Democracy on the edge: limits and possibilities in the implementation of an urban reform agenda in Brazil

The 1990s in Brazil were a time of institutional advances in the areas of housing and urban rights following the signing of the new constitution in 1988 that incorporated the principles of the social function of cities and property, recognition of the right to ownership of informal urban squatters and the direct participation of citizens in urban policy decision processes. These propositions are the pillars of the urban reform agenda which, since the creation of the Ministry of Cities by the Lula government, has come under the federal executive branch. This article evaluates the limitations and opportunities involved in implementing this agenda on the basis of two policies proposed by the ministry — the National Cities Council and the campaign for Participatory Master Plans — focusing the analysis on government organization in the area of urban development in its relationship with the political system and the characteristics of Brazilian democracy.     

Technological limits to forecasts of doom: Science,technology, and the sustainable economy

In this paper some of the catastrophist literature that was prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s is surveyed. It is still being published but now seems to have a diminished following. The focus is on two major areas, on food and population and on mineral resources. To the catastrophists, the various ills that allegedly plagued the world were attributed to technology. Their solution was a new appropriate technology that would allow us to live within limits. I counter with the argument that technology is the creator of resources which it uses, and that the data on food supply show that world development has been positive. The alternate technologies that were offered are found to be, in my judgment, self-limiting and therefore selfdefeating. I argue that life in general and human life in particular has not survived by living within limits but by devising means of transcending them. Technologies that allow us to live within limits lead to stagnation and inevitable decline. The sustainable economy is one that continually evolves in the use of science and technology to create new resources.     

Enhancing corporate sustainable development: Proactive environmental strategy,stakeholder pressure and the moderating effect of firm size

The article evaluates the influence of pressure of 10 distinct types of stakeholders on the adoption of environmental strategies, with the special focus on the proactive environmental strategy (PES). The moderation effect of the company size on this relationship is investigated in depth. The existence of the relationship between stakeholder pressure and environmental strategies has been explored by numerous studies. The study adds significantly to this ongoing discussion as the moderation effect of the company size was explored scarcely so far in the literature. The results from the multinomial logistic regression models confirmed almost unanimously the effect of stakeholder pressure and the presence of the moderation. Positive, but nonlinear, direct and moderated effect of pressures of regulators, competitors, clients, NGOs, media, shareholders and employees on PES was discovered. In case of suppliers, consumers and top management, the pressure–PES relation was more complex. Also, large companies seem to be more resilient to pressures than the smaller ones when adopting PES.     

Decision making in the multiproduct firm: Adaptability and firm organization

This study presents an explicit model of the choice process by which decision makers within a multiproduct firm would optimally allocate their firm-specific inputs. The first-order conditions of the model indicate the kind of information required for efficient transfer of these inputs. Transfer within the firm can be more efficiently accomplished than contracting over markets. Consequently, one may demonstrate the superior efficiency of the multiproduct firm over a comparable group of single-product firms independent of any production externalities. Further, this superior efficiency results only if the central administration of the firm controls the exchange of these inputs.     

The cost of capital in the international firm

This paper argues that the international firm should use the firm's global weighted average cost of capital to evaluate investment decisions, domestic and international, and to judge the performance of affiliates at home and abroad. The paper discusses the adjustment necessary to quantitate exchange risk and to account for financing that is subsidized or tied to particular investments. Foreign subsidiaries, it is argued, do not have an independent capital structure because their liabilities are explicitly or implicitly the obligation of the parent firm.     

The theory of the marketing firm

The theory of the marketing firm locates the rationale of the modern business enterprise that lies in its responding profitably to the imperatives of marketing orientation. Economic theories of the firm generally fail to recognize these imperatives, enhanced consumer choice and sophistication, which entail marketing orientation as the rationale of the firm. The paper propose a competence theory of the firm as a metacontingency and examines the bilateral contingencies by which firms link to their consumerates, which indicate their capacities for customer orientation. The marketing firm emerges as a means of encapsulating entrepreneurship, economizing on transaction costs, and enabling the management of marketing specialization.     

High‐involvement work practices and environmental capabilities: How HIWPS create environmentally based sustainable competitive advantages

We study how high‐involvement work practices (HIWPs) may enhance a firm's economic performance through the development of a proactive environmental strategy (PES). HIWP systems facilitate the implementation of a PES by promoting employees' ability, motivation, and opportunities to behave in ways consistent with environmental management goals. In turn, PESs contribute to the development of strategic competitive advantages and drive superior performance. The results of our empirical analysis of 233 firms broadly confirm our hypotheses and suggest that although the direct effect of HIWPs on performance was not signifi cant in our sample, HIWPs do have a significant indirect effect through a PES as a mediator.     

Reassessing measures of sustainable firm performance: A consultant's guide to identifying hidden costs in corporate disclosures

Strategy, management, corporate social responsibility, critical accounting, and other business researchers frequently utilize financial metrics such as return on assets, return on equity, and return on sales as proxy measures for the financial performance of firms. Large data sets offer convenience but exclude the textual data of corporate disclosures that offers critical insight into specific executive actions and social and environmental outcomes. This study looks at the detrimental consequences of the prevalent practice of relying on macrofinancial metrics as measures of firm performance. Insight from the socioeconomic approach to management (SEAM) is then applied to help an external analyst develop the perspective of an internal consultant to identify hidden costs in corporate disclosures. An extensive case on former CEO Robert Nardelli's tenure at Home Depot is presented as an example of applied SEAM theory to explore how a causal network of dysfunctions can be traced through publicly available financial disclosures. The management discussion and analysis as well as the executive incentive compensation formulas serve as a roadmap to discover hidden costs. The study offers a critical perspective of financial disclosures to allow researchers to externally diagnose dysfunctions sooner rather than years later, an insight formerly only available to internal consultants.     

