Voluntary Cost-Sharing for Environmental Risk Reduction: A Pollution Abatement Case Study

This paper develops the notion of voluntary cost-sharing as a paradigm for ameliorating pollution: polluters and sufferers can choose to share the costs of pollution abatement and participate together in reducing pollution. If both polluters and sufferers each care about the state of the environment but have limited resources, the issue is one of optimality: a better level of environmental quality could be achieved if polluters and sufferers in a locale share costs of abatement. An example—nitrogen pollution due to fertilizer for food—is used to demonstrate that a preferred outcome can be obtained with cost sharing among polluters and consumers as compared to a “Polluter Pays” outcome. Input taxes and ambient subsidies or taxes are also relevant policy tools with cost-sharing.     

The Changing Rewards to Science: The Case of Biotechnology

Little is known about the form and or magnitude of compensation provided university-based scientists working on firm R&D. This is unfortunate, given the important role that university-based scientists play in R&D, and the growing literature concerning compensation and innovation. This paper sheds some light on these issues by examining the compensation of university-based scientists involved with 52 biotech firms that made an initial public offering between March of 1990 and November of 1992. Although the stock holdings of the university scientists are of particular interest, additional forms of compensation received by the scientists are also examined.We find that approximately 10 percent of the university-based scientists affiliated with these companies hold sufficient options or stock to require disclosure at the time of the public offering. A far larger proportion has an equity position in the firm. In many instances the scientists also receive consulting fees or salary from the firm and enter into licensing agreements with the firm. In addition to providing information concerning the compensation of university-based scientists, the empirical work suggests that the rewards to science can be significantly greater than previous work would suggest.     

Erratum to: Beyond Acclamations and Excuses: Environmental Performance,Voluntary Environmental Disclosure and the Role of Visibility

Some researchers have argued that firms with favorable environmental performance are more likely to provide voluntary environmental disclosure, while others have argued that firms with poor environmental performance are most likely to disclose. The authors propose a curvilinear relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure that is moderated by visibility. Data were obtained from S&P 500 firms queried by Ceres’ Climate Disclosure Project. Results show a U-shaped environmental performance–environmental disclosure relation and a main effect for visibility but no moderating effect for visibility on the U-shaped environmental performance–environmental disclosure relation. The authors discussed the implications of these results for future research and practice.     

Factors that Drive Chinese Listed Companies in Voluntary Disclosure of Environmental Information

Based on the institutional theory, this article attempts to examine two consecutive questions regarding the impact of various factors on corporate decision in environmental information disclosure (EID): (1) whether or not to disclose; and (2) the level of disclosure. The relevance of these factors is empirically tested using data collected from publicly listed manufacturing companies from 2006 to 2008 in China. Some interesting findings appear. We find that firms that are state-owned, those that operate in environmentally sensitive industries, those having more industrial peers engaged in EID, and those with better reputation are more likely to disclose environmental information. When it comes to the content of EID, variables that attempt to capture external institutional pressures exhibit either no or weak explanatory power. Only the variable of organizational image and reputation is demonstrated to have a significant impact on both the act and the content of EID. This study provides a snapshot of the dialogues between constituencies in the organizational field and EID development.     

Environmental Pressure and the Performance of Foreign Firms in an Emerging Economy

Does environmental management help foreign firms outperform local firms in emerging economies? While existing research suggests that environmental management may or may not benefit firm performance, the question is particularly under-investigated in the emerging economy context. Using the data on foreign investment into China, this study explores whether foreign firms that are under greater environmental pressure, at home or at the host, outperform comparable local firms in an emerging host country. In making this comparison, we use propensity-score matching and a difference-in-differences approach to handle the problem of endogeneity inherent in comparing the performances of foreign versus local firms. We find empirical support that foreign firms perform better than local firms when they are under high environmental pressure in the emerging host country, and this result is driven by the foreign firms originating from countries with high environmental pressure.     

Effects of an Employee Volunteering Program on the Work Force: The ABN-AMRO Case

One of the new ways used by companies to demonstrate their social responsibility is to encourage employee volunteering, whereby employees engage in socially beneficial activities on company time, while being paid by the company. The reasoning is that it is good for employee motivation (internal effects) and good for the company reputation (external effects). This article reports an empirical investigation of the internal effects of employee volunteering conducted amongst employees of the Dutch ABN-AMRO bank. The study showed that (a) socio-demographic characteristics from employee volunteers markedly differ from those of non-volunteers and community volunteers and (b) employee volunteering seems to have positive effects on attitudes and behavior towards the organization.     

‘A Case for Including Business Ethics and the Humanities in Management Programs’

The idea underlying this article was that the humanities in general and business ethics in particular should be more firmly embedded in business management programs. A number of areas have been identified for students to use as topics for research projects in management ethics. These ranged from Biblical and classical times to the present day. Some were drawn from sources that were less well known e.g. the De consolatione philosphiae ‘The Consolation of Philosophy’ by Boethius 524 AD. This was chosen partly for its ethical content, but also because Boethius was magister officiorum i.e. head of the civil service. Aelfred the Great (849–899) King of Wessex (he who burnt those cakes) was chosen because he promoted the intellectual, moral and spiritual qualities that were to serve as guidelines for his executives. Nineteenth century literature (Dickens, Thackeray, Trollope and Galsworthy) was also chosen as a source of topics for research projects in business ethics. The writer acknowledges the work of earlier writers in the fields of management, organisation theory, and business ethics.     

