Making benefits work

Finn, D. 1996: MAKING BENEFITS WORK: EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMMES AND JOB CREATION MEASURES. Manchester: Centre for Local Economic Strategies, £15.00 Pamphlet.     

Trade union participation in CSR deliberation: an evaluation

Whereas there has been considerable interest in the concept of political corporate social responsibility (CSR), trade unions have been largely omitted from such scholarly discussion. This article explores the potential of trade unions as the other in political CSR and the contribution of trade unions to deliberative democracy with the firm. We discuss the importance both of the legitimacy and the efficacy of the other in political CSR. We proceed to assess trade unions as legitimate and effective deliberative partners with the firm towards CSR, evaluating the contribution of trade unions to deliberative democracy and also the potential outcomes for trade unions in adopting this role.     

The Governance of Corporate Responses to Climate Change: An International Comparison

In response to pressures from governments, investors, non‐governmental organizations and other stakeholders, many large corporations have adopted a variety of carbon and energy management practices, taken action to reduce their emissions and set targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Using the case of international retailers, this article examines whether, and under what conditions, non‐state actors might be capable of assuming the governance roles that have historically been played by national governments. This article concludes that external governance pressures can, if they are aligned, robust and of sufficient duration, have a significant influence on internal governance processes and on corporate strategies and actions. However, the specific actions that are taken by companies – in particular those that require significant capital investments – are constrained by the ‘business case’. That is, companies will generally only invest capital in situations when there is a clear financial case (i.e. where the benefits outweigh the costs, when the rate of return meets or exceeds company targets) for action. That is, the extent to which external governance pressures can force companies to take action, in particular challenging or transformative actions that go beyond the boundaries of the business case, is not at all clear. This is particularly the case if the business case weakens, or if the opportunities for incremental change are exhausted. In that context, the power of non‐state actors to force them to consider radical changes in their business processes and their use of energy therefore seems to be very limited. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Business Strategy and the Environment published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Union commitment and participation among Hong Kong firefighters: a development of an integrative model

This paper examines the factors influencing members' intent to participate in their union, drawing on a study of Hong Kong firefighters. As in Western studies, the main direct predictor of intent to participate is affective union commitment, but instrumentality is a relatively more important antecedent of affective union commitment and participation than in the Western studies. We found some evidence of frustration-aggression effects on intent to participate in ‘militant’ and ‘general’ union activities, although the latter was significant only among individuals who perceive management–employee relations as co-operative and trusting.     

Book reviews

MARKETING BUDGETING by Nigel Piercy (Croom Helm, 1986) 522 pages, £27.50 hb. ISBN 0–7099–2092‐X.

STATISTICS FOR MARKETING by Leslie W. Rodger (McGraw‐Hill, London, 1984), 280 pages, £10.95. ISBN 0–07–084728–2.

ANALYSIS FOR STRATEGIC MARKET DECISIONS by George S. Day (West Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minnesota, 1986), ISBN 0–314–85227–1.

MARKETING FOR THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY by Norman Fisher (Longman, Harlow, Essex, 1986), 270 pages, £19.95 HB. ISBN 0–582–503302.

SOURCES OF UNOFFICIAL UK STATISTICS by David A. Mort and Leona Siddall (Gower Publishing Co., 1985), 457 pages, £45.00. ISBN 0–566–02620–1.

HOTEL & FOOD SERVICE MARKETING by Francis Buttle (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, London, 1986) 406 pages, £9.95. ISBN 0–03–910682–9.

POSITIONING: THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND by Al Ries and Jack Trout, first edition revised (McGraw‐Hill, New York, 1986), 213 pages, £17.95 hardcover. ISBN 0–07–065264–3.

BUSINESS WARGAMES by Barrie G. James (Abacus Press, Tunbridge Wells, 1984), 254 pp., £14.95. ISBN 0–85626–441–5.     

Book reviews

The Internationalization of the Firm edited by Peter J. Buckley and Pervez Ghauri (Academic Press, London, 1993). 371 pages. £16.95. ISBN 0 566 02516 7.

Practical Marketing Research by Neil B. Holbert and Mark W. Speece (Prentice‐Hall, Í993). 302 pages. Paperback £16.95. ISBN 0 13 145954 6.     

Cultural practices and life insurance consumption: An international analysis using GLOBE scores

This cross-disciplinary study examines how national culture practice affects cross-country variations in life insurance consumption. To proxy for national culture dimensions, we use the refined measure of the GLOBE project which includes several additional cultural dimensions not included in Hofstede's analysis. Using 1966–2004 data across thirty-eight countries, our analysis reveals a strong relationship between life insurance consumption and the practice scores of in-group collectivism as well as power distance. These relationships continue to hold, even after controlling for other country-level variables such as national income, expected inflation rate, banking sector development, investor protection index, dependency ratio, life expectancy, and religion.