Corporate Governance: An Ethical Perspective

This paper discusses corporate governance issues from a compliance viewpoint. It makes a distinction between legal and ethical compliance mechanisms and shows that the former has clearly proven to be inadequate as it lacks the moral firepower to restore confidence and the ability to build trust. The concepts of freedom of indifference and freedom for excellence provide a theoretical basis for explaining why legal compliance mechanisms are insufficient in dealing with fraudulent practices and may not be addressing the real and fundamental issues that inspire ethical behavior. The tendency to overemphasize legal compliance mechanisms may result in an attempt to substitute accountability for responsibility and may also result in an attempt to legislate morality which consequently leads to legal absolutism. The current environment of failures of corporate responsibility are not only failures of legal compliance, but more fundamentally failures to do the right (ethical) thing. Surendra Arjoon is an Associate Professor of Business Ethics at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad. He served as Chair, Department of Management Studies (2002–2005) and as Associate Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences (1996–2002). He is also the Vice-President of the Trinidad and Tobago Economics Association. His work has appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Markets and Morality, Global Development Studies, Applied Financial Economics, and Social and Economic Studies.     

浅谈培育和塑造企业文化的重要意义

企业文化对一个企业的发展至关重要。企业文化建设的根本目的,是为了培育和塑造企业文化,必须坚持以人为本,对员工形成凝聚力和向心力;要注重创新变革,引入优秀经验文化、继承性的发展自身文化;企业必须树立正确的价值观,并使价值观在管理实践中得以体现;要明确企业文化建设的根本目的,即为了企业持续发展,获得更强大的生命力;要建立清晰、实用、科学的企业文化体系,用文化力驱动生产力。     

CEO经验及个性对企业动态能力的影响分析

在动态能力的理论框架下,不同CEO的经验和个性对企业运用和发展动态能力的影响不同,现探索不同CEO的经验和个性对企业适应环境变化的战略行为会产生哪些影响。实证研究表明,跨国工作经验和专业领域经验的CEO则对企业运用和发展动态能力具有显著的正向影响。具有外向性、开放性和情绪稳定性特征的CEO对企业运用和发展动态能力具有显著的正向影响。另外,CEO的跨国工作经验和专业领域经验对企业适应环境的变革行为具有调节作用。     

Corporate Reputation and Philanthropy: An Empirical Analysis

This paper analyzes the determinants of corporate reputation within a sample of large UK companies drawn from a diverse range of industries. We pay particular attention to the role that philanthropic expenditures and policies may play in shaping the perceptions of companies among their stakeholders. Our findings highlight that companies which make higher levels of philanthropic expenditures have better reputations and that this effect varies significantly across industries. Given that reputational indices tend to reflect the financial performance of organizations above other factors (Fryxell, G. E. and J. Wang: 1994, Journal of Management 20, 1–14) and that elements of the literature emphasise that discretionary aspects of social responsibility, including corporate donations, may not be in the financial interests of organizations (e.g. Friedman, M.: 1970, “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits”, New York Times Magazine, September 13), this is a significant finding. It suggests that philanthropic expenditures may play a significant role in stakeholder management and may, in particular, lead to stakeholders holding more positive impressions of philanthropic corporations.     

A Suggested Ethical Framework for Evaluating Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions

The 1980s witnessed a dramatic increase in hostile takeovers in the United States. Proponents argue that well- planned mergers enhance the value of the firm and the value of the firm to society. Critics typically argue that undesired takeovers ultimately harm society due to external costs not borne by the acquiring firm. To be socially responsible, the manager must consider the effects of the merger/acquisition on all stakeholders. Different traditional ethical frameworks for decision making are proposed and reviewed. A model is proposed.     

CEO International Assignment Experience and Corporate Social Performance

Research suggests that international assignment experience enhances awareness of societal stakeholders, influences personal values, and provides rare and valuable resources. Based on these arguments, we hypothesize that CEO international assignment experience will lead to increased corporate social performance (CSP) and will be moderated by the CEO’s functional background. Using a sample of 393 CEOs of S&P 500 companies and three independent data sources, we find that CEO international assignment experience is positively related to CSP and is significantly moderated by the CEO’s functional background. Specifically, CEOs with international assignment experience and an output functional background (e.g., marketing and sales) are positively associated with greater CSP.     

