Sustainability Development and the Quality of Assurance Reports: Empirical Evidence

There is a rising trend among companies to publish their sustainability or corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. Assurance of these reports is a valuable voluntary tool to provide them with higher credibility. Nonetheless, the quality of assurance reports differs in practice and the objective of this paper is to provide evidence in this new area of research. Indeed, we are pioneers in developing an index to measure the quality of assurance reports. We choose the Spanish setting because it is the worldwide leading country as regards CSR reporting (KPMG, 2011; Sierra et al., 2012). We have found evidence on the determinants for CSR reporting posited by existing literature that have an impact on (a) the decision of companies to publish their CSR reports, (b) the decision to assure the CSR report or not and (c) the decision to hire the assurance services from an auditor or a consultant and the subsequent quality of the assurance report. Last but not least, our results from a sample of 161 CSR assurance reports evidence that assurance reports are of fairly acceptable quality, according to the index proposed. Furthermore, the value of the quality index is significantly higher if the assurance services are provided by an auditor (as opposed to a consultant) and if the CSR reporting company is larger. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

European and Asian resistance to the use of the American case method in management training: possible cultural and systemic incongruencies

In this contribution to the use of the Harvard-style case-style method in the training of managers, a transfer problem is identified. This is manifested in the difficulties presented for many non-American students in the use of traditional case-studies. As a result, an example of a revised case method is proposed which offers more educational flexibility and better acceptability.     

我国股票期权企业所得税税收政策研究

2005年财政部、国家税务总局发布了《关于个人股票期权所得征收个人所得税问题的通知》(财税〔2005〕35号),首次明确了要对员工取得的股票期权收入征收个人所得税。但对于企业所得税方面的规定目前还是空白,需要尽快出台与股票期权激励计划有关的企业所得税方面的政策,以促进其发展。本文首先介绍我国的股票期权税收政策;其次对股票期权涉及的企业所得税方面的问题进行了探讨;最后对我国在制定股票期权企业所得税政策时须注意的问题提出了建议。     

股份公司股东表决权限缩的激励分析

在股份公司的多方利益相关主体中,股东拥有表决权。一股一权是表决权行使的基本原则,但在公司实践中还存在股东的表决权由于特定原因被限缩的情形,这一现象蕴藏着深刻的激励因素,其中包括产权的赋予和责任的配置。     

高职院校创业教育存在的困境及对策

高职院校开展创业教育是时代发展的需要,是学校教育改革深化的必然选择,是学生全面发展必然趋势。但是高职院校的创业教育还存在许多困境和问题,为此,在广泛调研的基础上,可科学地提出相应的对策：即树立现代的创业教育观,培养高职学生的创业理念,构建完善的创业教育体系,培养双师型的创业教育师资。     

民爆企业安全生产风险管控的案例分析——以久联化工有限公司为例

民爆行业是国民经济建设的重要基础性产业，近年来得到快速发展。民爆行业属易燃易爆的高危行业，其产品生产和使用的风险性较大，重、特大伤亡事故时有发生，近年来呈多发递增趋势。因此，深入研究分析，完善措施，加强安全生产风险管控工作势在必行。论文以贵阳久联化工有限责任公司为例，分析了其安全生产风险管控方面的不足，运用风险管理理论并结合实际，对该企业的安全生产风险管控体系进行了系统研究，针对关键的风险管理问题提出了改进建议。     

区域性物流企业服务营销创新问题的研究

首先概述了区域性物流企业的特征及其服务营销的内涵、作用和意义,接着重点分析和解读了区域性物流企业服务营销中存在的问题,最后提出了加强和促进区域性物流企业服务营销创新水平和质量的系统化解决方案。     

The persistence of innovation: a panel data investigation on manufacturing firms

This paper represents a contribution to empirical debate on the persistence of innovation in the firm, by exploiting an innovative panel database that, for the first time, links three waves of the Italian Community Innovation Survey with an administrative data source providing economic and financial information for firms in the Italian manufacturing sector, 1996–2003. By using both a dynamic logistic model and a Granger causality approach, we show that in order to innovate successfully it is much more important to have an adequate flow of profits during an appropriate time span rather than high profits only during one period before innovation. Our causality tests prove the existence of a dynamic interaction between innovation and profitability: successful innovation can, in the short run, generate the profitability conditions that can then enhance the financial resources needed to reinvest in new technological opportunities, thus causing the firm to persist in its innovative behaviour. We have also shown that another important source of persistence is represented by past innovative experience. A firm with consolidated innovative behaviour would have a higher probability of future successful innovation with respect to a firm that occasionally (or accidentally) innovates. Persistence in innovation enables a firm to take advantage of substantial technological and organizational learning effects, which improve with time.     

Is doing good good for you? how corporate charitable contributions enhance revenue growth

This study examines the impact of corporate philanthropy growth on sales growth using a large sample of charitable contributions made by U.S. public companies from 1989 through 2000. Applying Granger causality tests, we find that charitable contributions are significantly associated with future revenue, whereas the association between revenue and future contributions is marginally significant at best. We then identify the mechanism underlying our findings. Our results are particularly pronounced for firms that are highly sensitive to consumer perception, where individual consumers are the predominant customers. In addition, we document a positive relationship between contributions and customer satisfaction. Overall, our evidence suggests that corporate philanthropy, under certain circumstances, furthers firms' economic objectives. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.