Private transnational governance in the heyday of the nation‐state: the Council of European Industrial Federations (CEIF)1

This article examines an example of private transnational governance in the first decades after the Second World War: the Council of European Industrial Federations (CEIF), created in 1949 by the peak‐level trade associations in western Europe. Based on this case, the article takes issue with two predominant views in the current literature: a view that sees the European integration process, at least in its early stages, as driven largely by nation‐states and political agendas; and another view, widespread among business and economic historians, that contacts between business associations at that time served the main purpose of re‐establishing international cartels. The CEIF actually performed a wide variety of functions: it represented organized business at international events and in organizations, acted as a multilateral arena for the exchange of information and for building trust among the businesspeople of various European countries, and, from 1958 onwards, helped bridge the divide between those inside and those outside the Common Market. On occasions, for example, in the case of export incentives, it even managed to forge a consensus for policy action when national governments were unable to agree.     

数字经济对公司治理的影响——基于信息不对称和管理者非理性行为视角

企业数字经济化是指企业利用新兴技术进行产业升级转型的过程,具有跨界融合、创新驱动、重塑结构和广泛连接等特征,它改变了原有的商业模式。基于A股上市公司2013-2018年数据的实证研究发现,企业数字经济化程度越高,公司治理水平越高。路径分析显示,企业数字经济化通过降低信息不对称程度和管理者决策行为的非理性程度提高了公司治理水平。本研究对推动企业数字经济化发展、提高公司治理效率和优化管理者决策行为具有一定参考价值。     

“Post‐Truth,” “Alternative Facts” and “Fakenomics”

South African companies are accused of hoarding profits to accumulate large amounts of “idle” cash, as well as of being the perpetrators of massive illegal capital flight. This paper argues that much of the claimed corporate cash is either offshore or belongs to banks. It reminds that bank deposits increase when companies borrow, not when they retain profits. It shows, too, that measures of massive capital flight actually reflect data errors. Exaggerating, through faulty methodology the extent to which companies have cash or may be involved in illegal capital flight is unhelpful. It exacerbates already‐fraught government‐business relations, and complicates the search for solutions to South Africa's economic problems.     

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SYNCHRONISATION OF BUSINESS CYCLES FOR DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING ECONOMIES WITH THE WORLD BUSINESS CYCLE

Globalisation brought about worldwide changes, including economic and financial integration between countries. The objective of this paper is to establish if there is synchronisation between developed and developing countries with the world cycle. Research results show that business cycles have become less volatile after globalisation, but there is not much consensus on whether business cycles have become less or more synchronised since globalisation. Little research has been done on co‐movement between emerging markets, such as South Africa, and the world business cycle. This paper derives common factors for developed and developing countries by applying principal component analysis (PCA) to output, consumption and investment data, which represents the countries' business cycles. The empirical analysis shows co‐movement between some countries and the world business cycle (G7 countries as proxy). The results suggest that there are idiosyncratic and globally common shocks, which play different roles over time in different countries. The paper goes on to suggest that there are clear differences in how developed and emerging markets co‐move with the world business cycle. A key finding is that the co‐movement between developing economies and the world business cycle has increased since globalisation. This research also confirms previous research that most economies follow the world business cycle when large shocks – such as the recent economic downturn – occur. This has implications for forecasting the business cycle, especially in times of economic turmoil.     

企业独特能力对战略选择过程的影响机理研究

企业独特能力与竞争优势关系的研究是战略管理研究的重要内容,它不仅是公司竞争优势的来源,还可能成为战略选择过程的阻力。文章通过企业独特能力对战略选择过程影响的实证研究发现,在企业进行新战略业务投资时,企业独特能力对实现的战略存在显著的正向影响;在企业从核心业务撤资时,独特能力对实现的战略存在显著的负向影响,即与独特能力一致的提案或项目会得到操作层的定义和中间层的推动,否则,会阻碍提案得到公司层的承诺。     

我国企业社会责任绩效评价体系的构建

目前我国对企业经济绩效评价方面的研究己经比较成熟,但对企业社会责任绩效的研究处于起步阶段,所取得的相关方面的成果也比较少.这在一定程度上影响了我们对企业社会责任绩效的全面和系统的评价.近些年国外对企业绩效评价的研究已经日渐聚焦到企业社会责任绩效评价领域.因此,文章在借鉴国内外有关企业社会责任绩效评价模式的基础上,试图建立适合我国国情的企业社会责任绩效评价体系.     

