Relative-to-rival corporate philanthropy,product market competitiveness,and stakeholders

Unlike most of the literature that examines the relationship between corporate philanthropy and financial performance, this study investigates the mechanisms through which corporate socially responsible behaviors produce financial outcomes. We propose that corporate philanthropy improves corporate competitiveness by eliciting positive responses from stakeholders, who assess a firm’s philanthropic contribution in relation to its rivals to determine what level of support they wish to provide to the firm. We predict that a firm’s philanthropy relative to its rivals has a positive effect on its product market competitiveness, and that this positive effect is moderated by three conditions that influence stakeholder response: stakeholder attention to philanthropy, its perceived legitimacy, and expectations of corporate giving. Our predictions are generally supported by our analyses. Overall, this paper shows that strategic philanthropy has a quantitative dimension, and firms obtain the market competitiveness associated with corporate philanthropy by integrating their rivals’ positions into their decision making.     

Integrating science and local knowledge in environmental risk management: A decision-focused approach

This paper explores how a structured decision process, based on methods from the decision sciences, can contribute to the integration of local and scientific knowledge in environmental decision making. Emphasis is placed on the use of key decision structuring steps and analytical tools to help ensure the systematic treatment of both fact-based and value-based knowledge claims. Practical methods are discussed for communicating and evaluating values and technical information across participants and cultures in ways that are methodologically rigorous and encourage different sources of credible knowledge to be considered on equal footing. Examples are presented from water use planning in British Columbia, Canada, where stakeholder consultations at 22 hydroelectric facilities demonstrate specific techniques that can be used to clarify values, to explore hypotheses, to clarify uncertainties, to identify and evaluate options, to make value-based choices, and to facilitate mutual learning.     

论企业社会责任的多元性

企业在为股东牟利之外，是否还应承担一定的社会责任，一直以来学术界并未形成一致的看法，并形成了反对社会责任论、单一社会责任论和多元社会责任论等三种流派。随着时代的发展，尤其是企业活动对外部社会的影响加剧，企业对利益相关者承担多元社会责任已成为一种客观必然，这不仅是外部社会对企业的要求，也是企业自身实现可持续发展的要求。但是，要求企业承担多元社会责任并不意味着要企业办社会或无限制地承担责任。     

企业社会责任:中国的实践及启示——基于利益相关者理论视角

从利益相关者理论角度者看,利益相关者理论与企业经济绩效具有正相关的关系。中国企业对利益相关者履行社会责任的数据表明,中国企业缺乏社会责任的主要原因是企业经营困难、经营者素质不高、社会诚信缺失及社会相关部门没有履行责任等。为了促进企业更好地履行社会责任,必须努力提高企业经营者自身素质,政府部门应抓紧完善产权、价格、激励机制等制度体系,社会各界应给予大力支持,使企业社会责任具有可考核性。     

企业社会绩效评价的利益相关者模式

国内企业综合评价还停留在财务综合评价阶段，所以在评价的内容上编重于企业的经营绩效而忽视了企业社会绩效的评价。而20世纪70年代以来西方学者在利益相关者理论的基础上提出了多种评价企业社会绩效的利益相关者模式，试图更确切地评价企业的社会绩效。本文将总结借鉴国外较有代表性的两种企业社会绩效评价模式，并试图在此基础上探讨适合我国国情的企业社会绩效评价模式。     

Supplying trees in an era of environmental uncertainty: Identifying challenges faced by the forest nursery sector in Great Britain

In recent years, numerous articles have addressed management strategies aimed at assisting forests to adapt to climate change. However, these seldom take into account the practical and economic implications of implementing these strategies, notably, supply of forest plants and seed. Using semi-structured interviews with practitioners involved in the plant and seed supply chain in Great Britain, we highlight a series of practical and economic bottlenecks commonly encountered in the supply of locally sourced seed and domestically produced planting stock for native woodland and hedging markets. We find that adoption of alternative seed sourcing strategies, designed specifically to account for directional climate warming, is likely to exacerbate existing problems by adding further complexity to decisions nurseries make about tree species and seed origins to produce. The lack of long-term market predictability brought about by the current configuration of forestry grants and regulations and, in particular, the administrative systems for processing grant applications is identified as a major impediment to having a sustainable and competitive supply of home-grown and currently adapted planting stock. Finally, the time and effort it takes to supply healthy plants for native woodland creation projects deserves much wider recognition throughout the industry and will be crucial if planting objectives are to be met sustainably.     

