The Corporate Social Responsibility of Pharmaceutical Product Recalls: An Empirical Examination of U.S. and U.K. Markets

The pressure on companies to practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained momentum in recent times as a means of sustaining competitive advantage in business. The pharmaceutical industry has been acutely affected by this trend. While pharmaceutical product recalls have become rampant and increased dramatically in recent years, no comprehensive study has been conducted to study the effects of announcements of recalls on the shareholder returns of pharmaceutical companies. As product recalls could significantly damage a company’s reputation, profitability and brand integrity, this paper investigates the effect on shareholder wealth and the extent to which the adoption of CSR practices by pharmaceutical companies in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and the United States (U.S.), the two largest markets for pharmaceutical products in the world, affected market reactions surrounding product recall announcements. The analysis of product recall announcements from 1998 to 2004 compiled from The Pharmaceutical Journal and U.S. Food and Drug Administration enforcement reports revealed marked differences in the way market participants in the two countries responded to news of product recalls. U.S. investors penalised firms according to the severity of product defects while U.K. investors were indifferent. While U.K. investors rewarded product recalls by firms which were not usually CSR-active, U.S. investors punished non-CSR active firms that performed recalls. These observations could pose strategic challenges to pharmaceutical firms operating in both countries. Jeremy Cheah is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Nottingham University Business School, Malaysia Campus. His research interests lie in the area of applied corporate finance and investment management. Wen Li Chan was an Advocate and Solicitor in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before assuming the post of University Teacher in Information Systems and Strategy at Nottingham University Business School, Malaysia Campus. She is currently investigating the roles and implications of information on firm valuation, particularly in the area of corporate cyber-litigation and corporate social responsibility. Corinne Chieng is a Corporate Executive at Star Publications (M) Berhad, Malaysia. She has previously worked as a tax consultant at Arthur Andersen Malaysia. Her research interests include the financial implications of corporate social responsibility on the valuation of firms.     

Environmental regulation and innovation driving ecological design in the UK automotive industry

The theory of ecological modernization asserts that economic and environmental goals can be integrated within a framework of industrial modernity. Its central tenet is that environmental regulation can stimulate the application of ‘clean’ technologies or techniques. Ecological modernization also contends that environmental regulation can offer business benefits from innovation through improved product design and economic performance. The EU End of Life Vehicles Directive (ELVD) reflects many of these principles, as it compels all car manufacturers to ‘take back’ and dismantle vehicles at the end of their useful lives and to remove the hazardous substances from the production process. Each component will then be either reused or recycled. The legislation forces designers to introduce ‘clean design’ and ‘design for disassembly’ practices. In light of this, we examine the impact of the directive on UK automotive component manufacturers. We find limited evidence that the EU ELVD Directive has driven product innovation beyond short‐term, incremental technological trajectories. We therefore conclude that a more radical approach, in line with the ‘dematerialization’ thesis by Dobers and Wolff (1999), is needed to generate more radical, ecological design solutions within the UK automotive industry. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

对中国企业集团合并纳税制度的几点建议

本文以美国和英国为例,对所得统算型和损益列支型合并纳税制度进行具体分析和比较,进而得出对完善中国企业集团合并纳税制度有益的几点启示:中国应该通过扩大适用合并纳税制度的企业集团范围,拓宽企业集团内实行合并纳税的成员企业范围等措施,进一步完善中国的企业集团合并纳税制度,以期达到促进税收公平、提升企业集团竞争力的目的。     

Institute for the future's study of the UK, 1978–1995

The method used expert opinions (collected through interviews), scenario generation, and a simple econometric model. Some methodological innovations are reported; eg aids to assist experts in thinking ahead, and in how scenarios are generated and aggregated.     

A Time Series Analysis of Financial Fragility in the UK Banking System

This paper extends the model proposed by Goodhart, Sunirand, and Tsomocos (2004, 2005, 2006) to an infinite horizon setting. Thus, we are able to assess how the model conforms with the time series data of the UK banking system. We conclude that, since the model performs satisfactorily, it can be readily used to assess financial fragility given its flexibility, computability, and the presence of multiple contagion channels and heterogeneous banks and investors. JEL Classification Numbers C68, E4, E5, G11, G21 We are grateful to seminar participants at the Bank of England, European Central Bank, University of Oxford, University of Pireaus, 59th International Atlantic Economic Conference, London and especially an anonymous referee for helpful comments and suggestions     

Fluctuations in the UK equity market: what drives stock returns?

