Between responsibility and rhetoric: some consequences of CSR practice in Nigeria's oil province

This article brings together some of the findings of a three-year study of the community dimensions of upstream petroleum operations in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil exporter. It examines the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of transnational petroleum-producing companies, focusing on the immediate and long-term ethnographic and social consequences of such practices on the local communities where oil extraction takes place. The article examines, more importantly, how such practices and the identified consequences intersect with the regulatory/institutional framework governing upstream petroleum operations in Nigeria. By shifting attention away from the dominant, ethnic view of conflict and instability in the country of study, and looking at specific instances of ethnographic and social crisis associated with corporate social responsibility, the article offers some insights into some present-day challenges to sustainable development in Africa, and unveils an important present-day mechanism through which the image of resource-rich African countries as strife-torn is entrenched.     

日本公司治理结构内部控制中存在的问题分析

内部控制是企业治理的主要内容之一。在新的经济环境冲击下,涉及内部控制的日本企业的组织管理架构以及一些旧的公司制度和惯习已经束缚了企业的持续发展。日本在解决内部控制中存在的问题上,注重从法律的建设入手,并以此为手段带动实体经济改革。从当前内部控制改革的动向看,虽然相关的一些上市企业能按法律要求去实施,但在新制度的效果上许多企业尚存在质疑。由商法的修改带动的公司内部控制问题及其改善成为日本近年企业治理的焦点问题。     

The management of South Africa’s landfills and waste pickers on them: Impacting lives and livelihoods

Effective management of waste and the promotion and management of recycling activities are necessary for sustainable and liveable cities. A key but unrecognised element in promoting recycling is the efforts of waste pickers who make a living from recycling mainline recyclables. This article aims to describe the approaches used on 10 landfills in South Africa to manage waste pickers’ access to recyclables and their daily activities on the landfills. A multiple case study design and cross-case analysis were used in this study. The sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF) was used to analyse and explain the data. The results showed that waste management policies and practices directly influence the waste pickers’ access to recyclable waste and their livelihoods. Finally, some inclusionary and exclusionary practices are highlighted that could guide inclusive, participatory and co-productive practices for waste pickers in South Africa towards increased recognition, access, dignity and income.     

How successfully China has applied the OECD principles of corporate governance: a critical assessment

This paper attempts to critically analyze how successful China has been in applying the OECD principles of corporate governance. In doing so, assessment has been made in light of the six core issues of the OECD principles. A satisfactory level of progress has been noted in China’s legal and regulatory framework since the 1990s. New laws, regulations, and rules have been enacted, existing ones have been amended, and all the required institutions have been built accordingly in order to ensure good corporate governance practices in the country. However, there are still bottlenecks in terms of the enforcement of these laws, regulations, and rules mainly due to the various structural limitations in the Chinese administration and judiciary. The paper argues that China should now move forward with an accelerated enforcement agenda in the area of corporate governance in order to make China Inc. more competitive and sustainable.     

出口对企业绿色技术创新的理论与实证研究

出口对我国经济发展和技术进步具有重要意义,是推动我国企业绿色技术创新的重要因素之一。文章首先从理论上分析出口可以通过“绿色贸易壁垒倒逼效应”“规模经济效应”“出口学习效应”和“竞争效应”对我国企业绿色技术创新活动产生影响。之后使用2000—2013年中国工业企业数据库和中国专利数据库的微观企业数据进行实证检验,并进一步考察异质性因素在其中的作用。实证研究结果表明：无论是出口的扩展边际还是集约边际,均可以显著提升企业绿色技术创新水平,并且通过了工具变量的因果识别和稳健性检验。出口对企业绿色技术创新的作用会受到企业和地区异质性因素的影响：高创新策略可以增强出口对企业绿色技术创新的提升作用,融资成本在一定程度上会制约出口对企业绿色技术创新的提升,国有企业的绿色技术创新水平较低,政府补贴可以促进企业的绿色技术创新;在外向型经济发展水平较高和金融生态环境良好的城市,出口可以更好地提升企业的绿色技术创新水平。文章通过构建开放市场条件下的垄断竞争模型,揭示出口对于企业绿色技术创新行为的影响机理,并从微观视角考察出口能否促进企业的绿色技术创新活动,以及异质性因素在这一过程中发挥的作用,以期在当前双碳目...     

Financial performance and corporate governance in microfinance: Evidence from Asia

Good corporate governance is considered a building block of success for microfinance institutions (MFIs) as it is presumed to help them in achieving their social and financial goals. This paper analyzes the corporate governance and financial performance relationship for MFIs in Asia. We make use of a panel dataset involving 173 MFIs in 18 Asian countries for the period 2007–2011. We construct a corporate governance index based on seven measures pertaining to board size and composition, CEO characteristics, and ownership type. We then estimate the two-way relationship between this index and each of five different financial performance indicators. To address the likely simultaneity between corporate governance and financial performance, we adopt a two-stage least squares estimation approach with instrumental variables. Our results confirm the endogenous nature of corporate governance and financial performance. We conclude that profitability and sustainability of MFIs improve with good governance practices and conversely that more profitable and sustainable MFIs have better governance systems.     

