting and self-regulation, are demonstrated to be ineffective or even counterproductive in the tobacco industry. Building upon the terminology used in the leadership literature, the paper proposes to differentiate between transactional and transformational CSR arguing that tobacco companies can only operate on a transactional level. As a consequence, corporate responsibility in the tobacco industry is based upon a much thinner approach to CSR and has to be conceptualized with a focus on transactional integrity across the tobacco supply chain. Guido Palazzo is Assistant Professor for Business Ethics at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). He graduated in Business Administration at the University of Bamberg (Germany) and earned his PhD in Political Philosophy (1999) from the University of Marburg (Germany). His research interests are in Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Branding, Democratic Theory, and Organizational Ethics. Ulf Richter is a doctoral student at the University of Lausanne. He is writing his thesis on Corporate Social Responsibility, conceptualizing the concept from a multidisciplinary perspective. He has studied in Germany, Peru and the US, and graduated from the European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel, majoring in International Management and Real Estate.     

Facing the “Right” Side? The Effect of Product Facing Direction

Product image display in advertising plays an important role in consumer perception and behavior. In this research, we establish important downstream consequences of one significant aspect of product image display—facing direction—on product evaluations. Building on the literature of visuospatial attention and grounded cognition, we show that products with their images facing toward the left (versus right) in advertising are evaluated more favorably when consumers’ temporal focus is on the past, whereas the reverse holds true when consumers focus on the future. Furthermore, we establish that the impact of facing direction on product evaluations exists regardless of the horizontal position of product images. In addition, we demonstrate that for products higher on desirability features, a mismatch (versus match) between facing direction and consumers’ temporal focus leads to higher product evaluations, whereas the reverse holds true for products higher on feasibility features. Important implications for advertising theory and practice are discussed.     

The Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China

(Adopted at the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on 12 May,1994;and amended at the Eighth Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress on 6 April,2004.) Chapter I General Principles Article 1 This Law is formulated in order to broaden the opening to the outside world,develop the Foreign Trade, maintain the Foreign Trade order,pro- tect the legitimate rights and interests of Foreign Trade Operators,and promote a healthy development of the socialist mar- ket economy.     

The Proposed Guarantees Directive: Is It Fit for the Purpose?

The purpose of this article is to critically analyse the provisions of the proposed Directive on the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees as it will apply, in particular, in the UK. The Directive addresses two perceived problems for the European consumer; the variation in the minimum legal guarantee currently provided by individual Member States, and the lack of clarity and difficulties in enforcement of additional guarantees provided by sellers and manufacturers. The article considers the detailed provisions of the Directive as to both the "legal guarantee" and the "commercial guarantee" and sets these provisions in a UK context in order to assess, specifically, their potential significance for consumers and consumer law in the UK.     

The Foreign Trade Law of the People＇s Republic of China

Chapter Ⅰ General Principles
Article 1 This Law is formulated in order to broaden the opening to the outside world,develop the Foreign Trade, maintain the Foreign Trade order,protect the legitimate rights and interests of Foreign Trade Operators,and promote a healthy development of the socialist market economy.     

Can the Canadian Wheat Board Extract Monopoly Rents? The Case of the Spring Wheat Market

The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) is a monopoly seller of wheat, durum and malting barley from western Canada. This paper examines the question whether the CWB monopoly can extract a premium in the international market place. Using actual transaction data (i.e. actual transaction prices) we estimate that the CWB charged importers an average price premium of $13.35/tonne for wheat over the period 1980-94. In periods when high quality wheat was in short supply the CWB was able to charge higher premiums.We also show that during the period of export subsidies the CWB earned farmers a premium by avoiding subsidized markets.     

The Impact of Pension Age Changes — The Case of Malta

After remaining unchanged for several decades, the pension age in Malta started to rise in 2012. This process, which will continue until 2026, was introduced to help boost the workforce and partially countervail the impact of the country’s demographic transition. The scope of this article is to review evidence on the impact to date of these changes and to use this to try to understand the potential impact of remaining pension age changes.     

Corporate Social Responsibility in Chinese Law——On the Section 5 of the Company Law of China

The Principle of Corporate Social Responsibility in Chinese Law
In China, a lot of ill-formed business activities exist, the good market order hasn＇t realized and the commerce hasn＇t reached the perfoect operating status. In addition to those, the personal and corporate credit systems haven＇t been completely established yet, the merchants still place their profit in primary position without considering the public interest or with less consideration, and the social problems caused by many companies with bad faith are more outstanding, so it is necessary to supplement and strengthen corporate social responsi.bility in Chinese Law.     