Present value parameters from a state-space model are estimated for the UK FT All-Share Index. The estimated parameters are used to construct a time series of expected future returns and expected future values of dividend growth, both of which are found to be time-varying with persistent components. Variations in the price-dividend ratio appear to be driven primarily by the variance in expected returns. A comparison with the findings from a present value-constrained vector autoregression model indicates that the latter forecasts future realized returns and dividend growth better than the series constructed using a state-space approach. Furthermore, when the model is estimated for monthly and quarterly data, expected dividend growth is found to be more persistent.     

‘Generation Rent’ and The Fallacy of Choice

The now widely used term ‘Generation Rent’ reflects the growing phenomenon in the UK of young people living in the private rental sector for longer periods of their lives. Given the importance of leaving home in youth transitions to adulthood, this is a significant change. It is further critical given the rapid expansion of the private rented sector in the UK over recent decades and the more limited rights that private tenants have. This article draws on qualitative evidence to highlight the impact this has on young people's lives, and broader patterns of social‐spatial inequality. Our research highlights that, whilst young people retain long‐term preferences for homeownership, they nonetheless deconstruct this normalized ideal as a ‘fallacy of choice', given its unachievability in reality. Influenced by the work of Foucault, Bourdieu and Bauman, we emphasize how these dominant norms of housing consumption are in tension with objective reality, since young people's ability to become ‘responsible homeowners' is tempered by their material resources and the local housing opportunities available to them. Nonetheless, this does not exempt them from the ‘moral distinctions' being made, wherein renting is problematized and constructed as ‘flawed consumption'. These conceptual arguments advance international scholarly debates about the governance of consumption, offering a novel theoretical lens through which to examine the difficulties facing ‘Generation Rent’.     

Goals and values of farmers revisited: Gasson fifty years on

Fifty years have passed since the Journal of Agricultural Economics published an article by Ruth Gasson on the goals and values of farmers in England. Gasson's research demonstrated the complexity of motives and, in particular, the importance farmers attached to the activities of farming (their intrinsic orientation), even among the operators of larger farms. Gasson's article has been widely cited as seminal by subsequent researchers on farmer behaviour. Governments have acknowledged the importance of understanding the motives of farm decision-makers when explaining their responses to economic and policy signals and designing schemes to shape farmers' behaviour. Brexit and the creation of national agricultural policies for each constituent UK country have highlighted the need for this better understanding, though precisely how this information can be used remains difficult. The continued dominance of an intrinsic orientation is particularly important for policies encouraging retirement and for the agri-environment. Gasson's legacy is also important in the quantification of goals and values to segment, and hence model, the heterogeneity of likely farmer responses to market and policy signals.     

产业界、科研机构与金融业的合作环境——英国促进科技成果转化的最新政策

在科技成果转化过程中,各参与主体不是孤立存在的。产业界、科研机构与金融业等各参与方的合作环境建设可成为政府相关宏观政策的着力点。英国在相关方面进行了长期探索,其政策领域处于世界前列。经过全面研究,按不同政策对象主体,英国政府科技成果转化的相关政策大致分为学术界、产业界、金融业和非正式风险资本市场四大类,形成了科技成果转化的政策体系,基本覆盖了科技成果转化过程的各个方面。特别是英国政府在金融业和非正式风险投资领域的政策方面,其经验具有较好的参考价值。     

英国高等教育系统知识产权管理与转化

20世纪80年代以来,英国高等教育系统的知识产权管理与转化工作在国家管理层面和机构执行层面不断强化。为使高等教育机构知识产出实现收益最大化,政府采取了积极激励政策,并对高等教育机构的知识转化工作进行监督与反馈。目前,绝大多数英国高等教育机构都建立了较为清晰的知识产权管理制度,其管理的知识产权包括专利、著作权、设计权、商标权、保密信息等各种法定或非法定类型。通过对英国高等教育系统知识产权管理的整体梳理,可以看到,英国高等教育系统的知识产权管理及转化均积累了较为成熟的经验,各项工作能够做到有章可循、责任明确、执行到位、全程管理。