The effect of corporate social responsibility on the branding of financial services

In today's global world, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasing public demand for greater transparency from multinational companies. CSR is a new and growing financial risk factor. If it is mismanaged, a firm's corporate reputation can be badly damaged and a direct negative impact on its business and bottom-line may result. Instead of simply campaigning directly against industrial groups and lobbying governments and international organisations to issue new legislation, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are increasingly putting pressure on the financial services groups and insurance companies. This new global tactic may affect a bank's relationship with its clients and shareholders.There are market benefits and competitive advantages for those companies whose business policies integrate CSR. The growth in socially responsible investments and in CSR awareness among City people persuades some bankers that the most successful firms of the future will be those who proactively balance short-term financial goals with long-term sustainable franchise building. To respond to this challenge, corporations will have to convince citizens they can trust both their brands and the people behind them. In this context, one must recognise that finance brands have been clumsily managed. Nowadays, several big consumer brands are used as societal role models, but they are also the targets of anti-globalisation and anti-logo activists. In order to avoid such an outcome — not to mention corporate mortification — the key social marketing strategy must be to communicate proactively the business activity's raison d'être to opinion leaders and the general public. In general, industry does not yet care enough and many companies are reacting only when put under pressure by public opinion. It is time, however, to market the social raison d'être of a business and indeed to contest its current exclusion from ‘civil society’. Consumer and service sectors lead the field. In view of the downturn of the global economy, more than ever before, CSR branding is of paramount importance to the financial sector if bankers do not want to become the easy scapegoats. It is necessary to make it clear that financial services companies are global citizens too.     

Planning and managing primary care services: lessons from the NHS in England

High-quality primary care services are an essential part of a successful health service. However, the planning and management of such services is complex. Using evidence from a study of recent extensive changes in the English NHS, the authors highlight the need for local service oversight by managers who understand local conditions and needs. The recent English experience supports an incremental policy adjustment approach, rather than wholesale organizational change.     

The dynamics of default and debt reorganization

This article documents the fact that when debtors decide todefault on their obligations too early, it is in the creditors'collective interest, as residual claimants, to make concessionsprior to forcing a costly liquidation. Symmetrically, when debtorsprefer to default at an inefficiently late stage, it is in thecreditors' interest to propose a departure from the absolutepriority rule. This article develops a continuous time pricingmodel of dynamic debt restructuring that reflects the crucialinfluence of the two counterparties' relative bargaining power.Simple and intuitive path-dependent pricing formulae are derivedfor equity and debt. The debt capacity as well as the evolutionof the firm's capital structure throughout its existence isprovided.     

Immigration and local spending in social services: evidence from a massive immigration wave

The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between immigration and redistributive public spending by using the recent, massive arrival of immigrants in Spain. Specifically, we focus our analysis on the effect of 1998–2006 changes in local immigrant density on contemporaneous changes in municipal spending in social services. To address the potential endogenous location of immigrants, we adopt an instrumental variables approach that uses the distribution of rental housing in 1991 to predict the location of immigrant inflows. The results indicate that (per capita) social spending increased less in those municipalities that recorded the largest increases in immigrant density. We interpret our results as a reduction in natives’ demand for redistributive public spending.     

英国金融监管模式

英国在新千年伊始,对金融监管体制实行了全面的改革,建立了单一的金融监管机构——英国金融服务监管局(The Financial Services Authority,简称FSA或英国金融监管局)。FSA建立后,每年邀请全球金融监管机构的代表参加由其举办FSA国际金融机构论坛,主要介绍FSA的监管模式和监管方法。FSA自称无意建     

The Challenge of Police Reform in England and Wales

As a recent Home Office White Paper 'Building Communities, Beating Crime' demonstrates, radical change now confronts the police service. Policing responsibilities and police budgets are being devolved to Basic Command Units and there will be radical internal changes in the make up and role of police and civilian staff in the service. The modernization process now contemplated by the Government can be expected to encompass both a number of issues identified within the 1993 Sheehy Report (particularly in relation to local pay bargaining) and further efficiency reforms that will impact significantly on the role and status of the police and the structure of police forces throughout England and Wales.     