The Evolution of China＇s Foreign Trade Law

1.Introduction Since China started the reform of foreign trade system in 1978,the foreign trade laws and regulations have developed from scratch or from a limited amount,gradually with the step of reform.     

Does servicification of manufacturing increase the GVC activities of firms? Case of India

Does greater use of services’ inputs in manufacturing increase the global value chain (GVC) activities of the firms? In this study, we analyse the effects of servicification on the GVC activities of manufacturing firms in India. Using panel data of 4608 Indian manufacturing firms from 2001 to 2018, we examine the effects of servicification of manufacturing firms on their decision to participate in GVCs. The study examines the overall service inputs in manufacturing activities and its impact on GVC activities of firms. The results indicate that servicification of manufacturing tends to have a positive impact on GVC activities of firms. We also observe positive impact on Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to participate in the GVC through the servicification of manufacturing. Further, the results also indicate the differential impact of servicification between high- and low-technology industries.     

The Structure of Labour Markets in the Hotel and Catering Industry: What do Employment Law Cases Indicate?

The allocation of labour in the hotel and catering industry remains an under-researched and little understood process. Direct empirical observation of the labour market involves methodological difficulties requiring a major research project. An attempt is made to explore the labour market by analysing the facts of employment law cases which must be considered as secondary sources of data. The main conclusions are that the labour market approximates to the neo-classical model and that recent legislation has not provided statutory protection for employees at work.     

The Effect and the Countermeasure of Bank Financial Product on China＇s Monetary Policy

近年来,银行理财产品发展迅速,对货币政策的影响日益明显。要建立健全银行理财产品统计信息制度,完善货币政策工具,改变货币政策中介目标。     

Comparison of the Investment Law between China and the ROK

China and the Republic of Korea formally set up the diplomatic relations,which has added more vitality to the cultural and economic exchanges betweenthe two countries.     

Is an Increase in the Minimum Retirement Age Always Desirable? The Case of Notional Defined Contribution Systems

Several countries have recently introduced reforms that aim to increase the neutrality of their pension system by introducing an incentives‐disincentives mechanism or by replacing their traditional defined‐benefit system with a Notional Defined Contribution method. This paper evaluates the financial effects of an increase in the minimum retirement age in countries where a Notional Defined Contribution system exists. We show that such a reform produces a positive effect on the financial situation of the pension system (by generating surpluses or by reducing deficits) in the short and in the medium run, but it becomes completely ineffective in the long run. This result implies that in countries where the pension system is sufficiently neutral such a reform is not appropriate to solve the problem of population ageing which is a long‐run problem.     

How Does the Largest Shareholder Affect Dividends?

Focusing on the legal protection of minority shareholders in Japan, which suggests that manager‐owned firms are better governed than corporation‐owned firms, this study presents a new test of two dividend models: the substitute model and the outcome model. In support of the latter, I find that manager‐owned firms pay higher dividends than corporation‐owned firms. The paper also examines the association between ownership by the largest shareholder and dividend payments. I find an inverted U‐shaped relationship for manager‐owned firms and a U‐shaped relationship for corporation‐owned firms between them. These results can be explained by the benefits and drawbacks of concentrated ownership.     

Does Service Employees’ Appearance Affect the Healthiness of Food Choice?

Derived from previous research on social influence on food consumption and social comparison theory, this article examines the effect of service employees’ appearance on consumers’ food choice using an experimental study, involving a video manipulation and eye‐tracking technique. The video shows a menu being proffered by a waitress whose degree of apparent healthiness varies (healthy, overweight, unhealthy lifestyle). The menu contains both healthy and unhealthy meal alternatives. The analysis of participants’ eye movements demonstrated that exposure to the overweight employee did not stimulate greater (i.e., earlier or longer) attention to unhealthy meal alternatives, whereas exposure to the employee who displayed an unhealthy lifestyle did. These findings have social and managerial implications: The postulated stigma according to which the presence of overweight others encourages unhealthy eating appears questionable. Service providers that might secretly hire according to body weight have no grounds to do so. In contrast, employees signaling an unhealthy lifestyle through their style choices prompt patrons to pay more attention to unhealthy meal alternatives. Food service providers might want to take this factor into consideration and actively manage the aspects that can be altered by simple measures.