Greening the Street-Level Procurer: Challenges in the Strongly Decentralized Swedish System

This article investigates the every-day street-level practice of green public procurement (GPP) in Sweden, a country with one of the most decentralized systems of public administration within the European Union (EU). The street-level procurement officers in Swedish local and regional government are in charge of purchases estimated to represent between 10% and 15% of Sweden’s GDP. This article examines the constraining and enabling factors behind the individual procurement officer’s choice of green procurement in textiles and clothing through a combination of qualitative interviews and a review of documentary sources. The analysis shows that while indirect support through European and national soft regulation and policy advice is imperative for “greening” procurement, the direct factors which influence the local outcome of GPP comprises factors on the local level: political commitment and environmental knowledge, the organizational structure of local government and the local interpretation of the regulatory framework. This study shows that a decentralized structure has possibilities of furthering ambitions of buying green if there are committed politicians and public officials, an optimal level of internal centralisation and an external support structure of knowledge and enabling rules.     

An Economic Analysis of Requirements to Prevent Handheld Hair Dryer Water Immersion Electrocutions in the USA

Before 1987, when handheld hair dryers were not required to protect against water immersion electrocutions, there were almost 16 such electrocutions annually in the USA. This article presents a retrospective evaluation of the benefits and costs of the 1987 and 1991 immersion protection requirements of the voluntary hair dryer safety standard in the USA. The benefits are based on estimates of the reduced risk of electrocution resulting from the requirements, and the valuation of the reduced risk derived from willingness to pay studies of the “value of statistical life” found in the economics literature. The costs were defined as the incremental costs associated with incorporating the immersion protection technology into handheld hair dryers. The study found that the requirements were highly effective and may have reduced the immersion-related mortality rate by almost 97%. The expected present value of the estimated benefits of the requirements amounted to about $4.56 per dryer in 2014 dollars and substantially exceeded the costs of about $2 per dryer. The primary outcome measure, the expected net benefits (i.e., benefits minus costs) of the requirements, amounted to an average of about $2.56 per hair dryer, over the hair dryer’s expected product life. Given sales of about 23 million handheld hair dryers annually, the present value of the expected net benefits associated with 1 year’s production would have amounted to about $58.9 million. A sensitivity analysis showed that the major findings were robust with respect to changes in the underlying parameters of the analysis. The study also discusses the factors leading to a high rate of effectiveness estimated for the immersion protection requirements.     

Corporate Social Performance,Competitive Advantage,Earnings Persistence and Firm Value

In this paper, using a generalised valuation framework inspired by Ohlson, we show that corporate social performance (CSP) is value relevant and that, in particular, it appears to be associated with a higher coefficient on earnings. This could be attributable to either a lower cost of equity for these firms, or greater earnings persistence. We show that, once industry membership is controlled for, any cost of capital effect is minimal. Regression tests based on realised earnings confirm that the valuation effect is attributable mainly to greater earnings persistence in firms with higher levels of CSP. These outcomes are consistent with higher CSP conferring a competitive advantage on firms.     

Divisional Performance Measurement with Divisions as Lessees of Head Office Assets

The paper examines some of the methods suggested in the literature for the evaluation of divisional performance, and proposes an alternative approach to the problem whereby divisions are treated as lessees of fixed assets owned by head office. It is suggested that this method is compatible with the NPV decision rule, yet does not require the company to adopt asset valuation practices which depart from those normally used for financial reporting; furthermore, the method actively considers both the ‘abandonment’ decision and whether or not ‘life expired’ assets should be disposed of. It is also claimed that the method is less open to manipulation than some other proposed performance measures.     

Multi-attribute Auction and Negotiation for e-Procurement of Logistics

The paper addresses the topic of e-procurement of logistics services and examines how the system that companies adopt to support this task affects the process performance. The system is evaluated in terms of substantive outcomes (e.g., logistics providers’ profits) and other performances related to perceptions and behavioral issues. Specifically, the considered system is characterized by the exchange mechanism that rules the transaction (multi-attribute auction vs. negotiation) and the level of problem complexity. The analysis, conducted via a laboratory experiment, shows that both the exchange mechanism and the problem complexity affect performance. Practical implications, which could help companies design effective e-procurement systems, are discussed.     

What Plato Knew About Enron

This paper applies Plato’s cave allegory to Enron’s success and downfall. Plato’s famous tale of cave dwellers illustrates the different levels of truth and understanding. These levels include images, the sources of images, and the ultimate reality behind both. The paper first describes these levels of perception as they apply to Plato’s cave dwellers and then provides a brief history of the rise of Enron. Then we apply Plato’s levels of understanding to Enron, showing how the company created its image and presented information to support that image, and how the public eventually emerged from the cave to realize the truth about Enron’s actual accounting practices and financial state, which led to the corporation’s downfall. We find Plato’s allegory both useful in analyzing the relationship between Enron and the public and instructive about the power and moral responsibility of Enron’s executives.     

Wage and employment effects of a wage norm

Most transition countries used tax‐supported wage norms in the early 1990s, as a part of their market liberalization programmes. This article analyses how a firm‐level tax (or subsidy) on deviations from a pre‐set wage norm may promote employment by rotating the labour demand curve perceived by the workers’ union around the value of the norm. We derive the conditions under which it yields a positive employment effect. We test the effect of the norm on the wages on a sample of Polish firms in 1990 and 1991. The data support the role of the wage norm on the position of the perceived labour demand curve and the role of the tax rate on its slope.     

Correction: Social Accountability,Ethics, and the Occupy Wall Street Protests

Journal of Business Ethics -