Legitimacy and accelerated internationalisation: An Indian perspective

This paper extends the institutional theory perspective by examining the strategic behaviour of founders of smaller service firms in a key emerging economy—India. Building on accelerated internationalisation and legitimacy literature in the emerging market context, we provide a new perspective, emerging market aggressiveness, which explains why founders/managers are not always passive recipients of their environment. Their selections of locations are dependent on the vision and stretch goals of the founder and their ability to gain legitimacy quickly to move that vision to a reality. They do not appear to be limited by their potential liabilities of newness, foreignness, emergingness or outsidership. They adopt committed modes of entry from the outset to build their legitimacy and reduce their liability as an outsider. Using a qualitative multiple case study approach, we demonstrate that managers are able to use proactive, planned and unplanned strategies simultaneously, in order to quickly prepare themselves to take advantage of transient international opportunities, ahead of their competitors in advanced markets.     

Financial Sector Reforms in Developing Countries: The Indian Experience

This study is based on the premise that the success/failure of financial sector reforms depends heavily on country specific factors and makes an attempt to examine these factors in the Indian context. The financial sector reforms analysed in this paper include the deregulation of interest rates, increasing competition and foreign ownership, and the introduction of financial supervision. We argue that an economic rationale for a gradualist approach to financial reform is that it is stability enhancing. Furthermore, we suggest that India’s complex political economy has resulted in a gradual approach to reform, and this approach has been successful along the dimension of banking stability.     

企业人力资本与企业绩效的实证分析

实证研究了我国上市公司企业人力资本与企业绩效的关系,分析了企业人力资本与企业绩效作用的机理.对不同的行业来说,企业人力资本与企业绩效都具有正相关关系;在同一行业内,拥有高人力资本存量的企业的业绩并不一定优于拥有低人力资本存量的企业业绩,不同的行业有不同的表现.     

Twitter Presence and Experience Improve Corporate Social Responsibility Outcomes

Journal of Business Ethics - We investigate the role of social-media-triggered public pressure on corporate social responsibility (CSR) that includes expectations of transparency and accountability...     

企业人力资本与企业绩效的实证分析

实证研究了我国上市公司企业人力资本与企业绩效的关系,分析了企业人力资本与企业绩效作用的机理。对不同的行业来说,企业人力资本与企业绩效都具有正相关关系;在同一行业内,拥有高人力资本存量的企业的业绩并不一定优于拥有低人力资本存量的企业业绩,不同的行业有不同的表现。     

Criteria for Evaluating the Legitimacy of Corporate Social Responsibility

The goal of this paper is to provide a general discussion about the legitimacy of corporate social responsibility. Given that social responsibility projects entail costs, it is not always obvious under what precise conditions managers will have a responsibility to engage in activities primarily designed to promote societal goals.In this paper we discuss four distinct criteria for evaluating the legitimacy of corporate projects for institutionalizing social responsibility:(1) local knowledge(2) level of responsibility(3) shared consensus, and(4) relationship to financial performance.We conclude our discussion by noting that in those cases where the firm possesses knowledge about a specific problem and its solution, is directly responsible for causing harm, where a shared consensus among all relevant stakeholders exists, and financial performance will be enhanced, social responsibility projects are ideal. Obviously, no program will meet all of the criteria. In fact, our model specifically suggests that there is often a trade-off between the first three criteria and the last. For example, in those situations where the corporation directly imposes harm on third parties, and where a high degree of consensus exists among all stakeholders, there is little need to link the social responsibility program to financial performance. By contrast, as the corporation seeks proactive solutions to problems which are only incidental to the corporation, and where little consensus exists, the predicted relationship to financial performance becomes more crucial. By formally examining the trade-offs among these four criteria we more fully understand the complex relationship between social responsibility and financial impacts.     