Sustainable evaluation and verification in supply chains: Aligning and leveraging accountability to stakeholders

Managers are being challenged by multiple (and diverse) stakeholders, which have variety of expectations and informational needs about their firm’s supply chains. Collectively, these expectations and needs form a multi-faceted view of stakeholder accountability, namely the extent to which a firm justifies behaviors and actions across its extended supply chain to stakeholders. To date, sustainable supply chain management research has largely focused on monitoring as a self-managed set of narrowly defined evaluative activities employed by firms to provide stakeholder accountability. Nevertheless, evidence is emerging that firms have developed a wide variety of monitoring systems in order to align with stakeholders’ expectations and leverage accountability to stakeholders. Drawing from the accounting literature, we synthesize a model that proposes how firms might address accountability for sustainability issues in their supply chain. At its core, the construct of sustainable evaluation and verification (SEV) captures three interrelated dimensions: inclusivity, scope, and disclosure. These dimensions characterize how supply chain processes might identify key measures, collect and process data, and finally, verify materiality, reliability and accuracy of any data and resulting information. As a result, the concept of monitoring is significantly extended, while also considering how different stakeholders can play diverse, active roles as metrics are established, audits are conducted, and information is validated. Also, several antecedents of SEV systems are explored. Finally, the means by which an SEV system can create a competitive advantage are investigated.     

The Organizational Innovation System: A systemic framework for radical innovation at the organizational level

Most research on innovation management at the organizational level has typically been focused on one specific innovation project phase or innovation management concept. This has resulted in many valuable insights, though scattered in different (innovation) research fields and studies. With the development of the Organizational Innovation System (OIS), we bring together important insights from the Innovation Systems, Open Innovation and other related fields into a guiding concept useful for both innovation managers developing (radical) innovations and innovation scholars. In this paper, we define the OIS and its key structural components, and discuss the identified functions and categories of potential imperfections. With the OIS, we provide a holistic, hands-on concept currently lacking in the open innovation approach. From the conceptualization, a framework for analysis is put forward which provides structure to the study of ongoing and finished innovation processes. Additionally, the development of the OIS is a first step in the development of a currently underdeveloped micro-level within the innovation systems perspective. The insights in OISs and the future insights derived from analytical efforts, will not only be beneficial for the performance of innovating organizations and organizational innovation systems but also for the performance of the higher, interconnected system levels.     

Air route suspension: The role of stakeholder engagement and aviation and non-aviation factors

This study provides insight into how aviation and non-aviation factors affect the decision to suspend air routes. Using examples from Australian domestic routes, the paper analyses the business relationships and negotiation processes followed by airports, airlines, and destination management organizations (DMOs) to avoid air route suspensions. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with key aviation and tourism stakeholders directly impacted by suspended routes. The outcomes of this paper demonstrate that while most of the major reasons for air route suspension in Australia are mentioned in existing literature and are linked to demand, other factors have not previously been deeply investigated, including how stakeholders can be involved to avoid air route suspension. The paper also explores and identifies strengths and weaknesses in the relationship among airlines, DMOs and airports.     

我国企业实施社会责任管理研究

西方市场经济国家自进入20世纪80年代以后,要求企业在社会责任方面做出更多贡献的呼声越来越大,我国近年来社会各界对企业的社会责任问题也越发关注。我国企业的社会责任实践活动有了初步的发展。本文通过对样本企业的数据研究,分析了我国企业对社会责任的认知现状,并从员工、股东、客户、供应商、政府、社区、社会公益事业及反商业贿赂等方面研究了我国企业社会责任的实施现状。通过对我国企业实施社会责任管理的现状分析,我们认识到我国企业在社会责任认知与实施方面与国外企业还有一定的差距,为缩小这一差距并提升我国企业社会责任的实施水平,我国企业应重视社会责任管理,把社会责任融于企业的使命、战略制定、战略实施及评价等各方面,实施企业的全面社会责任管理。