Which Dimension of Corporate Social Responsibility is a Value Driver in the Oil and Gas Industry?

The oil and gas (O&G) industry suffers from a negative perception of poor sustainability. O&G companies are therefore engaged in several socially sustainable activities related to community development and environmental protection. This article determines whether the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are equally value‐additive to O&G companies. We measure the company‐specific level of CSR activities from the information provided in the annual financial reports of O&G companies and determine the effects of CSR dimensions on firm value. We find that CSR enhances firm value of O&G companies. While social activities such as employee well‐being and community development are key value‐drivers, environmental and economic sustainable activities have an insignificant impact on the market value of O&G companies. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd     

Regulatory Federalism and Broadband Divergence: Implications of Invoking Europe in the Making of Canadian Telecom Policy

Invocations of Europe are increasingly evident in Canadian debates about wholesale broadband access, consumer protection, network neutrality and basic service policies. While some stakeholders in Canadian debates point to national and local approaches in Europe that appear to have been relatively successful in fostering broadband infrastructure development, others suggest that Europe is lagging behind and Canada should avoid Europe’s purported policy errors.     

Who Moves the Asia-Pacific Stock Markets—US or Japan? Empirical Evidence Based on the Theory of Cointegration

This study examines the recent debacle of the Asian-Pacific stock markets by utilizing the theory of cointegration to investigate which developing markets are moved by the markets of Japan and the United States. The empirical evidence suggests that some countries are dominated by the US, some are dominated by Japan, and the remaining countries are dominated by neither during the time period investigated. The appropriate error correction model is estimated and is used to perform out-of-sample forecasting.     

Economic prosperity of the gold-mining industry in Australia and the consequent gold tax

Income from gold mining in Australia was declared tax-exempt in 1924. This tax-exempt status was removed and tax on income from gold mining was imposed in 1988 with effect from 1 January 1991. This paper documents the political process that led to the imposition of this tax. It provides evidence that rapid prosperity of the Australian gold-mining industry in the 1980s led to increased political sensitivity and removal of the industry's tax-exempt status of nearly seven decades.     

Managers' Responses on EEI

The concept and practical implementation of EEI has been introduced in a series of papers and has been tested for feasibility. This paper explores the reactions of managers who acted as respondents to a questionnaire in a total of seven UK and Iranian companies in which the system was tested. It discusses the limitations of the case based research methodology available, the observatons from the study and the factors that might have influenced the responses made to a questionnaire. Although EEI was generally considered to be potentially useful for some purposes, there was a marked reluctance on the part of respondents to move from established historical cost accounting practice. Some of the identified constraints on the adoption of EEI seem likely to impede the introduction of any new accounting model.     

Can oil-rich countries encourage entrepreneurship?

This study provides the first empirical investigation to test one of transmission channels of resource curse, i.e. marginalized entrepreneurship activities. Our panel data analysis of 65 countries from 2004 to 2011 shows a negative and statistically significant association between oil rents dependency and entrepreneurship indicator. This finding is robust to control of other major drivers of entrepreneurship, unobservable country- and time-fixed effects and a different measurement of oil rents dependency. In addition, our main results show that government effectiveness among other dimensions of good governance has a statistically significant moderating effect in entrepreneurship–oil rents nexus.     

Ingredient Optimization and Children’s Liking of Popcorn Seasoned with Fish Protein Powder/Omega-3 Fish Oil

Response surface methodology (Box-Behnken design) was used to optimize the seasoning ingredients of popped popcorn. Children’s liking of seasoned popcorn was also determined by 120 school children. The results indicated that seasoning of popcorn with fish protein powder and omega-3 fish oil could produce accepted snacks that would be more nutritious than the widely consumed regular popcorn. Fortification of popcorn with 9% fish protein powder and/or 6% omega-3 fish oil did not influence the sensory attributes of the prototypes. Liking test revealed that children in the age range of 6 to 12 years liked the selected fortified products. This fortification also provided another avenue for cereal snack food diversification and might be a healthy option to boost children’s nutritional intake and to increase fish protein consumption. Such products are good choices for health-conscious consumers.     

The creation view of opportunities at the base of the pyramid

This research aims to understand how multinational corporations (MNCs) enter the base of the pyramid (BoP) by adopting the creation view of opportunities. We employ actor–network theory and explore the key actors, the process and the opportunity development that enable MNCs to tackle the relative poverty of the BoP market. Our qualitative exploratory case study illustrates that, at the BoP, MNCs have to involve beneficiary stakeholders such as non-governmental organizations and BoP communities. In this process, they should be open to modifying their business model continuously to build awareness about the product among the poor and ensure affordability, availability and acceptability. At the BoP, opportunities do not exist in the external environment and they should be developed by identifying and addressing the real needs of the poor, enhancing their quality of life and being patient about earning a profit. This research contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by expanding the creation perspective of opportunities and provides implications for the managers of companies targeting the BoP market.     

Consumption response to investment shocks under financial frictions

Consumption falls counter-factually on impact for investment-specific technology shocks, which, recent literature suggests, are important drivers of business cycles. Introducing financial frictions and variable capacity utilization to the standard New-Keynesian setup can overturn this co-movement problem, without imposing restrictions on wealth effects, or wage rigidities.