Corporate Psychological Defences: An Oil Spill Case

Organisational psychological defences protect the self-esteem and moral integrity of the organisational personality even at the expense of sacrificing the morality of actions. This paper analyses the spectrum of defences used by an oil refinery and its parent company during an oil spill incident. A hypothetical model of defences built on Swajkowski’s four responses to accusations of organisational misconduct – refusals, excuses, justifications and concessions – is tested through this case. On the basis of empirical findings it is obvious that defences delay, impede and interrupt the mitigation and recovery actions of incidents. It is not possible to break the defence behaviour of individuals because it is a built-in psychological mechanism in all humans serving a valuable purpose of dosing the pain of injury. However, it is possible to separate individual and organisational behaviour so that automatic organisational procedures mitigate, recover and, ultimately, prevent incidents. The organisational psychological task of crisis management is to mitigate the organisation’s ego defences, recover from its emotional turmoil and prevent further traumas by making its ego stronger and more flexible. The argument of this paper is that in practice organisational defences act as bumpers against becoming too conscious of the gap between the corporate rhetoric and reality, as subconscious breaks against too fast change demands, and as batteries in their preconscious effort to prepare for the change. Organisational refusals act as bumpers, excuses as breaks and justifications as batteries, while concessions imply that a change towards a more responsible corporation is taking place. Tarja Ketola is Adjunct Professor of Environmental Management at the Department of Management, Turku School of Economics, Finland. She took her Ph. D. at Imperial College, University of London, and worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Management Studies at Brunel University before returning to Finland. Her research interests include eco-psychological leadership, strategic environmental management and corporate responsibility. She has written books and published articles in many journals, including Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Business Strategy and the Environment, Sustainable Development and Long Range Planning.     

出口与企业绩效:主要论题与最新进展

异质性企业贸易模型将企业的异质特征作为研究变量,加之企业层面数据的日益丰富和可用性,使对国际贸易问题的研究由宏观产业层面转向更加微观的企业层面。本文以企业异质性为焦点,对近年来大量关于出口与企业绩效之间关系的理论研究和实证研究的文献进行系统梳理,厘清了出口与企业绩效之间的因果关系,并做出简要评述。     

创新企业价值理念 实现永续创新

企业价值观是企业文化的基石 ,企业价值理念的创新是企业适应激烈竞争环境的必然要求。现代企业只有切实贯彻能够促进企业可持续发展的价值理念 ,才能够实现永续创新。     

Corporate Ethics: An Exploration of Contemporary Greece

This study aims to discover marketing professionals' perceptions on ethical problems and current level of ethics in Greece, as well as, on the policy instruments used by companies to help employees make decisions in a more ethical fashion, using a qualitative research design. Specifically, it reports the results of a series of in-depth interviews conducted with Greek marketing professional employed by multinationals in Greece. A number of topics examining ethical problems, ethical standards, corporate policy instruments and corporate cultureserved as a basis for discussion. While the occasionally contrasting opinions revealed in part the perplexity of marketing ethics, respondents also arrived at points of convergence. All recognized government as playing the most prominent role in issues of public concern, legislation and overall ethical standards. Moreover, all marketers identified multinational and other foreign firms as a positive influence to the level of ethics, due to the introduction of policy instruments and control mechanisms. Finally, they also accepted the need for better informed customers and a strong organizational culture. Several recommendations are offered for consideration by marketing professionals interested in promoting ethical business conduct.     

社会责任:企业永续经营的基石

本文认为,企业的社会责任是企业对社会符合道德的行为,主要包括对消费者的责任,对社会的利益和发展的责任,对自然环境及社会生态平衡的责任,对企业员工的责任。企业要长远发展,必须要有核心价值观,必须讲道德,必须承担社会责任。承担社会责任不仅有利于社会大众,更有利于企业自身,它可以提升企业的社会形象和声誉,提高企业经营效益,建立员工和顾客持续稳固的忠诚,从而使企业获得长期繁荣和持续发展。     

Mergers and the Evolution of Patterns of Corporate Ownership and Control: The British Experience

An intense academic debate has arisen recently concerning the crucial ‘bedrock’ that underpins a corporate governance regime where widely held public companies dominate. In the discourse, little has been said about the contribution of merger activity. This article seeks to address this gap by considering developments in the United Kingdom during the twentieth century. The British experience suggests that mergers matter with respect to the evolution of systems of ownership and control and that the manner in which anti-competitive behaviour is regulated influences the extent to which ‘transformative’ merger activity takes place.     

Karma-Yoga: The Indian Model of Moral Development

A comprehensive model of moral development must encompass moral sensitivity, moral reasoning, moral motivation, and moral character. Western models of moral development have often failed to show validity outside the culture of their origin. We propose Karma-Yoga, the technique of intelligent action discussed in the Bhagawad Gita as an Indian model for moral development. Karma-Yoga is conceptualized as made up of three dimensions viz. duty-orientation, indifference to rewards, and equanimity. Based on survey results from 459 respondents from two large Indian organizations, we show that the dimensions of Karma-Yoga are related to moral sensitivity, moral motivation, and moral character.