论我国银行重组

本文从产权结构、组织结构、业务结构三个方面论述了国有商业银行重组的必要性和构想     

Emerging realities of local government reorganization

This article reviews ministerial claims about the financial benefits of the nine new unitary councils in England and finds them wanting. The new councils' own estimates for costs and savings use a variety of assumptions, some of which are plainly wrong. The resulting figures are not comparable between authorities and are difficult to reconcile with ministerial claims. The Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) evidently does not apply rigorous evaluation standards and has a track record of refusing to divulge the evidence upon which decisions are taken and performance claims are made.     

社会改革过程中国家权力作用机制——以商鞅变法为例

商鞅变法是中国古代较为成功的一次社会改革,其成功原因各说纷纭,文章从国家权力角度进行了探讨,并得出了是最高统治者的支持给了商鞅运用各种形式权力的权限,对权威力的运用使秦民不得不服,对影响力的运用使秦民心服口服,对强制力的运用使秦民因恐惧而服,才是商鞅变法能够成功的真正原因.     

The social organization of time

If all social life has been structured around a single model of employment founded on standard working hours, the reduction in working time, and in particular the diversification of working hours, is likely to effect radical transformation from both the economic and social points of view. This diversification will continue, it is argued, because of the new economic imperatives as much as sociocultural developments. It is forecasted that the old standard model is being replaced by much more flexible management of working hours and, hence, free time. What is not so clear is whether this flexibility in working conditions, which will bring with it a revolution at the individual, company and societal levels, will be equally benign for all.     

The future of social security

We analyze the effect of the projected demographic transition on the political support for social security, and equilibrium outcomes. Embedding a probabilistic-voting setup of electoral competition in the standard OLG model with capital accumulation, we find that intergenerational transfers arise in the absence of altruism, commitment, or trigger strategies. Closed-form solutions predict population ageing to lead to higher social security tax rates, a rising share of pensions in GDP, but eventually lower social security benefits per retiree. The response of equilibrium tax rates to demographic shocks reduces old-age consumption risk. Calibrated to match features of the U.S. economy, the model suggests that, in response to the projected demographic transition, social security tax rates will gradually increase to 16%. Other policies that distort labor supply will become less important; labor supply therefore will rise, in contrast with frequently voiced fears.     

The absence of corporate social responsibility reporting in Bangladesh

This paper aims to broaden the present corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting literature by extending its focus to the absence of CSR reporting within a developing country, an area which, to date, is relatively under researched in comparison to the more widely studied presence of CSR reporting within developed Western countries. In particular this paper concentrates upon the lack of disclosure on three particular eco-justice issues: child labour, equal opportunities and poverty alleviation. We examine why this is the case and thereby illuminate underlying motives behind corporate unwillingness to address these issues. For this purpose, 23 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with senior corporate managers in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that the main reasons for non-disclosure include lack of resources, the profit imperative, lack of legal requirements, lack of knowledge/awareness, poor performance and the fear of bad publicity. Given these findings the paper raises some serious concerns as to why corporations would ever be expected to voluntarily report on eco-justice issues where performance is poor and negative publicity would be generated and profit impaired. Further research is still required to uncover current injustices and to imagine what changes can be made.     

Devolution and federalism in England

This paper is concerned with current moves toward sub-national devolution in England and the prospects for a federal government system within the United Kingdom as a whole. The initial focus of the paper is upon the contested nature and governance of regions in England. Current steps toward devolution to such regions are considered through a critical lens, before moving to a wider discussion of the theory and practice of federalism and of whether England could be part of a federal system of UK government. It is concluded that the devolution agenda may proceed in a more serious and consistent manner than at present but there are severe barriers to federalism, including major constitutional constraints, the lack of a written constitution, significant asymmetry between different nations of the UK, the lack of clarity about the definition of sub-national English regions and the lack of political will. These all render a true UK federal state impossible to envisage.     

俄罗斯社会转型三百年

俄罗斯更具东方文明的特征 近年来的阅读让人们越来越发现,过去几十年里,我们所了解的俄罗斯近代史和有关苏联的史料,有许多地方需要重新认识.由于各种原因,或者因为爱之太深,或者由于恨之过激,我们都被灌输了一些不符合真实情况的宣教内容.     

