Trends in sustainability reporting by the Fortune Global 250

Against the background of critique on the negative social and environmental implications of globalization, multinational enterprises have become active in reporting on activities undertaken to prevent these ‘externalities’ of international trade and production. This article analyses to what extent and in what form the trend towards non‐financial reporting, which started in the 1990s, has continued in the 21st century. It presents both trend and panel data of the Fortune Global 250 in 1998 and 2001, showing a continued and significant rise of sustainability reporting to approximately half of these multinationals, with some sector and country variations. One‐third of the reports are externally verified. Especially in Europe and Japan, the ‘sustained’ nature of sustainability reporting is accompanied by regulatory requirements and government encouragements. The number of reports that includes social (and sometimes also financial) issues has increased considerably. The article also shows that in these reports the more ‘traditional’ topics, on the environment, corporate philanthropy and employees, receive much more attention than the broader external societal issues. It concludes with a reflection on the extent to which current forms of disclosure might address the concerns raised about multinationals' behaviour. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Trajectories of sustainability reporting by MNCs

With increasing attention to sustainable business, reporting by MNCs about the social and environmental dimensions of their activities – alongside their economic impacts – has become rather common. While research has documented sustainability reporting and looked at reports’ contents, studies on MNC reporting as institutionalised phenomenon, considering evolving patterns at the firm level, have been lacking. This paper presents developments and trajectories of sustainability reporting by a panel of Fortune Global 250 firms, and also explores MNCs’ reporting trends in their sector-specific settings. Using three data points covering a period of nine years, five patterns are found: consistent reporters, late adopters, laggards, inconsistent reporters, and consistent non-reporters. Different dynamics can be seen in the various sectors, with some in which reporting has become established and others where it is more emerging. Many sectors show European frontrunners, particularly when it comes to publishing verified reports at a relatively early stage. Peculiarities and implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Corporate social responsibility in china: an analysis of domestic and foreign retailers' sustainability dimensions

In the past decade, a sizeable body of literature has built up on the concept and characteristics of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Western countries, where it has also been referred to as sustainability. More recently, attention has grown for CSR in emerging countries. Remarkably, China has hardly been studied so far. This paper aims to help fill this gap by considering, against this background, the CSR notion in China, through an exploration of a small sample of large retailers in China, both Chinese and non‐Chinese companies. The analysis of CSR/sustainability dimensions, as communicated by these large retailers in both the Chinese and the English language, shows substantial differences between the Chinese and international contexts. Interestingly, the largest divergence can be found for international retailers between their Chinese and corporate attention for CSR (so home versus host settings), most notably in the case of Carrefour, and to a lesser extent Wal‐Mart. In the Chinese context, there are differences between the Chinese and international retailers as well (so domestic versus foreign firms), with the former reporting more on economic dimensions, including philanthropy, and the latter more on product responsibility – contentious labour issues and the environment receive relatively limited attention in both groups in China. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for research and practice. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Perceptions of the value of the HR function

This article explores the added value of the HR function as it is perceived by three groups of managers: top managers, HR managers and line managers. Despite the fact that literature about strategic HRM focuses almost exclusively on the value of the HR function as a strategic partner, it was assumed that its perceived value for the business would not be restricted to the area of strategy formulation and implementation. Several 'result domains' can be distinguished in which the HR function can deliver value to the business. Based on our review of the literature, the degree of strategic involvement of the function was used as a second perspective to investigate its perceived added value. To examine our propositions, a qualitative study was carried out in which 97 HR managers, 38 top managers and 178 line managers participated. The results confirm our thesis that the perceived value of the HR function contains more than just the fulfilment of its role as a strategic partner. Based on our results, an integrated model for the perceived value of the function has been developed.     

Career Management in High‐Performing Organizations: A Set‐Theoretic Approach

The aim of this study is to investigate the elements of organizational career management (OCM) that can lead to strong organizational performance. The growing unpredictability of careers requires a different organizational approach of careers. Yet, new career models all focus on the individual as the central actor, leaving the role of the organization rather underdeveloped. Based on a combined perspective integrating insights from the literature on careers, high performance work systems, and idiosyncratic deals (I‐deals), we address four dimensions of OCM: supportive and developmental practices, development I‐deals, individual responsibility, and consensus. We study their relationships with company performance, thereby including the firm's human capital composition. Surveys were administered to the HR directors of 293 organizations. We apply a relatively new method, fsQCA (fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis), and complement this with more conventional structural equation modeling (SEM). The SEM analyses suggest that only supportive and developmental practices are positively associated with high performance. However, based on the fsQCA, three configurations are identified in which OCM is associated with high performance. The most prevalent configuration combined supportive and developmental practices with I‐deals and individual responsibility for career management. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings, and address the utility of adopting a configurational approach in career research. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Evaluating corporate environmental reporting