高经济外向度地区外贸环境效应实证研究——以浙江省为例

基于对Antweiler所用回归方法的调整,以工业废水、废气、固废排放量为环境衡量指标,以1981-2007年的相关数据为样本,以净出口对GDP的贡献度等指标推算外贸对经济规模、结构和技术进步的影响系数,对典型高经济外向度地区浙江省的外贸环境效应进行了实证研究。结果表明,浙江省外贸发展所"引致"的规模效应显著为正(增加废弃物排放量),结构效应和技术效应均为负但不能抵消经济规模扩张所带来的正效应,外贸的快速发展是浙江省环境问题突出的重要原因。最后,分别对三种环境效应进行了成因分析并提出了相应对策。     

Peer socialisation: brand-related bullying in the school classroom

ABSTRACT

This paper details a study of brand-related bullying in a school setting, among children approximately 11–18 years of age during their schooling experience. Defined as ‘repeated oppression, psychological or physical, of a less powerful person by a more powerful one’, authors have found self-reported rates of bullying above 25%. Our goal was to assess the role of brands and branded products in violent peer socialisation through bullying. Depth interviews lasting between 45 and 90 minutes that captured the retrospective reflection of forty-one 18–20-year-old college students were conducted and data were analysed hermeneutically with iterative comparison to discover emerging themes. Our findings suggest branded products were used to maintain existing social hierarchical structures and exclude non-conforming students through both covert and overt violence. We describe the influence strategies used and address strategies for dealing with the ‘unusual’, including the adoption of an alternative aesthetic for clothing selection.     

Just Look at the Numbers: A Case Study on Quantification in Corporate Environmental Disclosures

Journal of Business Ethics - This paper sheds further light on the role of quantification in corporate environmental disclosures. Quantification is an inherently social practice, which has...     

Product-Market Competition in the Water Industry: Voluntary Non-discriminatory Pricing

Since franchise bidding in the piped water industry is problematic due to extensive investment requirements, product-market competition or common carriage is a valuable alternative for the introduction of competition. This paper analyses product-market competition by considering a simple model of interconnection where competition is introduced between vertically integrated neighbouring water suppliers. The model contains water markets specificities such as local and decentralised networks and related difficulties of regulating access charges. Even without any regulation, we show that: (i) an inefficient incumbent will give up its monopoly position and lower the access price far enough so that the low-cost competitor can enter his home market; (ii) efficiency of production will rise due to liberalisation; and (iii) in contrary to prejudicial claims, investment incentives are not destroyed by the introduction of competition for the market. Investments of low-cost firms may even increase.JEL classification: L95, L43, D21, Q25     

The Social and Environmental Responsibilities of Multinationals: Evidence from the Brent Spar Case

This paper argues that multinational corporations face levels of environmental and social responsibility higher than their national counterparts. Drawing on the literatures of stakeholder salience, corporate reputation management, and evidence from the confrontation between Shell and Greenpeace over the Brent Spar, in 1995, two mechanisms – international reputation side effects, and foreign stakeholder salience – are identified and their contribution in creating an environment more restrictive, in terms of environmental and social responsibility, is elaborated on. The paper concludes with discussing the links of the work presented here with a number of ongoing debates within the filed of international business ethics, and the managerial implications of the two mechanisms identified.     

Designing Ethical Organizations: Avoiding the Long-Term Negative Effects of Rewards and Punishments

Ethics researchers advise managers of organizations to link rewards and punishments to ethical and unethical behavior, respectively. We build on prior research maintaining that organizations operate at Kohlbergs stages of moral reasoning, and explain how the over-reliance on rewards and punishments encourages employees to operate at Kohlbergs lowest stages of moral reasoning. We advocate designing organizations as ethical communities and relying on different assumptions about employees in order to foster ethical reasoning at higher levels. Characteristics associated with ethical communities are identified and AES Corporation and Semco S/A serve as examples of corporations exhibiting the design characteristics and assumptions of ethical organizations.     

基于DEA模型的区域环保投入相对效率研究——以黑龙江省为例

基于数据包络分析(DEA)方法,建立了评估投入产出指标体系的模型。以黑龙江省2008-2017年废水、废物、固体废物和综合环境污染投入产出数据为样本,分析环保投入产出的整体效率。研究表明,黑龙江省近十年的环境污染治理整体是有效的,但规模效率各不相同,个别年份效率相对较低,存在区域投资冗余、产出过低等问题。结合当地区域环保和经济发展的实际情况,提出适当调整环保投资规模、组建环保科技研发团队、推进发展绿色产业理念等对策建议。     

区域环境金融发展研究——以江苏省为例

区域环境金融日益受到国家重视.以江苏省为例,其在发展路径中曾遇到一些障碍,如排污权交易体系存在缺陷,绿色信贷发展受限,等等.有鉴于此,应大力推广排污权交易,加速发展绿色信贷,加快完善环境污染责任保险,提高环保投融资效率,建立相应的法律法规体系,加大财政支持力度,促进其健康、有序成长.     

高职计算机程序设计课程案例教学法探讨

程序设计是高职计算机专业的重要课程,但在实际讲授过程中,学生普遍反映枯燥、难懂.在教学环节中运用案例教学法,多举生活中的案例,使程序设计课程变得生动活泼,同时注重理论联系实际,从而培养学生的实践动手能力,体现高职教育的特点.     

Crime,Control and Environmental Policy: The Case of Hazardous Wastes

In the context of a model of principal–agency the institutional setting in which the agency operates is investigated. Optimal behaviour for an agency which is restricted to enforcement policies is deduced, and further behavioural interactions between the firm and the restricted agency are explored. Also the firm's behavioural responses to agency dump fee policies are developed, and the welfare implications are derived.