Financial profiles and the disclosure of expenditures for socially responsible purposes

Recently the relationship between “socially responsible” activities and the financial performance of corporations has received attention in the business literature. Most studies have focused on the market reaction of shareholders to the disclosure of both monetary and nonmonetary corporate contributions relating to pollution control, employee welfare, affirmative action, and other activities deemed to be in the public interest. Results of this research have been mixed, with some authors finding favorable market response to socially responsible actions, and others finding no difference between the market performance of more and less responsible firms. The purpose of this paper is to examine financial performance and socially responsible activities from a different perspective. Specifically, it examines the relationship between the disclosure of monetary expenditures for various social initiatives and composite financial accounting profiles of disclosing and nondisclosing firms. Using two-group discriminant analysis, the authors conclude that management tends to disclose monetary expenditures for these generally nonproductive purposes at times when the financial statements of the firm otherwise look favorable to shareholders. Such disclosure in a sample of Fortune 500 firms in 1976 and 1977 was clearly not unrelated to financial performance, and neither did it appear to occur in order to explain relatively poor financial statements.     

价值工程原理使渤海湾钻井技术取得新突破

中国海洋石油总公司在渤海海域的开发井钻井方面,利用价值工程原理、采取配套优化钻井技术及项目目标管理方法,取得了重大技术突破.本文重点介绍1995年在渤海西部海域歧口18-1油田进行的价值工程试验,三口定向井平均井深3561米,平均建井周期从对去的60多天减少至18.82天,最短的13.28天.用同样的方法,1996年在渤海辽东湾海域钻了15口开发井,平均井深1876米,平均建井周期从过去的12.5天缩短为3.71天.同年,时值寒冬季节,在渤海西部海域歧口17-3油田钻了9口具有3维多靶井眼轨迹的开发井,平均井深2435米,平均建井周期从过去的34天缩短到7.96天,最短的2.5天.歧口17-3项目的试验目的是:用9口三维多靶定向井解决27口常规定向井才能解决的问题.试验的成功把价值工程在钻井技术和管理等应用方面向深层次推进了一大步.价值工程原理使渤海钻井工作取得了重大经济效益,同时也使中国渤海湾钻井技术取得了新突破.     

Duelling Discourses at Work: Upsetting the Gender Order

Findings of an extensive archival study of Pan American Airways (PAA) strongly support Acker's (1990) notion of the presence and importance of a dominant discourse of organizing logic in structuring a gendered order. Findings also demonstrate that the presence of alternative, but not necessarily feminist, discourses can serve to upset the gender order of organizations. Thus, we conclude that changing the organization's gender substructure (Acker, 1992b) by changing the dominant discourse or introducing competing discourses may help to destabilize “truths” and interrupt the perpetuation and reification of policies, practices, and understandings that are often taken for granted despite their ability to silence voices and privilege some groups over others. Copyright © 2011 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

对大创意的嘉奖比什么都重要

在广告人眼中,她是“创意最高殿堂”,“全球创意趋势发布”,“广告人最炫交流平台”,“世界创新庆典”……连搞工艺设计的非广告人也称之为创意大海的浪尖。2011的戛纳创意节力图让全球广告人在这里交流、碰撞,并寻找一个通向未来的方向。     

世界经济三大支柱的比较研究

被誉为世界经济三大支柱的关贸总协定、国际货币基金组织和世界银行，自成立以来，已经历了半个世纪的风风雨雨。它们都对二战后世界经济的复苏和振兴起到了举足轻重的作用。但是，关贸总协定及世界贸易组织发展更为迅猛，并从三大支柱中脱颖而出。展望世界经济发展前景，惟有加强三大支柱的协调与合作。世界经济才能鼎足而立。     

中国地方政府与次区域合作:动力、行为及机制

中国地方政府参与国际合作是国际关系和中国政治研究中的一个新问题。中国地方政府参与国际合作的动力与改革开放以来中国对外关系领域的分权是分不开的,制度性分权和政策性分权为地方政府参与国际合作提供了激励和保障。在现行中国国家结构下,地方参与国际合作对中央外交起着配合、补充和支持的作用。通过对港澳、沿海省份、西南省份、西北省份和东北省份参与次区域合作的研究,作者指出:跨界次区域合作是亚洲区域化进程中的一个重要现象,国际组织、中央政府和地方政府在其中发挥不同的作用;政府主导的区域主义符合亚洲政治文化的特点,更能有效地推进亚洲的区域化进程;从中国与亚洲区域化关系看,目前已初步形成了中国-东盟机制、上海合作组织和东北亚合作机制的Y形干状制度性安排,地方政府参与的次区域合作则形成了多层次枝状制度性安排,在枝繁干壮的区域化战略中,需要对地方政府的作用给予更多的关注和重视。     

Worldwide Inflation and International Monetary Reform： Exchange Rates or Interest Rates？

The international dollar standard is malfunctioning. Near‐zero US short‐term interest rates launch massive hot money outflows into emerging markets (EM) in Asia and Latin America. Each EM central bank buys dollars to prevent its currency from appreciating but loses monetary control. Despite some appreciation, average inflation in EMs is now much higher than in the old industrial economies and world commodity prices are bid up sharply. This inflation on the dollar's periphery only registers in the US CPI with a long lag. However, the more immediate effect of the Fed's zero interest rate is to upset the process of bank intermediation within the American economy. Bank credit continues to decline while employment languishes. Therefore, constructive international monetary reform calls for the Fed to abandon its zero‐interest rate policy, which is best done in cooperation with the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England also abandoning their ultra low interest rates.     

保证政策上的透明度非常重要

不管是资本市场的融资、技术上的使用、还是劳动力市场员工的雇佣,最重要的一点是我们要知道游戏的规则在哪里,边际在哪里,我们怎样去玩儿？     

越南鼓励国外投资者参加基础设施建设

每一个国家可能都有自己的合作发展和投资方面的挑战。但是,可以通过各种各样的政策和措施通过挑战,促进发展。越南也出台了一系列政策措施,比如说完善机制。一是在政策方面,鼓励私营部门进入投资运营;二是国家与国家机构之间的协调,政府部门要和捐赠国进行更好的协调提升管理水平;三是政府机构对于出现的问题或是项目施工的推迟等等做出应急措施;四是要出台一些创新的方案。