Environmental Policy in the Nordic Wood Product Industry: Insights Into Firms’ Strategies and Communication

The purpose of our study is to explore how companies operating in the Nordic wood products value chains currently use environmental performance measures in their environmental policy and communication with stakeholders. Apart from the regularly‐used environmental management certificates, the ability of wood material to store carbon and the use of sustainable forest management certificates open up interesting strategic options for firms in the implementation of their environmental policy. The primary was collected through thematic managerial interviews in 2011 from 37 companies in Finland, Sweden and Norway, of varying size, roles in the value chain, conditions for green business practices and exports. Forest certification and environmental management systems were frequently used, but managers did not always perceive them to be useful, particularly for raising environmental awareness at the final consumer level. Nevertheless, the general attitude towards using environmental performance measures was seen as positive. Companies with a business‐to‐business orientation were the most proactive in terms of environmental communication, whereas companies in consumer markets were more reactive. The key stakeholders targeted for environmental communication were value chain partners and the authorities, and only to a lesser degree employees and environmental non‐governmental organisations. The key strategic role of environmental management and communication appeared to be securing the firms against negative environmental claims. The Nordic wood industry could improve their communication if the strategic orientation is shifted from the forest certification to the use of generic eco‐labels, and most of all, to the adoption of quantitative measures like carbon footprints and environmental product declarations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Can group identity explain the gender gap in the recruitment process?

Despite evidence that the gender gap in the labour market favours men, aggregate findings from correspondence studies show that women are more likely than men to be invited for a job interview. We hypothesize that the predominance of women among recruiters may explain this somewhat puzzling finding; recruiters may favour applicants of their own gender. We use the data from a large-scale correspondence study to test this hypothesis. As expected, we find that female applicants are more likely to receive callbacks for interview. We also see that in our sample the majority of contact persons responsible for the recruitment process are female. More importantly, we find that if recruiter and applicant are of the same gender, then the likelihood that the applicant will be invited for an interview increases. These findings reveal the gender favouritism at the selection stage in the labour market.     

DEFENCE AND NON‐DEFENCE SPENDING IN THE USA: STIMULI TO ECONOMIC GROWTH? COMPARATIVE FINDINGS FROM A SEMIPARAMETRIC APPROACH

Given its significant policy implications, the nexus between public expenditures and economic growth has been the subject of an extensive and often emotive theoretical and empirical debate. In this paper, a semiparametric model is used to explore the link between GDP and defence and non‐defence government spending in the USA over the period 1929–2009. Evidence reported herein indicates that the latter represents a greater stimulus vis‐à‐vis the former.     

Is hedging successful at reducing financial risk exposure?

This article analyses whether firms use risk management instruments for hedging or speculative purposes. First, by analysing the relationship between the firm’s stock returns and financial risks in 567 Euronext firms, we measure the firm’s exposure to risk. Next, we investigate the effect of hedging in such exposures, addressing simultaneously the endogeneity of hedging decision through a treatment effect methodology. We have found that firms in our sample display higher percentages of exposure, when weighed against preceding studies, and confirmed that hedging reduces the level of the underlying financial exposure, concluding that firms use risk management instruments with hedging purposes.     

Parental Leave Policy and Gender Equality in Europe

This article uses data from 2008–10 to analyze parental leave policies in twenty-one European countries and their influence on men's behavior. It examines entitlement characteristics, such as nontransferability, duration, payment, compulsory period, and other policies to assess their effect on the proportion of leave men use out of the total parental leave in each country. The findings, which suggest that a large majority of men take nontransferable and highly paid leave, and a small minority take other types, provide the basis for developing the Parental Leave Equality Index (PLEI). PLEI ranks countries by the degree to which parental leave policies reinforce or diminish the gendered division of labor. Results indicate that although Iceland's parental leave policies do the most to advance gender equity, no country has equal, nontransferable, and well-paid leave for each parent. This policy arrangement would be a precondition to men's and women's equal participation in childcare.