新疆农业企业高忠诚度员工特征及传导机制研究

员工对企业的忠诚度是企业管理好坏的重要指标,也是关系到企业能否获得持续发展的大事。本文通过对新疆农业企业部分员工的调查问卷,提出高忠诚度特征包括:员工基本素质、企业认同、爱岗敬业、机会成本、情感依附等五个主要影响因素。通过对相关文献的梳理,构建了员工高忠诚度的主要特征与员工信任、员工满意和员工承诺之间的传导关系。     

How Good Is Corporate Governance in China？

Based on the revised OECD Principles of Corporate Governance of 2004 and China＇s regulatory framework, we develop a corporate governance index （ CGI） to measure overall corporate governance and disclosure practices of the 100 largest listed companies in China. The results show that Chinese companies have been making progress in corporate governance reform and there is significant difference in CGI between the top and the bottom companies＇ performance. Among the six parts of CGl, Chinese listed companies perform better in disclosure and transparency, but show weakness in board of supervisor and stakeholders roles. Further tests show that the improvements in corporate governance of state-owned enterprises have resulted in some initial signs of success.     

地理标志产业集群自律机制分析——基于品牌关联的视角

地理标志产业集群企业之间由于共享地理标志品牌,形成紧密的品牌关联,其他企业的品牌信用状况会直接影响本企业的利润,对其他企业的监督能够带来监督收益,这就构成了集群自律的动力机制,通过行业协会等公共管理部门弥补监督的不足,通过类似"熟人社会"的商业惯例等非正式制度来实施奖励和惩罚,能够增大违规违法成本,以维持集群的可持续发展。在集群内企业充分认识到品牌联结机制并有效运用行业协会等制度的情况下,能够实现集群内部自律,通过内部自律制度能够限制和杜绝群内的"造假"等败德行为。本研究对所有品牌型产业集群的内部管理和对可持续发展模式探索具有借鉴意义。     

Can business make decisive contributions to development? Towards a research agenda on corporate citizenship and beyond

This introductory article considers the increasingly prominent expectation that business can and will make a significant contribution to sustainable development under the banner of corporate citizenship or related terms. It suggests a research agenda that questions the underlying assumptions of this discourse and addresses some of the practicalities of enhancing the business contribution to development, with a focus on southern Africa. The suggested key research themes acknowledge the complexity and contradictions in current debates and expand the corporate citizenship agenda to embrace the possibility of more fundamental and systemic changes. These themes are (1) relating corporate citizenship to the southern African context; (2) the scope for innovative business opportunities and a new purpose for business; (3) the drivers and enabling conditions for corporate citizenship; (4) implementing corporate citizenship; and (5) measuring and monitoring the impacts of corporate citizenship efforts. The article cautions against too much optimism or excessive reliance on business contributions to development and it emphasises the need and opportunity for investigating the many open questions introduced here and in the articles in this special issue.     

可持续发展治理:概念、分析框架和模式

可持续发展是我国的发展目标之一,也是我国政府、学者、产业界关注的焦点之一。然而如何才能实现可持续发展呢?这需要进行科学的可持续发展治理。本文将对此进行初步探究。本文在介绍国际最新有关可持续发展治理的概念和理论,并分析欧盟、经济合作组织等国际组织可持续发展治理的研究和分析框架的基础上,提出我国的可持续发展治理模式,促进我国的可持续发展。     

Corporate social responsibility,mining and sustainable development in Namibia: Critical reflections through a relational lens

For its advocates, corporate social responsibility (CSR) represents a powerful tool through which business and particularly multinationals can play a more direct role in global sustainable development. For its critics, however, CSR rarely goes beyond business as usual, and is often a cover for business practices with negative implications for communities and the environment. This paper explores the relationship between CSR and sustainable development in the context of mining in Namibia. Drawing upon extant literatures on the geographies of responsibility, and referencing in-country empirical case-study research, a critical relational lens is applied to consider their interaction both historically and in the present.     

