Formal vs. Informal CSR Strategies: Evidence from Italian Micro, Small, Medium-sized, and Large Firms

Recent research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) suggests the need for further exploration into the relationship between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and CSR. SMEs rarely use the language of CSR to describe their activities, but informal CSR strategies play a large part in them. The goal of this article is to investigate whether differences exist between the formal and informal CSR strategies through which firms manage relations with and the claims of their stakeholders. In this context, formal CSR strategies seem to characterize large firms while informal CSR strategies prevail among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. We use a sample of 3,626 Italian firms to investigate our research questions. Based on a multi-stakeholder framework, the analysis provides evidence that small businesses’ use of CSR, involving strategies with an important impact on the bottom line, reflects an attempt to secure their license to operate in the communities; while large firms rarely make attempts to integrate their CSR strategies into explicit management systems.     

Made in Europe: Small Companies

This is the third report on the 'Made in Europe' research programme. Earlier reports concentrated on the maturity of implementation of 'best practice' in both the design and manufacturing processes of larger European companies. Here, the authors shift the focus to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) particularly in Britain and Italy. While few SMEs are in the world-class category, small company practices are customer-oriented, responsiveness-focused and concerned with new products. SMEs' competitive edge typically comes from speed, responsiveness and closeness to customers. SMEs exhibit a greater level of confidence than larger companies in their ability to make change, but neglect training and education. Within the SME sector there are sharp differences between micro (5–20 employees), small (21–50) and medium-sized (51–200) companies while those which are subsidiaries of larger companies have significantly higher levels of best practice. There are differences between countries and regions.     

中国A股上市公司社会责任报告研究(2012)

作为一种主要以自愿性为主的信息披露机制,社会责任报告很大程度上是上市公司管理层对公司社会责任信息使用者的选择性披露,也是上市公司与各利益相关方最直接、最有效的沟通工具。上市公司向公众披露社会责任报告,对于促进公众及投资者了解上市公司社会贡献情况,倡导社会责任价值投资具有重要作用。由于特殊的制度背景,如股权结构较为特殊、资本市场信息披露监管不规范、投资者法律保护机制不健全、公司治理机制不完善等,使得中国上市公司社会责任报告信息质量影响因素日趋多元。但对该问题的研究有助于深入了解公司社会责任报告信息、披露背后的深层次动机和策略性行为,进而为制定合理的监管政策或信息决策提供理论依据及     

The Effects of Perceived CSR and Implemented CSR on Job-related Outcomes: An HR Perspective

This research investigates the relative effects of perceived corporate social responsibility (PCSR) and implemented corporate social responsibility (ICSR) on employee work-life satisfaction and employee job satisfaction in Thai workplaces. The data were collected via self-administered questionnaires completed by 1,277 employees in different employment sectors in Thailand. The response rate was 73%. The results reveal that PCSR and ICSR have a positive impact on both work-life satisfaction and job satisfaction. We believe the research contributes significantly to the literature on the subject as the findings further validate results obtained in studies conducted in Western economies.     

Export and Firm Performance: Evidence on Productivity and Profitability of Italian Companies

Empirical research in international trade has shown that exporting firms display higher productivity than their non-exporting competitors. This paper focuses on the relation between export and profitability. Our evidence on Italian exporting firms shows that exporting activity is not systematically associated to higher firm’s profitability. This is shown both by means of non-parametric methods and, with an approach that is more standard within the empirical trade literature, by regression techniques that try to identify an “export premium”.     

The Convergence of Labour Productivity in British and German Industries

When a Galtonian cross-section regression model is used to analyse data on the relative labour productivity of 30 British and German manufacturing industries 1960-1989, it is found that there are strong tendencies for labour productivity in the two countries to converge. This is particularly true for 1960-73 and for 1979-89, when there was Galtonian regression towards the (geometric) mean level of relative productivity. There was no tendency for the relative advantage or disadvantage of an industry to persist over time. When an errors-in-variables model is used, it is found that reverse regression and lagged value instrumental variable estimators do not indicate that the OLS estimators in the Galtonian model are usually biased downwards and in fact confirm the direction of the Galtonian regression.     

The Effect of Management Policies on Plant-Level Productivity: A Longitudinal Study of Three U.S. and Mexican Small Businesses

To determine the influence of various management policies on productivity, various production functions of three small firms in labor-intensive, production-oriented industries are estimated econometrically and compared. Results from modified Cobb–Douglas functions indicate that the most important management-influenced factors are those related to job specialization, asset maintenance and technology policies, and changes in organizational structure. In addition, the results indicate that productivity is significantly related to a firm's overall profitability.     

