Positive and Negative Corporate Social Responsibility, Financial Leverage, and Idiosyncratic Risk

Existing research on the financial implications of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for firms has predominantly focused on positive aspects of CSR, overlooking that firms also undertake actions and initiatives that qualify as negative CSR. Moreover, studies in this area have not investigated how both positive and negative CSR affect the financial risk of firms. As such, in this research, the authors provide a framework linking both positive and negative CSR to idiosyncratic risk of firms. While investigating these relationships, the authors also analyze the moderating role of financial leverage of firms. Overall, analysis of secondary information for firms from multiple industries over the years 2000–2009 shows that CSR has a significant effect on the idiosyncratic risk of firms, with positive CSR reducing risk and negative CSR increasing it. Results also show that the reduction in risk from positive CSR is not guaranteed, with firms having high levels of financial leverage witnessing lower idiosyncratic risk reduction.     

The relationship between information technology capability,inventory efficiency,and shareholder wealth: A firm-level empirical analysis

Inventories represent an important strategic resource for firms, with implications for shareholder wealth. As such, firms expend considerable effort in managing their inventories efficiently. Among other factors, information technology (IT) capability can play an important role in enabling inventory efficiency and financial performance. However, insight into the chain-of-effects linking IT capability, inventory efficiency, and stock market returns and risk remains limited. In this paper, we provide a conceptual model outlining the relationships between these constructs. Next, we evaluate the model using secondary information on firms from multiple industries across the 10-year time period of 2000–2009. Our analysis confirms that firms’ IT capability plays a significant role in enhancing their inventory efficiency, which, in turn, is observed to increase stock market returns. Our results also reveal that firms’ IT capability directly reduces their stock market risk and enhances their stock market returns. Taken together, these findings, along with the conceptual model that we advance, have important research and managerial implications.     

Test of a technique for planning medical procedures in preventive health examination programs

This paper reports on a retrospective test of a linear programming (LP) technique for planning of medical procedures in preventive health examination (PHE) programs. The technique itself has been published earlier; hence only a brief review is presented here. The test was, in essence, a comparison between a PHE program run along conventional lines (all procedures to all patients) and a PHE program guided by the LP technique. The results showed that the LP technique has several advantages over the conventional mode of operation.     

Conceptualising market orientation in non-profit organisations: definition,performance, and preliminary construction of a scale

Abstract

This paper applies Narver and Slater's (1990 Narver, J. and Slater, S. 1990. The effect of a market orientation on business profitability. Journal of Marketing, 54(2): 20[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) conceptualisation of market orientation to non-profit organisations. The study constructs a reliable and valid scale of the market orientation in non-profits in order to test the relationship between non-profits' market orientation and their performance outcomes in the context of a developing country. We surveyed 211 Indian non-profits and received 102 usable responses. We used principal axis factoring with oblique rotation to analyse the data. The scale was tested for its dimensionality, reliability, and various validities. The findings show a positive link between non-profits' market orientation and their performance in the context of a developing country. Market-oriented non-profits were found to be more effective in achieving their organisational mission, beneficiary satisfaction, and peer reputation than those that were less market oriented.     

Toward a greater understanding of the market orientation and internal market orientation relationship

The study explores the relationship between market orientation (MO) and internal market orientation (IMO) using the process model of MO development. Data from 370 nonprofit organizations were analyzed using structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation technique. The comprehensive CFA marker method was used to partial out the influence of social desirability bias on the substantive relationships. The study finds that MO works through IMO to elicit desirable employee outcomes, which also contributes to performance outcomes. IMO does not offer direct performance benefits, but it partially mediates the effect of MO on employee-related outcomes. Competing models offering alternative explanations are ruled out empirically by the superior fit of the theoretical model with the data. The study integrates IMO in Kohli and Jaworski’s model of antecedent and consequences of MO and encourages practitioners to embed IMO in their MO development plans.     

The Impact of Future Time Perspective and Personality on the Sustainable Behaviours of Seniors

Journal of Consumer Policy - This study examined a national sample of American seniors to determine the influence of future time perspective (FTP) and personality traits on their sustainable...     

What drives financial performance-resource efficiency or resource slack?: Evidence from U.S. Based Manufacturing Firms from 1991 to 2006

Extant research in operations management has revealed divergent insights into the value potential of resource efficiency. While one view relates efficiency with good operations management and asserts that slack resources are a form of waste that should be minimized, the other view suggests that limited resource slack can impose heavy costs on firms by making them brittle. In this research, the authors build on these views to investigate the relationship of inventory, production, and marketing resource efficiency of firms with three metrics of financial performance (i.e., Stock-Returns, Tobin's Q, and Returns-on-Assets). The authors evaluate the theoretical framework using secondary information on all U.S. based publicly-owned manufacturing firms across the 16-year time period of 1991-2006. Analysis utilizing a mixed-model approach reveals that a focus on resource efficiency is positively associated with firm financial performance. However, findings also support the arguments favoring slack, indicating that the financial gains from resource efficiency exhibit diminishing returns.     

What do subsistence farmers know about indigenous crops and organic farming? Preliminary experience in KwaZulu-Natal

The lack of published information on indigenous agricultural knowledge in South Africa frustrates the efforts of scientists who seek to enhance the creativity of subsistence farmers, and thus help their delivery from the cycle of poverty to commercialised farming. The term ‘indigenous crop’ is not clearly defined in the literature, and confusion about what is a traditional or an indigenous crop often arises even in conversations with local people. Perhaps the confusion stems from the generally accepted norm that a crop is associated with conventional production practices and commercialisation. Indigenous crop production and use of indigenous plants for food are generally not associated with conventional agriculture. Many subsistence farmers in South Africa have known only organic farming until recently, when they were introduced to ‘new seeds’ and agricultural chemicals. On-farm opinion surveys and physical farm appraisals were undertaken at the Msinga and Embo tribal areas in KwaZulu-Natal, in an attempt to assess the knowledge of subsistence and small-scale farmers about indigenous crops and organic farming. Results showed that the traditional definition of the term ‘indigenous crop’ may be broader than ‘African only’, at least in the context of indigenous South Africans. The findings also showed that subsistence farmers take organic farming to be a peasant's approach to food production, but its health and economic merits are recognised.     

Antecedents and Performance Outcomes of Strategic Environmental Sourcing: An Investigation of Resource‐Based Process and Contingency Effects

This study develops an understanding of the antecedents and performance‐related consequences of strategic environmental sourcing (SES). Institutional pressure and the firm's environmental engagement serve as antecedents to SES, with performance dimensions including environmental, product development, and product quality performance. While direct relationships between these dimensions and SES have been studied in prior work, the present research adds greater specificity and depth by investigating process and contingency effects on product‐level outcomes. The resource‐based theory provides the theoretical motivation for these relationships, which are tested via survey data collected from sourcing professionals in the U.S. manufacturing industry. The results emphasize environmental engagement as an important process element between institutional pressure and SES, and highlight the ability of institutional pressure to strengthen the relationship between environmental engagement and SES. Environmental performance was found as an influential conduit in the relationship between SES and both product quality and product development performance, with SES also serving as a contingency.