The Three Hurdles of Tax Planning: How Business Context,Aims of Tax Planning,and Tax Manager Power Affect Tax Expense

The question of why some companies pay fewer taxes than others is a widely investigated topic of interest. One of the well‐known explanations is a phenomenon called tax avoidance. We develop a grounded theory model of influences on corporate tax planning through a series of 19 in‐depth German tax expert interviews. Our research identifies three independent hurdles in the tax planning process, which can help to explain different levels of tax expense across companies. Those three hurdles sequentially address which tax planning methods are available (defined by business characteristics), desirable (given via aims of tax planning), and implementable (determined by tax manager power). A large part of previous research has estimated the influence of firm characteristics, which we incorporate in the broader term business characteristics, on tax expense, while the other influences that we identify have largely been left “out of the equation.” In the light of the current public debates on tax avoidance, we reveal two important findings: First, we find that companies vary widely in the aggressiveness of their aims of tax planning, which contrasts sharply with the picture often drawn by undifferentiated media reports. Second, tax managers can assume very different levels of power in their organization. The implementation of desirable tax planning methods varies depending on this level of tax manager power. In conclusion, our three‐hurdle grounded theory provides generalizable insights into important influences on corporate tax planning which help to explain the observed variation in tax expenses across firms.     

Blonde and blue‐eyed? Globalizing beauty,c.1945–c.19801

This article examines the globalization of the beauty industry between 1945 and 1980. This industry grew quickly. Firms employed marketing and marketing strategies to diffuse products and brands internationally, despite business, economic, and cultural obstacles to globalization. The process was difficult and complex. The globalization of toiletries proceeded faster than cosmetics, skin care, and hair care. By 1980, strong differences remained among consumer markets. Although American influence was strong, it was already evident that globalization had not resulted in the creation of a stereotyped American blonde and blue‐eyed female beauty ideal as the world standard, although it had significantly narrowed the range of variation in beauty and hygiene ideals.     

Analysis of Brexit and its policy lessons for Asian integration

Galvanised by the devastation of the Second World War, European countries achieved a historically unprecedented and unparalleled level of regional economic integration in the post-war period. Intensive cooperation between the two biggest powers of continental Western Europe, France and Germany, lay at the core of Europe's seemingly relentless momentum towards integration, crystallised by the European Union (EU). The Franco-German alliance also provided strong eadership and sense of direction for the EU, which gained further traction with the admission of Central and Eastern European states after the fall of communism and the establishment of a monetary union among many of its members. However, more recently, the European integration process no longer seems unstoppable or inevitable. Most shockingly, the United Kingdom, a core EU member and the EU's third largest economy, has opted to leave the union, triggering the ‘Brexit’ process. Nor is Brexit the only sign of growing fractures within the EU. The current standoff between the EU and Italy over Italy's unwillingness to rein in its fiscal deficit is just one additional example of the loss of momentum. The central objective of the paper is to examine EU's past successes and current problems from the perspective of Asian countries, in particular ASEAN+3 countries that have achieved some measure of integration, although well below that of the EU. Both past successes and current problems hold valuable lessons for ASEAN+3 countries as they chart their own course towards regional integration. Given that the level of integration among ASEAN+3 is much lower than that of the EU, it would be unwise to draw lessons, positive or negative, without the proper context. Nevertheless, the European experience can provide valuable insights for Asia's integration process.     

品牌社会责任及其对可持续发展的影响

品牌已成为企业社会责任的现实承担者,而企业社会责任就是基于品牌的社会责任。品牌社会责任是指一个品牌在特定的社会文化背景中与其所有的利益相关者之间的关系互动过程中所展现出的社会责任履行满足社会期望的程度,其主要维度包含经济责任、法律责任、道德责任、慈善责任与关系责任等。品牌社会责任对可持续发展的影响包括经由重塑消费习惯所产生的核心影响与经由重建企业利益相关者的责任价值体系与行为规范所发挥的网络影响。     

我国家族式企业治理机制的优化

家族式企业自产生以来始终在世界经济活动中扮演着重要的角色,家族式企业不仅在中小企业,而且在一些大型的跨国公司中也居重要的地位。通过对家族式企业的公司治理特征的分析,可以认为,与一般的企业相比家族式企业具有特殊的治理效率,同时家族治理模式也有负面作用,需要突破家族式企业发展的局限向现代企业制度过渡。     

家族企业转型的对策研究

针对企业内部机制与外部制度环境如何共同影响家族企业社会化进程的问题,文章首先使用金融经济学的模型,从理论层面分析家族企业的演进趋势;进而借鉴法律金融论的代表人物LLSV等观点,基于广东民营家族企业发展所处的金融环境与法律环境,分析了两种外部制度环境对家族企业转型的影响;最后从政策层面提出了基于内源融资型和外延融资型企业的转型以及不同类型公司经营管理模式选择的几点建议.     