In the field of environmental reporting, three recent tendencies can be noted. Firstly, some countries have started to impose legal obligations on firms. Secondly, a less stringent, implicit societal demand to be open on environmental issues has arisen from both primary and secondary stakeholders. Thirdly, those firms that do report experience an increasing need to move from environmental statements and intentions to quantified, comparable, verifiable and even verified information. These developments also affect evaluation systems of environmental reports. Ratings and research differ with regard to the normative character of the approach, the importance attached to principles of external reporting, the criteria on the basis of which the reports are collected and the method of data collection. Based on an analysis of different rating systems and their results, it can be concluded that such evaluations will increasingly advance beyond the stage of counting individual reporting components, paying more attention to reliability, consistency and relevance. Meeting such stricter requirements will have implications for both practitioners and academics. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Trickle Effects of Cross-Sector Social Partnerships

Cross-sector social partnerships are often studied from a macro and meso perspective, also in an attempt to assess effectiveness and societal impact. This article pays specific attention to the micro perspective, i.e. individual interactions between and within organizations related to partnerships that address the ‘social good’. By focusing on the potential effects and mechanisms at the level of individuals and the organization(s) with which they interact, it aims to help fill a gap in research on partnerships, including more insight into the process of interaction. We conceptually explore micro level interactions, and how partnership effects may ‘trickle down’ (e.g. from management to employees), or ‘trickle up’ (from employees to management) or ‘trickle round’ (e.g. between employees). Based on the literature from various disciplines, we discuss how more generic theories on social exchange and contagion, social learning and attraction-selection-attrition can help shed light on micro level interactions in a partnership, considering in particular transmission mechanisms via employees, top and middle management, and customers. In this way, partnerships can have wider benefits, as individuals have multiple roles and effects at the micro level can spread to the meso and macro levels as well. Implications for research and practice are outlined.     

Ethics matters: the integration of ethical considerations in management accounting textbooks

This paper examines the integration of ethical considerations in management accounting (MA) education. Drawing on the work of Alisdair MacIntyre, it is argued that MA instruments such as performance measurement are not morally neutral, but instead bear moral implications. Therefore, this paper contends that MA students should be trained to take these moral implications into consideration alongside MA's technical aspects. A content analysis is carried out to examine the integration of ethical considerations in top-ranked MA textbooks. The findings indicate that these textbooks, particularly the introductory textbooks, marginally integrate ethical considerations. Furthermore, the findings point to the risk of detaching ethical considerations from the discussion of MA's technical aspects, which may weaken the potential of the ethical considerations and turn them into ‘afterthoughts’. Finally, this paper offers practical suggestions for the improvement of the integration of ethical considerations in MA education and concludes with directions for future research.     

Measuring Electoral Control

If voters do not pay attention to whatrepresentatives do, representatives are not stimulatedto be responsive. Therefore, electoral control, theextent to which voters base their vote on thebehaviour of representatives is, at least potentially,an important variable in the explanation of thebehaviour of representatives. Moreover, electoralcontrol seems to be an important variable from anormative point of view. In this article four ways tomeasure the minimal level of local electoral controlusing the outcomes of local elections (electoralstatistics) are presented. The general idea behind themeasures is fairly simple. If local elections arecompletely determined by nonlocal factors, then thelosses and gains of local divisions of nationalparties from one local election to another are`identical' across municipalities. A deviation fromthis pattern can be interpreted as an indication ofthe minimal level of local electoral control in aspecific municipality. The measures are externallyvalidated using data from a survey among council members.     

New development: Public sector controllership—reinventing the financial specialist as a countervailing power

Different types of ‘controllers’ can be distinguished in the public sector. The authors’ research indicates that public sector controllers acknowledge the distinctive characteristics of ‘hybrid’ controllers, but question some of the possible advantages of ‘pure’ controllers. This result could signal a decreasing share of pure controllers and thus a loss of financial expertise in the public sector. This article calls for the controller to be ‘re-invented’ as a professional who combines solid financial expertise with an independent and critical attitude towards overly ambitious politicians and managers. The general public’s support for public sector organizations could be enhanced if strong controllers counterbalance the sometimes too optimistic views of managers and politicians.