The UK supermarket industry: an analysis of corporate social and financial performance

In a previous paper (Moore, 2001), the headline findings from a study of social and financial performance over three years of eight firms in the UK supermarket industry were reported. These were based on the derivation of a 16‐measure social performance index and a 4‐measure financial performance index. This paper discusses the formulationof the indices and then reports on: discussions with two supermarket firms concerning the overall results; inter‐relationships between individual financial performance measures; inter‐relationships between individual social performance measures; stakeholder group analysis; and inter‐relationships between turnover, age and gearing with social performance measures. The paper discusses these inter‐relationships, incorporating comments from the interviews with the two supermarket firms, and reports on both factor and cluster analysis. The interviews lend support for Preston and O’Bannon’s (1997) Available Funding Hypothesis in both its positive and negative form. The findings show that there are individual or combinations of related measures that could be used as surrogate measures for social and financial performance, instead of deriving a full index. However, the recommendation is that a full index continues to be used until there is further corroboration of these results. The findings also provide statistically significant support for the Negative Synergy Hypothesis (Preston and O’Bannon, 1997), show a statistically significant association between pre‐tax profits (both lagged and contemporaneous) with community contributions, and show that all statistically significant associations between individual social performance measures are positive – suggesting that they are mutually reinforcing. The association of size with social performance, noted in the previous paper, is also reinforced. Findings in relation to the proportion of women managers and the number of women on the Board and positive associations with other social and environmental performance measures raise interesting gender issues for business ethics. Factor analysis leads to no clear conclusions but cluster does show two or three clear clusters of firms, where size would seem to be the main but not sole factor. Further areas of research are noted.     

Organizational attention to corporate social responsibility and corporate social performance: the moderating effects of corporate governance

Many studies have explored the antecedents of corporate social performance (CSP), such as institutional forces and stakeholder pressures. However, few studies examine CSP from a socio‐cognitive perspective. To address this research void, this study adopts an attention‐based approach to examine the relationship between managers' attention to social issues and CSP. More important, this study reports that this relationship will be moderated by governance mechanisms that constrain managerial discretion. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms, this study provides empirical support for these arguments. Therefore, our study adds new insights to the literature addressing CSP from a socio‐cognitive perspective and speaks to the structural features, both inside and outside organizations, that guide managers' attention.     

The Chief Executive Officer and corporate social performance: An interdisciplinary examination

This paper attempts to cross the disciplinary boundaries of strategic management and social issues management to demonstrate the relationship between managerial characteristics and corporate social performance (CSP). Drawing on studies in strategic leadership research we develop and test hypotheses about linkages between top management attributes and different levels of CSP. Our results add credence to the argument that organizations are a reflection of their top managers, and encourage further systematic research of the influence of key executives in developing and implementing socially responsible policies and programs.Dr Anisya S. Thomas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and International Business at Florida International University. She received her Ph.D in Strategic Management. She has published in a variety of journals includingStrategic Management Journal, the Journal of Management and theJournal of Strategic Change. Dr Thomas's research interests include social responsibility, strategic leadership and international management.Dr Roy Simerly is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at East Carolina University. His research focuses on network organizations and corporate social responsibility. Dr. Simerly is an active member of the Academy of Management and has published in journals such as theJournal of Business Strategy.     

浅谈企业财务控制

有效的财务控制是企业生存和发展的关键.本文从完善公司治理结构,创建良好的控制环境;以人为本,加强企业文化建设;实行全面预算控制;建立业绩考核和评价体系;加强内部审计五个方面,阐述了加强企业财务控制的具体措施.     

Working capital management,corporate performance,and financial constraints

This paper examines the linkage between working capital management and corporate performance for a sample of non-financial UK companies. In contrast to previous studies, the findings provide strong support for an inverted U-shaped relation between investment in working capital and firm performance, which implies the existence of an optimal level of investment in working capital that balances costs and benefits and maximizes a firm's value. The results suggest that managers should avoid negative effects on firm performance because of lost sales and lost discounts for early payments or additional financing expenses. The paper also analyzes whether the optimal working capital level is sensitive to alternative measures of financial constraints. The findings show that this optimum is lower for firms more likely to be financially constrained.     

Firm performance,corporate ownership,and corporate social responsibility disclosure in China

The existing literature provides conflicting results on the association between firm performance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure. This paper empirically examines the effect of firm performance on CSR disclosure in terms of disclosure frequency and quality among Chinese listed firms and the possible mediating effect of corporate ownership on the relationship between firm performance and CSR disclosure. Our findings show that better‐performing firms are more likely than worse‐performing ones to disclose CSR information and to produce higher quality CSR reports. In addition, the link between firm performance and CSR disclosure is found to be weaker among state‐owned enterprises compared with non‐state‐owned ones.     

Disparate association between alliance social capital and the global pharmaceutical firm's performance

Some literature suggests that three dimensions of social capital—such as information volume, diversity and richness—have positive association with the firm's performance. However, these constructs and their implications cannot be taken for granted because they may not produce similar results in all contextual settings. The article develops and tests associations between dimensions of social capital and organizational performance in a multidimensional network system. This study provides an analysis on 252 pharmaceutical firms. The analysis shows disparate but insightful results. First, there is a positive association between information volume and the firm's performance. Second, there is a negative association between information diversity and the firm's performance. Third, there is no significant association between information richness and the firm's performance. Therefore, different dimensions of social capital had different links with the firm's performance. The paper provides some explanation and implications of these findings.     