Integrating sustainability practices into islamic corporate governance for sustainable firm performance: from the lens of agency and stakeholder theories

Quality & Quantity - While the literature indicates that Islamic Corporate Governance (ICG) practices enhance firm performance, there is scant research on how sustainability practices affect...     

The differences of firm resources and the adoption of teleworking

This paper studies the differences of firm resources between teleworking firms and non-teleworking firms. The results indicate that teleworking firms use more information and communication technologies, invest more resources in R&D, have a larger percentage of knowledge workers and salespeople in the workforce, and have a larger geographical market. The employees have greater access to the Internet and electronic communication, are more trained in the use of information and communication technologies, and are more involved in their job design and planning. Regarding the business organisation, teleworking firms use more human resource flexible practices and variable compensation, outsource more activities, and manage employees by objectives.     

The economics of decision making in the new manufacturing firm

Decision making in a modern manufacturing firm producing a variety of products while meeting order deadlines appears at first to have little basis in the economic Theory of the Firm. It is shown that optimal budget allocations, the fractions of revenue expended on inputs, are likely to remain constant for a succession of orders for each of a family of products, thus simplifying the decision process. Well-known heuristic decision rules may not only have a sound basis in economic theory but are evidently the best way to incorporate economic logic into a stream of fast-moving decisions. The discussion is extended to an explanation of the economic value of decision making to the firm, and why this value is usually assumed to be zero in theory.     

Can environmentally oriented CEOs and environmentally friendly suppliers boost the growth of small firms?

The core question addressed in the natural resource‐based view (NRBV) of the firm is how to develop and exploit resources beneficial for both the natural environment and firm performance. Due to the resource constraints and increased competition facing small manufacturing firms, achieving this is a challenge for such companies. Building on the NRBV and resource orchestration literatures, we examine the relationship between green purchasing capabilities (GPCs), CEO's environmental orientation (EO), and firm growth. Results from 304 Swedish small manufacturing firms indicate a significant relationship between GPC and growth, and this relationship is positively moderated by the EO of the CEO.     

互联网时代的商业价值观与企业平台化建设

互联网背景下的社会价值观对传统组织管理产生了强烈冲击,信息技术革命为管理创新提供了空间与动力.通过梳理归纳互联网时代商业领域的基本价值观,分析用户需求导向、个体价值实现、市场资源配置与利益共享等互联网价值链的基本逻辑,提出企业的持续创新需要用平台化的组织结构去反映市场,而企业平台化建设还应该从激活个体价值出发来设计和推动组织结构变革,以创建高效能的组织与人的共生关系和价值创造生态圈.     

Does adoption of ISO 56002-2019 and green innovation reporting enhance the firm sustainable development goal performance? An emerging paradigm

Reporting is a means of communication for companies to their respective stakeholders. The literature on non-financial reporting has mostly focused on operational, Carbon Discloser Project (CDP), and environmental disclosure to firm performance. This reporting and disclosure approach adopted by companies in their sustainability practices appears to be a normative approach. However, there has been a growing demand by stakeholders to incorporate proactive approach in business activities. To meet that, green innovation practices (GIPs) has been integrated as a new element in environmental reporting, thereby reflecting the proactiveness of companies in their adoption of green innovation reporting (GIR). The objective of this study is to advocate for greater disclosure on sustainability reporting by incorporating the GIPs of companies and substantial, sustainable development goal contribution, along with the moderation of the newly upgraded ISO 56002-2019 innovation management system. Adoption of green innovation reporting and ISO 56002-2019 will enhance the level of transparency of business activities and create greater stakeholder confidence along with enhancing the firm's sustainable development of goal performance. Furthermore, an extensive literature review was undertaken to create a GIR framework (i.e., product, process, service and technology) for firms to integrate GIPs into sustainability reporting. The conceptual model proposed the adoption of green innovation reporting and ISO 56002-2019 innovation management system to firm sustainable development goal. This needs to be injected into the sustainable reporting of companies to reflect their innovativeness, actual sustainable business practices and sustainable development goal performance for the firm.     

The multiproduct firm: Demand relationships and decision-making

If a firm produces more than one product, the price of one may affect the demand for others. Examination of this relationship reveals that for the profit maximizing firm the price differential between products is determined by differences in costs, differences in own price and cross price elasticities and the relative revenue from each product. The introduction of advertising results in an optimal advertising budget for each product that is the weighted sum of own and cross advertising elasticities divided by the average cost per advertisement.     

The marketing firm: Retailer and consumer contingencies

Efficiency has emerged as an important consumer value and thus has increased the importance of the in-store search as one facet of consumer transaction costs. This paper contributes to the development of a marketing theory of the firm by analyzing the consumers' in-store efficiency ratios and the retailers' natural sources of resistance to offer efficiency to all of their customers. We propose new behavioral metrics for consumer transaction costs. Our data from the behavioral tracking of 497 complete shopping trips reveal more transaction costs for quick shopping trips than for regular shopping trips, which demonstrates friction between retail and consumer transaction costs for quick trips.