Does Size Matter? Evaluating Corporate Environmental Disclosure in the Australian Mining and Metal Industry: A Combined Approach of Quantity and Quality Measurement

There are an increasing number of companies in the mining and metals sector disclosing environmental sustainability information in their annual reports, sustainability reports and corporate internet web pages. However, there is ongoing debate about the relationship between the quantity and the quality of environmental disclosure. That is, does an increase in number equate to an increase in quality? This study investigates the relationship between the quantity and the quality of environmental disclosure reports. Using content analysis, we examine the environmental disclosure of 55 Australian mining and metal companies which are listed among the Australian Securities Exchange's (ASX) Top 100 mining and metal sector companies. We find that the size of firms influences both the quantity and the quality of corporate environmental disclosure. That is, we find that market capitalization is positively and significantly correlated to the quantity (number of words) and the quality of disclosure. We also confirm that there is a very highly significant, positive correlation between quantity (number of words) and quality of environmental disclosure. In order to investigate any differences between the top performing group and the bottom performing group in terms of environmental disclosure quality, further analysis also confirms that there is a positive relationship between the quantity and the quality of environmental disclosure. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

A PROFILE OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: A NOTE*

A study of 88 randomly selected strategy-related dissertations was conducted to develop a statistical profile of dissertations in the strategic management field. This study also provides some empirical evidence supporting the criticism that the field is fragmented.     

Learning and the monetary policy strategy of the European Central Bank

This paper examines the welfare implications of alternative inflation targeting proposals for the monetary policy of the European Central Bank. We assume that policy makers have to “learn” the laws of motion of inflation in an economy characterized by “stickiness” in domestic price setting behavior and subjected to recurring shocks to productivity, exports and foreign price. We find that a switch from an “asymmetric” inflation targeting strategy to an “symmetric” makes little difference in welfare payoffs, but it comes at a cost of much higher interest-rate variability. We also find that there are practically no welfare gains from switching from an inflation-targeting strategy based on the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) to a strategy based on the domestic price component of the HICP.     

Earnings Management and the Long-Run Market Performance of Initial Public Offerings

Issuers of initial public offerings (IPOs) can report earnings in excess of cash flows by taking positive accruals. This paper provides evidence that issuers with unusually high accruals in the IPO year experience poor stock return performance in the three years thereafter. IPO issuers in the most "aggressive" quartile of earnings managers have a three-year aftermarket stock return of approximately 20 percent less than IPO issuers in the most "conservative" quartile. They also issue about 20 percent fewer seasoned equity offerings. These differences are statistically and economically significant in a variety of specifications.     

Do foreign companies pay higher wages than their local counterparts in Malaysian manufacturing?

This paper shows that foreign companies pay higher wages than their local counterparts in Malaysian manufacturing. Step-wise regression analysis shows that this is due to two factors. The first, and perhaps the more important, is the greater capital intensity of the production processes used by foreign companies. The second is their tendency to pay wages that they consider, or that are considered to be, commensurate with the wages that they pay in their home countries. This may be called the demonstration effect of wage remuneration in less developed countries.     

Linking corporate sustainability and innovation in supply chain management – evidence of a Taiwan leading glass recycling company

This empirical study presents a combination of insights from corporate sustainability practices, supply chain management, and innovation literature, and a case study to discover new understandings on factors influencing firms to incorporate sustainable innovation initiatives into their supply chain practices. There is an apparent lack of literature in this field due to its modernity and evolving nature. Also, there is a lack of insights into how firms could translate sustainable innovation initiatives into practice. This study addresses this gap by examining a successful glass recycling company through the lenses of sustainable innovation context and the Global Reporting Initiative G3 Guideline framework. Primary data are collected through observations and in-depth interview before it is coded and analysed using nVivo. The findings show that sustainable innovation practices are mainly directed at improving the technological processes, resource sharing, and reduction of production cost among supply chain partners. A conceptual sustainable innovation framework is also proposed. This study contributes to sustainable innovation literature by providing insights into the evaluation of a firm's innovative sustainability efforts.     

Promoting cost efficiency and uniformity in parcel delivery centre locations and service areas: a GIS-based analysis

This paper provides a systematic framework to determine local delivery centre (LDC) locations and service areas to reduce delivery costs and balance the allocation of parcel delivery loads to promote sustainable LDC development. Based on a case study of a parcel distribution company in Korea, this study proposes two strategies for LDC service area delineation within each terminal service boundary that either minimises the total delivery time or balances the allocation of delivery loads. This research contributes to improving cost efficiency and balancing delivery load allocations in planning LDC locations and service areas that can potentially promote the long-term mutual sustainable development of parcel distribution companies and their local delivery counterparts.     

A new proposal for the reunification of the two Koreas: Economic issues

We present an alternative five-step plan which not only supplements the deficiencies of the current official plans for reunification, but also incorporates recent developments, such as, joint membership of North and South Korea of the United Nations (1991), and mutual agreements on reconciliation, nonaggression and economic exchange and cooperation (1992). The plan starts with a preliminary step for the normalization of relations between the two Koreas, and then subsequently moves on to economic integration, social integration, political integration, and military integration. However, as the political confrontation in the Korean peninsula has already been well-researched elsewhere, We discuss economic issues which are likely to present themselves during the unification process. Economic issues, rather than the political ones, could prove to be of the greatest concern to a smooth reunification between the peninsula's long- divided neighbors.     

Forecasting Employment Growth in Indonesia

This note discusses the dangers of using the employment-output elasticity to forecast employment creation in Indonesia. It demonstrates the unreliability of employment-output elasticity estimates for Indonesia obtained using various methods, and argues, that, in addition to the estimation problems, the elasticity method has inherent weaknesses that should preclude its use to forecast employment growth in a dynamic world.