Institutional Antecedents of the Corporate Social Responsibility Narrative in the Developing World Context: Implications for Sustainable Development

Efforts to understand the background to perceptions and manifestation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the developing world need to focus on establishing their link with the challenges of socio‐economic governance and societal expectations and cultural traditions. This signifies a departure from a western centric understanding of CSR but also an over‐focus on CSR as philanthropy. This study considers the Malawian tourism industry and finds that its colonial legacy, post‐colonialism development thinking and the national education system explain the prevalence of a ‘CSR as philanthropy’ agenda. When these factors interact with challenges of socio‐economic governance and societal expectations, however, the universality thesis that has often been associated with the theory and implementation CSR can be challenged. These findings therefore suggest a shift from the western centric CSR thinking to a CSR perspective that is strongly grounded in local values and norms and which meets the expectations of the global society. This indicates a way forward if CSR is to be adequately institutionalized in the developing world. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Managing Organizational Knowledge Integration in the Emerging Multimedia Complex

Due to technological convergence, complexes of interrelated industries are emerging. This paper presents a conceptual framework of the role different organizational forms and combinative capabilities play in the management of organizational knowledge integration in this context. The focus is on firms previously operating in one of the relatively stable constituting industries. We argue that a firm's organizational form has to be matched with appropriate combinative capabilities in order to integrate component knowledge into architectural knowledge that consequently serves as a platform for generating new product–market combinations. The framework is empirically illustrated using the example of two Dutch publishing firms moving into the multimedia complex, which is currently emerging around information and communication technologies. The empirical analysis shows that the framework offers strong potential for improving the understanding of the complex process of organizational knowledge integration, as the prerequisite for developing new business in an emerging industrial complex.     

Decomposing sales elasticities on segmented markets

In this study we consider an extension of the well-known model developed by Lambin, Naert and Bultez (henceforth, the LNB-model). The LNB-model can be used to assess the effects of competitive actions and reactions. The extension of the LNB-model considered in this study accounts for differences between the reactions of competitors operating on different segments. The model is tested empirically using data on the market of a frequently purchased non-durable consumer good. Three different segments are considered on this market. The outcome of the extended model is compared with the results of the LNB-model.     

The No Surcharge Rule and Merchant Competition

We analyze the no surcharge rule (NSR) and its impact on merchant competition by comparing different surcharging regimes. Any constraint on surcharging, including the NSR is shown to be a competition-softening device. A NSR may induce socially excessive card use. Allowing imperfectly competitive merchants to surcharge may lead to socially too little card use. Under a NSR, increased cost of card acceptance increases all prices, even the prices of a merchant not accepting cards. Under the NSR cards yielding no social surplus may be viable. This is not the case without the NSR. Card-use rewards may hurt consumers.     

Accounting for time-dependent treatment use when developing a prognostic model from observational data: A review of methods

Failure to account for time-dependent treatment use when developing a prognostic model can result in biased future predictions. We reviewed currently available methods to account for treatment use when developing a prognostic model. First, we defined the estimands targeted by each method and examined their mechanisms of action with directed acyclic graphs (DAGs). Next, methods were implemented in data from 1,906 patients; 325 received selective β-blockers (SBBs) during follow-up. We demonstrated seven Cox regression modeling strategies: (a) ignoring SBB treatment; (b) excluding SBB users or (c) censoring them when treated; (d) inverse probability of treatment weighting after censoring (IPCW), including SBB treatment as (e) a binary or (f) a time-dependent covariate; and (g) marginal structural modeling (MSM). Using DAGs, we demonstrated IPCW and MSM have the best properties and target a similar estimand. In the case study, compared to (a), approaches (b) and (e) provided predictions that were 1% and 2% higher on average. Performance (c-statistic, Brier score, calibration slope) varied minimally between approaches. Our review of methods confirmed that ignoring treatment is theoretically inferior, but differences between the prediction models obtained using different methods can be modest in practice. Future simulation studies and applications are needed to assess the value of applying IPCW or MSM to adjust for treatments in different treatment and disease settings.     

360 degree feedback: how many raters are needed for reliable ratings on the capacity to develop competences,with personal qualities as developmental goals?

360 degree feedback is a widely used technique in the area of strategic human resource management (SHRM) and strategic human resource development (SHRD). The reliability of 360 degree feedback on the capacity to develop personal qualities has been investigated. This study shows to what extent the number of raters is related to an increasing reliability and an enhancement of correlation between supervisor and peer ratings. Ten raters are needed to reach a satisfying reliability level of 0.7 for the rating of the capacity to develop personal qualities, while six raters are needed for a reliability level of 0.7 with regard to the rating of motivation to develop these qualities. The use of two or three peer raters, as is common in the daily HRM/HRD practice, results in low reliability levels and in low agreement between supervisor and peer ratings. These results imply that 360 degree feedback is more useful in a personal growth system than in an administrative system, where the outcomes of the feedback are considered to be objective representations of work behaviour. Further implications for the SHRM/SHRD practice, especially concerning the development of competences, with personal qualities as developmental goals, are discussed.     

Energy prices: Economic concepts and accounting realities

The PEFA (public expenditure and financial accountability) framework is an instrument that enables broad assessments of a country's public expenditure, procurement and financial accountability systems. This article provides three views of the framework: from the PEFA secretariat, a practitioner and a donor.