The age of (Western) European integration: A history of trial and error

Summary In this article the process of post-war European integration has been analyzed against the background of an explanation of the Council of Europe in 1950 that political and economic unification should be developed simultaneously. History shows that in order to realize this objective, the gradualist approach believing primarily in a functional economic integration was preferred to the more radical method of taking immediate steps towards a full political union. The establishment of the European Communities formed the embodiment of the gradualist approach. Though these Communities — and the European Economic Community in particular - have fostered economic and monetary cooperation between the Western European countries, they could not, however, take the necessary steps towards the political ideal due to different views of the member states regarding the process of European integration. With the Treaty of Maastricht, coming into force on 1 November 1993, a new European élan has been born but the question posed by the Council in 1950 still has to be solved. One of the main lessons of European integration in the past fifty years may well be that economic and monetary unification will not proceed without some kind of prompting of a political nature.Historical section of the Econometric Reseach and Special Studies Department of De Nederlandsche Bank NV, Amsterdam. The author is indebted to Willem Boeschotcn, martin M.G. Fase, Nico van Horn, and Joke Mooij for thier valuable comments. All errors and opinions arc mine.     

Corporate citizenship education for responsible business leaders

Corporate scandals, concerns about global warming and the continued abuse of natural and human resources by business demand a critical reflection and redefinition of global leadership. Management education in general and corporate citizenship education in particular are claimed to play a crucial role in reassessing what responsible business practice entails. There are several initiatives to ensure that businesses act more responsibly. Legislation and enforcement are foundational components of any strategy to counter the erosion in corporate ethics and the abuse of natural and human resources, but this is not enough. Education and training can play an important role in shaping responsible business and citizen behaviour. Corporate citizenship education should include not only acquiring a working knowledge of applicable legislation but also interrogating the complex challenges and paradoxes business leaders face. This article explores the role corporate citizenship education plays in a global redefinition of responsible business leadership.     

The Link between Institutional and Economic Integration: Insights for Latin America from the European Experience

The European experience illustrates that institutional integration interacts with economic integration at the regional level. In this paper we ask how economic and institutional integration are linked and whether there is a causal link between the two. We present an original indicator of institutional integration and study how it developed vis-à-vis diverse measures of economic integration. In particular, we ask what insights can be drawn from the European process of regional integration, which started in the 1950s, for regional integration in Latin America today. We find that Latin America is currently less economically integrated not only than the European Union today, but for certain economic variables even than the European Union in the 1960s. A VAR analysis illustrates that the link between institutional and economic integration has worked both ways throughout the European experience. There is also evidence that stronger institutional integration has indeed led to deeper economic integration.     

正在兴起的日本公司重构及其效果分析

以美国大企业为代表的全球性公司重构是近20年来国际企业管理领域的一个重要趋势，其直接结果是美国企业国际竞争力重居世界第一。反观日本，受内外环境的压力，近年来许多大公司陆续开始重构。但是通过比较研究，从日本的传统企业制度、持续的低经济增长、更加激烈的全球竞争和难以承受的企业债务等方面分析，日本公司重构面临着巨大的压力。与美国及欧洲国家的公司相比，日本的公司重构基本上是被动的、迟缓的，其重构的效果如何仍需拭目以待。     

Above board? Interlocking directorates and corporate contagion in 1980s Australia

The 1980s were an outrageous time in Australia's business history. This paper re-examines this era of misconduct, assessing the role of interlocking directorates for corporate governance of diversified business groups. Professional interlocked executives—those with professional training, executive status and mobility between member firms—enabled the takeover culture of the time, and allowed managers to ignore promised strategic benefits and redirect associated firms towards speculative share ownership. These results demonstrate the importance of board independence for corporate governance, and the way that expertise has been weaponised within managerial capitalism to encourage trust in risky and exploitative corporate structures.     

Corporate Networks and Business Groups in Argentina in the Early 1970s

This article examines the interlocking directorates' structure of prominent Argentine business groups at the end of the import substitution period (1970–72), identifying corporate relations among and between business groups and the largest companies, during a period characterised by high institutional and macroeconomic instability. Applying social network analysis, it seeks to clarify how business groups can contribute to the cohesion of a corporate network structure, through their ability to create links among firms not only within their boundaries but also external to them. The article contributes to both corporate network and business groups' literature, highlighting a role of business groups that extant literature has failed to identify as relevant.     

长三角地区上市公司社会责任与公司绩效关系研究

本文以长三角地区374家上市公司2007～2009年3年年度报表相关数据为样本,使用统计软件SPSS进行分析,利用因子分析和回归分析研究了企业社会责任和经营绩效之间的关系,结果表明企业对股东,对政府、股东和债权人的责任与经营绩效存在正相关关系;但是对员工的责任与经营绩效存在负相关关系。