The practice of corporate social performance in minority- versus nonminority-owned small businesses

This study compares corporate social performance in terms of charitable contributions of minority-owned and nonminority-owned small businesses. In this sample, minority-owned small businesses are younger, have less full-time employees, and lower annual sales. Minority-owned small businesses donate more funds to religious organizations than nonminority-owned small businesses. When annual sales are accounted for, minority-owned businesses contribute more total dollars to all charitable organizations than nonminority-owned firms. Suggestions for future research in this area are delineated.Judith Kenner Thompson is an Assistant Professor of Business and Society at the University of New Mexico. Her work has appeared inResearch in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, Business Forum, and theJournal of Small Business Management.Jacqueline N. Hood is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of New Mexico. Her current research interests include gender issues in business, small business and entrepreneurship, and corporate social performance.     

Institutional ownership of stock and dimensions of corporate social performance: An empirical examination

Collectively, institutions own an increasing proportion of outstanding corporate equities. As an emergent force in shaping corporate America, the linkages between institutional ownership and corporate social performance (CSP) require empirical examination. Not only do corporate policy makers need to know those areas where social performance may lure or inhibit capital infusions, lawmakers also need a better understanding of the social forces guiding corporate policy. As anticipated, this study found a positive relationship between the amount of institutional ownership of corporate stock and a company's social responsiveness as measured by the representation of women on its board of directors; however, no statistically significant relationship with social responsibility as measured by charitable giving was found. The exemplar of social issues management — compliance with the Sullivan principles — showed an unexpected, negative relationship with the level of institutional ownership.Betty S. Coffey's research interests are in the area of strategic management, organizational change, and social issues.Gerald E. Fryxell is Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His current research interests are in the area of corporate culture, innovation, and strategic management.     

Acceptability of operations as an indicator of corporate social performance

There has been much theoretical debate on issues of business ethics during the last decades, but there has been little research which could concretise the content of these issues in terms of practical business. Although business life must frequently deal with concepts such as corporate social performance, business ethics and the acceptability of operations, the content and meaning of these concepts has remained flexible. In addition, rapid internationalisation and globalisation have introduced a number of new phenomena related to corporate social performance. An attempt at defining the concepts more precisely and searching for a potential indicator was considered necessary in order to concretise the business environment facing corporations engaged in internationalisation and globalisation. The connection between corporate social performance and stakeholder theory provides a basis for the proposal put forward here that acceptability of operation could be employed as an indicator of corporate social performance. This approach was then applied to developing a model which could be used to assess corporate social performance.     

浅谈公司治理对企业社会责任的影响

文章从公司的治理研究入手,详细的分析了企业社会责任与公司治理的关系,并有效地进行了内部和外部的治理机制验证,得到企业社会责任的进一步升华.     

The impact of corporate governance on financial control

This study explores the impact of corporate governance on financial control by studying manufacture industry. Results show that factors such as the percentage of shares held by the controlling shareholder, independent directors system, and the degree of activeness of the board of directors all have marked influences on financial control. Suggestions for financial management improvement are also discussed.     

Triple bottom-line reporting as social grammar: integrating corporate social responsibility and corporate codes of conduct

This paper argues that many objections against, and limitations of, corporate codes of conduct can be addressed if a meaningful integration can be established between CSR and ethics management practices within corporations. It is proposed that the notion of the triple bottom-line finally presents corporations with a mechanism to establish this integration. The paper draws on the second South African King Report on Corporate Governance, which succeeded in integrating corporate governance, ethics management and triple bottom-line reporting by advocating what it called 'Integrated Sustainability'. The paper argues that this is an example of how ethics management initiatives like code development become more meaningful, if they can be related to the corporation's CSR initiatives and reporting practices. Integration between ethics management and CSR in the context of triple bottom-line reporting reframes corporate success in a way that makes both ethics management and CSR activities more meaningful. In fact, it is argued that in the absence of a social grammar that establishes this integration, neither codes nor CSR can foster meaningful organizational integrity.     

The impact structure of social capital on corporate performance: Empirical evidence from listed companies in China

Vertical relationships with the government, particular relational capital and organizational social network capital, constitute corporate social capital (CSC). Using the empirical data of 97 listed companies in China, this paper examines the impact of CSC on corporate performance, finds that CSC has a positive impact on sales revenue but an insignificant impact on the improvement of ROA. More specifically, when a firm enlarges its sales revenue, the function of organizational network capital is stronger than that of a particular relational capital and that of governmental connections. The paper also finds that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have more advantages in using governmental connections, therefore leading to better social status than non-SOEs do, who have fewer advantages in using any particular relational capital. The article suggests that managers should appraise carefully the effectiveness of CSC, and combine it with other resources; firms should distinguish the structure of the impact of CSC on performance improvement in a dynamic way. With respect to the implication of this paper, it could help in analyzing firm behaviors in the transitional China. Translated from paper in International Symposium on Entrepreneur Research and Education, 2006, April (in Chinese)     

The valdez principles: Implications for corporate social responsibility

The Valdez Principles have been formulated to guide and evaluate corporate conduct towards the environment. While at first glance the code appears to impose enormous new responsibilities on firms, a closer analysis indicates that existing regulations and business practices already require businesses to meet many of the environmental goals sought by its proponents. Likely corporate response to the code is examined against this background and with reference to the experience with other voluntary codes of conduct. It would appear that compliance with the code will yield minimal benefits and non-compliance will impose minimum costs for the environmentally-responsible firm.Joao S. Neves is Associate Professor of Management at Trenton State College where he teaches various courses in Management. A graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Neves has numerous publications in academic and trade journals. His interests include corporate social responsibility and he has contributed to many conferences. Rajib N. Sanyal teaches international management and human resource management at Trenton State College in Trenton, New Jersey. He obtained his Ph. D. from Georgia State University-Atlanta. His writings can be found in International Journal of Value-Based Management, Journal of International Business Studies, and Labor Studies Journal, among others.