完善小微企业发展的财税政策建议

近年来,我国在促进小微企业发展方面政策的密度和力度都在不断增大,尤其是财税政策已成为政府一系列支持政策体系中最重要的推动力。但是,受国内外经济环境的影响,小微企业总体运行情况仍相对不乐观。本文结合从中央到地方各级政府出台的有关财税政策主要内容,分析其对小微企业的影响效果,对完善小微企业财税政策提出建议,目的在于为促进小微企业的发展营造更好的财税政策环境。     

Technical Progress and Labour Demand in Swedish Manufacturing Firms

Controlling firms’ sales in the labour demand model, this paper investigates effects of trade and R&D via technical progress on labour demand in a dynamic framework, based on a panel of Swedish manufacturing firms for 1990s. The main results of this study indicate that employment elasticities with respect to different characteristics of firms (wages, total sales, exports and R&D efforts) and industrial import penetration could vary across respective skilled sectors. There is some indication to that import penetration from fourteen ‘old members’ of European Union could induce capital-saving technical progress and result in the rise in demand for labour for firms in medium-low skilled sector, whilst those from the ten ‘new members’ of European Union could induce x-efficiency and labour-saving technical progress for firms in low-skilled sector. Furthermore, the effects of R&D intensity on demand for labour are positive and significant for firms in medium-high-skilled and high-skilled sectors.

超额现金持有的上市公司特质研究——对我国制造业上市公司的实证分析

超额持有现金的上市公司具有什么特质呢?以我国制造业329家上市公司2004—2006年的数据为整体样本,通过界定超额现金持有上市公司,将整体样本分成超额现金持有和非超额现金持有两个子样本,从公司治理、财务方面设计变量对两个子样本进行比较分析。实证结果表明,与非超额现金持有公司相比,超额持有现金公司负债比率要低,长期业绩会变差,现金股利支付比率低,而股东保护度和管理费用率不存在显著差异。     

制造业服务化与全球价值链位置提升--基于制造业企业的分析

近年来,制造业企业通过服务化转型实现了生产效率的提升。本文利用匹配的中国工业企业数据库和中国海关贸易数据库数据,实证分析了制造业企业服务化对制造业企业全球价值链位置的影响。研究发现,制造业企业的服务化显著促进了企业全球价值链位置的提升,这种作用主要通过促进技术创新和提高生产成本两个机制来实现。结合互联网的进一步分析发现,制造业企业通过与互联网深度融合,可以有效提升企业的全球价值链位置。因此,加快制造业企业的服务化转型,推动工业互联网的发展,是中国制造业企业提升全球价值链位置的重要途径。     

The Influence of Internal and External Codes on CSR Practice: The Case of Companies Operating in Serbia

In this article, our aim is to examine the difference between the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice of the multinational companies (MNCs) and of the domestic companies operating in Serbia, as well as the influence of internal self-regulations such as statements of corporate values and codes of conduct, and external self-regulations such as the implementation of the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards on CSR practice. The CSR practice is observed in five CSR areas: employee relations, customer relations, environmental practice, community and social involvement, and transparency in business activity. The findings indicate that the CSR practice of the MNCs is significantly different in comparison to domestic companies only in the area of employee relations. Furthermore, the overall results suggest that internal self-regulations have more influence on CSR practice than the implementation of generic management system standards. However, the existence of transparent corporate values, codes of conduct and implemented management systems according to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards does not prove to be strong predictors of CSR performance.     

贸易自由化对出口产品质量的影响效应——基于中国微观制造业企业的实证研究

本文运用中国进口关税数据、工业企业数据和海关出口数据,就贸易自由化对出口产品质量升级的影响效应展开微观层面的探讨和实证检验。研究结果表明:贸易自由化对靠近世界质量前沿的企业产品质量升级具有积极效应,即规避竞争效应,而对远离世界质量前沿的企业产品质量升级具有消极影响,即气馁效应;从不同企业类型来看,关税减让对国有企业出口产品质量的影响不明显,贸易自由化带来的关税减让无法促使技术和质量水平落后的产品退出市场,资本密集型企业比劳动密集型企业受到规避竞争效应的影响更明显,加工贸易企业产品质量受到关税减让的影响相对较小;其他企业层面的异质性因素中,企业研发投入是最为重要的正向影响因素。     

Cost Flexibility and Firm Size: An Application to Spanish Manufacturing

This paper examines the relationship between flexibility and the size of establishments for Spanish manufacturing industry. This relationship is examined using the Encuesta Industrial, an annual survey which provides manufacturing sectorial information for six size categories over the period 1980–92. The theoretical framework is that proposed by Mills and Schumann (1985 Mills, D.E. and Schumann, L. 1985. Industry structure with fluctuating demand. American Economic Review, 75: 758–67. [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]), finding in the evidence related to technological flexibility and demand fluctuations a greater capacity of small firms to adapt to environmental changes, allowing them, in addition, to resist competition based on costs, such as that stemming from scale economies. The results emerging from the estimations confirm that small establishments show greater production variability, employment variability and profit variability than large establishments. That is to say, small establishments are more flexible than large ones due to their greater capacity to absorb demand fluctuations.     