The distance marketing of consumer financial services directive

The EU directive on the distance marketing of consumer financial services (the DMD) was adopted in September 2002 bringing financial services in line with other retail sectors. This paper begins with an analysis of the principal substantive provisions of the DMD before considering the obligations it places on member states to ensure its substantive provisions are enforceable in national law and that an adequate system of redress is available to consumers. The paper then summarises the path taken by the DMD through the European legislative machine and analyses how the DMD will facilitate the integration of a European single market in financial services while striking an essential balance between the rights of the consumer and the rights of financial services providers. In the final part, consideration is given to how the DMD will be implemented by member states. In particular, attention is directed to the overall impact the DMD is likely to have on the marketing of financial services in the UK and how HM Treasury and the Financial Services Authority aim to harmonise domestic law with the DMD.     

我国金融服务外包的现状及分析

近年来,随着离岸外包和BPO业务（经营过程外包）的崛起,金融外包逐渐成为国际外包市场的主流。随着我国金融领域开放程度的不断加大,竞争的日益激烈,国内金融企业需要了解国际金融外包动态,借鉴国外金融外包的经验,将现有的资源集中于核心业务,提升自己的核心竞争力。     

The decision to outsource risk management services

We apply transaction cost economics to identify factors influencing companies’ decision to internally generate or outsource risk management services. A unique sample is used which combines publicly available data with private information supplied by 281 Australian listed companies. We find that expenditure on research and development, greater technological uncertainty, more competitive environments, more overseas sales and transaction frequency are associated with less outsourcing of risk management services. Uncertainty due to environmental diversity is associated with more outsourcing of risk management services. Companies that outsource risk management services also have lower staff turnover and provide more specialised training and longer contracts for risk management suppliers.     

The emerging importance of brand energy in the financial services sector

The long-term shift in the developed world from economies based on the trading of tangible goods to the trading of intangible services has precipitated two major shifts in business thinking that have become particularly apparent over the past 20 years. These have been a shift from a focus on generating profit to a focus on creating value and a shift in the notion of the brand from something that exists in the minds of consumers to something that exists in the experiences of different stakeholders. This is no less true of financial services than any other service sector. In the UK, the Operating and Financial Review proposes that all quoted companies introduce a new section in their annual report and accounts from 2005 (now delayed to 2006) to place a greater emphasis on the importance of ‘intangible, largely human assets’. This should not be interpreted by businesses as another imposition by government but as an opportunity to develop a much better understanding of the nature of the intangible assets of the business and how these work to create value. Accountancy is rooted in a tangible way of thinking but is ill-equipped to understand the nature of intangible equity which is where the real drivers of value creation lie. The author posits a new notion of brand energy as a starting point for rethinking how businesses really work to create value in the unceasingly intangible business world. The illustrations given are all from the UK, but the trends in thinking are essentially global and the points made could apply to any country.     

The make-buy decision in marketing financial services for poverty alleviation

In this article, we suggest how poverty reduction can be achieved through alleviation measures that enable the poor to satisfy their needs by focusing on the needs of others. Instead of a direct focus on the consumption needs of the poor, we suggest an indirect approach to satisfying these needs, by providing the poor with credit and consulting services for entrepreneurial businesses that focus on the needs of buyers. Loans to the poor who lack collateral are increasingly based on group lending techniques that rely on joint liability to secure repayment, which have come to be known as microfinance. We suggest that in addition to credit, financial services for the poor must include strategic advice and assistance to select markets, and make the products (goods and services) for sale in their output markets with the financial services bought in their input markets. Financial services for the poor must include not only money to invest in a business but also consulting services to help the business succeed. The provision of consulting services will also facilitate monitoring and enforcement, increasing loan repayment. Depending on poverty levels, the extent of bundling credit and consulting services will vary with one or more organizations emerging to meet the needs of different segments. We suggest that poverty alleviation is achieved by the poor focusing on the needs of others in their output market, and outsourcing financial services to one or more suppliers in their input markets.