Corporate social responsibility and tax aggressiveness: An empirical analysis

This study examines the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate tax aggressiveness. Based on a sample of 408 publicly listed Australian corporations for the 2008/2009 financial year, our regression results show that the higher the level of CSR disclosure of a corporation, the lower is the level of corporate tax aggressiveness. We find a negative and statistically significant association between CSR disclosure and tax aggressiveness which holds across a number of different regression model specifications, thus more socially responsible corporations are likely to be less tax aggressive in nature. Finally, the regression results from our additional analysis indicate that the social investment commitment and corporate and CSR strategy (including the ethics and business conduct) of a corporation are important elements of CSR activities that have a negative impact on tax aggressiveness.     

The rest of me

iPhone Siri demonstratively introduced natural language processing. Still a gadget, the idea revived one of the old promises of computers as personal assistants. Does it have the potential of fulfilling the already burgeoning imagination related to this promise? The authors believe that, while still dependent on the evolution of artificial intelligence, the virtual assistant may find support in the already maturing technologies of augmented reality and, more important, in the changing global network with the semantic web, Internet of things and geo-location. Bluntly speaking, its feasibility and acceptability may not even have to wait for the promised IBM computer with human brain capabilities, but rather build on a more friendly interaction with the Google search engine.The article provides a narrative scenario of the deep economic and social transformations and even turbulence that the so called imaginary friend may produce. Not discarding, but creatively integrating some of the archetypes of futuristic literature, the story positions these entities as the foreground of a deep integration of networks, with the added turmoil caused by economic interests that go beyond individuals’ sense-making capacity.This article is one of the follow-ups of the international foresight workshop “Crazy futures” coordinated by Ziauddin Sardar and George Cairns in a small resort on the Danube Delta in July 2011, a workshop organised as part of the project Quality and Leadership for Romanian Higher Education.     

Risikomanagement im After Sales Business

Zusammenfassung  Das After Sales Business ist in vielen Unternehmen sehr profitabel. Wer mit intelligenten Service- und Instandhaltungsangeboten Kunden binden kann, steigert Umsatz und Gewinn auch dann, wenn das eigentliche Produktgesch?ft schw?chelt. Dass im After Sales auch Risiken liegen, wird dabei h?ufig untersch?tzt oder nicht wahrgenommen. Systematisches Risikomanagement und gezielte Innovation schaffen Transparenz und geben neue Impulse. Dipl. Ing. ETH Cornelius Niemeyer Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Lehrstuhl für Technologie- und Innovationsmanagement der ETH Zürich Prof. Dr. Roman Boutellier Professor für Technologie- und Innovationsmanagement am Departement für Management, Technologie und ?konomie (D-MTEC) der ETH Zürich     

Application of Neural Networks to Short Time Series Composite Indexes: Evidence from the Nonlinear Autoregressive with Exogenous Inputs (NARX) Model

The aim of this paper is to extend the index of financial safety (IFS) approach with improving its predictive performance and to show the applicability of artificial neural networks to economic and financial short time series. To this end, prediction is performed by means of the nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous inputs (NARX) model that represents the neural networks and can emulate any nonlinear dynamic state space model. Thus, a NARX model, trained by means of Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm, was chosen since it gave the best performance. Results reveal that the NARX models are suitable for performing short time series composite indexes prediction.

     

Extremal Economic (Inter)Dependence Studies: A Case of the Eastern European Countries

This paper considers the application of copula models to study the shifts in extremal economic dependence of the Eastern European countries, i.e., Ukraine and its neighbouring countries, from 1969 to 2014. Extremal economic dependence is analysed in terms of poverty and affluence and with regard to growth rate. This paper contributes to the previous literature by applying the copula approaches to derive the measurements of the economic interdependence in terms of poverty and affluence. The received results depict the pattern of the (inter)dependence and its evolution across the analysed countries. Dependence on other countries in the extreme values can potentially be useful in adjustments of the economic policy of a country to minimize poverty and prevent high inequality.

     

Financial incentives in the Austrian PAYG-pension system: micro-estimation

The scope of this paper is to investigate the impact of financial incentives on the retirement decision of private sector workers in Austria. How do financial incentives embedded in the Austrian pension system impact individual retirement behavior? We are using a unique dataset of individual social insurance spells. Micro-estimating the impact of financial incentives on the probability of retirement shows that the behavioral response to financial incentives in Austria is relatively large in international comparison. Also, there are striking behavioral differences between men and women. Using the estimates to simulate reform scenarios shows huge behavioral changes as incentives alter.     

Doing good deeds in times of need: a strategic perspective on corporate disaster donations

Major corporations often respond charitably in times of disaster. However, disasters can also impose nontrivial costs on firms themselves, and under adverse conditions, firms typically donate less, not more. This paper takes a strategic perspective on corporate magnanimity in times of crisis by looking at the relationship between firm value, reputation, and donations by U.S. Fortune 500 firms in the case of Hurricane Katrina. In general, we find that Katrina's landfall was associated with significant negative abnormal stock returns. In particular, we find that a reputation for social irresponsibility was associated with both the greatest drop in stock prices and the greatest likelihood of making a subsequent charitable donation in response to the disaster. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Correlation of Labor and Civil Contracts Related to the Performance of Work: Preventing the Substitution of Concepts

Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal - Legal relations arising from a civil law contract for the performance of work or the provision of services are not identical to labor relations, and...