Drivers of Environmental Behaviour in Manufacturing SMEs and the Implications for CSR

The authors use empirical research into the environmental practices of 31 manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to show that ‚business performance’ and ‚regulation’ considerations drive behaviour. They suggest that this is inevitable, given the market-based decision-making frames that permeate and dominate the industry in which manufacturing SMEs operate. Since the environment is a pillar of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the findings have important implications for CSR policy, which promotes voluntary actions predicated on a business case. It is argued that this approach will not alter the behaviour of manufacturing SMEs significantly because CSR practice will be regarded as an optional and costly ‚extra’ affecting core business activity. Consequently, the use and development of existing regulatory structures, providing minimum standards for many activities covered by CSR, remains the most effective means through which the behaviour of manufacturing SMEs will be changed in the short to medium-term. Another feature of the paper is the distinction made between ‚business performance’ and the ‚business case’ argument. Business performance emphasises cost reductions and efficiency whereas the business case accentuates the benefits to shareholders of good practices as their firms become more attractive to stakeholders and society. Manufacturing SMEs␣try to improve business performance because of the pressures placed on them by market-dominated decision-making frames. These frames do not encourage manufacturing SMEs to undertake voluntary actions for the benefit of wider stakeholders and society.David Williamson is Senior Research Fellow in the area of Corporate and Environmental Responsibility at the School of Law, University of Manchester, UK. He has conducted extensive empirical studies into, and written papers on, the environmental behaviour of small and medium sized enterprises. He is also Chair of INDECO, a national body that coordinates sustainable development work on business parks.Gary Lynch-Wood is a Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Manchester, UK. His research focuses on regulation, particularly the impact that regulation has on small and medium-sized enterprises. He teaches a variety of subjects including regulation, environmental law, corporate responsibility and legal methods. He was a Director of the Centre for Research into Corporate Responsibility and the Environment prior to his move to the University of Manchester. John Ramsay is a Reader at the School of Business and Law, Staffordshire University, UK. He has had a number of careers including a decade spent working in the Purchasing Function of a large British component supplier to the European car industry. He teaches a variety of subjects including South East Asian economic development and Negotiation. He is widely published in the Purchasing field with practitioner papers dating back to the 1970s when he was junior buyer, developing in more recent years into academic work in his research area of Buyer–supplier interaction.     

劳动力成本与全球制造业转移:生产率的角色

在Feenstra-Hanson模型的基础上,建立了一个国际产业转移模型,结果表明:一国的生产率水平决定着该国偏向的产业活动;生产率的增长使得边际产业活动在国家间转移。进一步用《世界投入产出数据库》(2016版)的数据对2000—2014年期间不同国家的单位劳动成本和全要素生产率进行比较,并分别检验了生产率水平和生产率增长在全球制造业分工和转移过程中的作用,发现随着时间的推移,经验结论越来越符合理论模型的推测。在新一轮全球制造业转移过程中,应把推动生产率增长放在首要位置,把握智能制造机遇,优化资源配置机制,培育高素质人才,激发创新创业活力。     

Trade,Tariffs and Total Factor Productivity: The Case of Spanish Firms

The aim of this paper is to examine the sensitivity of total factor productivity (TFP) to foreign competition in the case of a European country. Using the Olley and Pakes method, we calculate the TFP of Spanish manufacturing firms and study the impact of EU tariffs and the presence of foreign products and imports on TFP at the firm level. Applying the System‐GMM method, we find that TFP is negatively impacted by European tariffs, whereas competition in the form of the increased presence of foreign products in the domestic market and firm imports leads to improvements in the TFP. Moreover, these two effects are complementary. We also find evidence of important asymmetries among firms depending on their involvement in foreign markets.     

我国供应链环节中制造业生产率测度模型研究

采用不变弹性生产函数法测算全要素生产率,引入完全市场竞争和生产者均衡的假设,利用资本价格、劳动力价格、劳动和资本投入及产出回归估计出分配系数、替代参数和生产弹性μ的值,从而确定不变弹性生产函数的方程式。采用1993-2006年制造业的相关数据,测算出中国制造业的生产率。     

Product Differentiation and Process R&D: The Trade-off Between Quality and Productivity in the Spanish Firm

This paper proposes a theoretical model in which the incentives that product differentiation exercises on process innovation are established. The resulting quadratic relationship determines a point beyond which a trade-off between these two variables exists. The estimations based on a panel data of Spanish manufacturing firms confirm this result. Moreover, firm size seems to play a important role on process innovation only for those firms with a certain degree of product differentiation. For the rest, the degree of differentiation of rival firms is the relevant variable.