关于大型国企履行社会责任的调查与思考——以国家电网公司为例

企业社会责任自在西方被提出至今,已经引起世界范围内的广泛关注。政府、企业、消费者个体对这一概念均有一定程度的理解和认同。但是,不同国家或者地区企业社会责任的发展状况却存在差别：通常认为发达国家的政府、社会、企业及消费者个人对企业社会责任的认知与关注发展程度更高。国家电网公司是我国最早发布企业社会责任报告的企业之一。本文主要以国家电网公司为例,旨在探讨我国大型企业在履行企业社会责任方面的实践现状,在此基础上对其存在的问题进行分析,并对未来的发展提出建议。     

‘Doing-good’ and ‘doing-well’ in Chinese publicly listed firms

Recently, the presumed benefits of corporate social responsibility have become an important issue, especially for China where institutional settings are quite different from other parts of the world. Using an internationally accepted benchmark (OECD's Principles of Corporate Governance, OECD, 2004), this study constructs a corporate social responsibility (CSR) index to measure the quality of the corporate social responsibility practices of the 100 major Chinese listed firms during 2004–2007. This enables us to evaluate the progress of the corporate social responsibility practices of Chinese firms. The results show that Chinese companies have been making progress in their corporate social responsibility practices. The findings also show that market rewards Chinese firms for improving their corporate governance practices which implies ‘doing-good’ leads to ‘doing-well’ in the equity market in China. We also find that overseas-listed and more profitable Chinese firms have better improvement in CSR practice. This study has policy implications in pushing for further CSR initiatives in other emerging markets.     

企业ESG实践的价值创造效应研究——基于外部压力视角的检验

提升企业价值是企业进行ESG实践的目标和根本动力。文章以2008—2019年沪深A股上市公司数据为研究样本,实证检验了ESG实践对企业价值的影响效应,并以市场竞争程度、机构投资者、媒体监督为切入点,分析外部压力对于企业ESG实践价值效应的调节作用。研究发现：ESG实践初期会降低企业价值,从长期来看,ESG实践对企业价值存在正向的滞后作用。当企业面临的外部压力越大时,市场竞争可以显著提升ESG实践的价值效应,机构投资者和媒体监督会削弱ESG实践对企业价值的影响。也进一步说明由于我国资本市场的特殊性,外部压力不能必然地转化为治理机制。     

Corporate Governance Reforms in the Post-1997 Asian Crisis: Is There Really a Convergence to the Anglo-American Model?

Abstract

Following the 1997-Asian crisis, a number of crisis-hit countries were committed to the rapid transformation of the corporate governance system to one that is modeled after the Anglo-American system. This, as the article argues, is based on a false premise, that what may have worked in the United States/United Kingdom can also be applied in East Asia. In this regard, the convergence at the firm level is seen to be more in “form” rather than in “substance”. This study assesses Singapore's corporate system in terms of its recognition of the merits of the Western model. It then details the corporate governance style of Temasek Holdings Limited (THL), a state- owned enterprise (SOE) in charge of monitoring government investments in companies. The choice of THL as a case study is based on the premise that THL operates very much like a private sector corporation. In addition, it has the ability to influence the standard of corporate governance of Singaporean SOEs. Because the SOEs are large players in their respective industries, the corporate governance of SOEs establish the standards and expectations for monitoring in non-SOEs. There are indications to suggest that the THL has taken into consideration certain aspects of corporate governance practices that may not necessarily be in line with those advocated by the Singapore government. The article argues that selective adaptation such as the style adopted in the THL more realistically portrays the corporate governance practices of East Asian corporations.     

公司复兴及其实施途径研究综述

公司复兴是公司为突破成长瓶颈而采取的战略行动,国外学者针对公司复兴问题开展了大量研究,取得了一系列价值颇高的研究成果.文章在系统梳理国外公司复兴现有文献基础上,首先简要介绍了公司复兴的概念内涵、价值体现、主要挑战和成功关键等方面的研究成果;接着重点从变革、创新、新事业投资等角度,探讨了公司复兴的主要途径及其整合框架;最后针对现有研究存在的不足,对未来研究进行了简要展望.     

Eco-innovation for environmental sustainability: concepts, progress and policies

There is increasing scientific evidence that natural systems are now at a level of stress globally that could have profound negative effects on human societies worldwide. In order to avoid these effects, one, or a number of technological transitions will need to take place through transforming processes of eco-innovation, which have complex political, institutional and cultural, in addition to technological and economic, dimensions. Measurement systems need to be devised that can assess to what extent eco-innovation is taking place. Environmental and eco-innovation have already led in a number of European countries to the establishment of substantial eco-industries, but, because of the general absence of environmental considerations in markets, these industries are very largely the result of environmental public policies, the nature and effectiveness of which have now been assessed through a number of reviews and case studies. The paper concludes that such policies will need to become much more stringent if eco-innovation is to drive an adequately far-reaching technological transition to resolve pressing environmental challenges. Crucial in the political economy of this change will be that eco-industries, supported by public opinion, are able to counter the resistance of established industries which will lose out from the transition, in a reformed global context where international treaties and co-operation prevent the relocation of environmentally destructive industries and encourage their transformation.     

可持续发展治理：概念、分析框架和模式

可持续发展是我国的发展目标之一,也是我国政府、学者、产业界关注的焦点之一。然而如何才能实现可持续发展呢？文章在介绍国际最新有关可持续发展治理的概念和理论,并在分析欧盟、经济合作组织等国际组织可持续发展治理的研究和分析框架的基础上,提出我国可持续发展的治理模式,以促进我国的可持续发展。