Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index: A Global Benchmark for Corporate Sustainability

Increasingly investors are diversifying their portfolios by investing in companies committed to the concept of corporate sustainability. Investors are attracted to this new investment style because it promises to create long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from ongoing economic, environmental and social developments. It focuses on future challenges and is capable of capturing qualitative non-financial information for criteria such as quality of management, corporate governance structures, reputational risks, human capital management, stakeholder relations, corporate social responsibility.Here we present the framework used by the Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index (DJSGI) for identifying and ranking companies according to their corporate sustainability performance. In a yearly review the 10% leading sustainability companies in each of the 64 industry groups are selected for inclusion in the DJSGI. Throughout the year the companies are continuously monitored and, if necessary, downrated or excluded from the Index. A variety of sources is used for the assessment and for cross-checking of information, including company questionnaires, company documents, publicly available information, stakeholder relations, media screening and company interviews. The selection process is externally verified and the methodology is reviewed yearly to capture the increasing knowledge and standardisation of sustainability issues and to align it with ongoing initiatives such as the Global Reporting Initiative.     

如何削弱网络口碑离散对购买意愿的负面影响:口碑分布呈现方式的讨论

网络口碑离散反映了已有评论者有关产品态度褒贬不一的程度,这种不确定性风险的传达将对消费者的购买意愿带来负面影响。本文基于已有网络口碑离散归因选择模型结论,结合双系统理论补充了分析式系统对有关口碑离散积极归因选择的促进作用,运用元认知理论检验了我国现行主流网络平台典型的三种口碑分布呈现方式对有关口碑离散积极归因选择的调节作用。本文通过2个眼动实验,共计329名被试的实证分析发现:(1)分析式系统的激活可以有效促使消费者做出有关口碑离散积极的归因选择;(2)当口碑分布呈现方式为适度复杂时,分析式系统的激活将有利于消费者在有关口碑离散的综合判断归因中做出了积极的归因选择;但并不是所有能引起信息不流畅性感知的口碑分布呈现方式都能显著影响分析式系统激活与有关网络口碑离散的积极归因选择间的关系,当口碑分布呈现方式带来的认知负荷未满足消费者的认知需要(简单呈现方式)或者超过了消费者的承载上限(非常复杂呈现方式)时,分析式系统的激活均对有关网络口碑离散积极的归因选择无显著影响,最终无法起到削弱网络口碑离散负面影响的作用(3)即使在引入平均星级水平和产品属性的讨论后,上述研究结论仍成立。本文研究结论不仅补充了网络口碑离散负面影响的削弱机制及削弱策略,而且对营销者进行网络口碑管理提供了具体且可行的参考。     

Brand image and equity: the mediating role of brand equity drivers and moderating effects of product type and word of mouth

In today’s competitive landscape, organizations are progressively searching for valuable practices to create strong consumer-based brand equity. Managers must remain vigilant and receptive to factors that influence brand equity. Accordingly, this paper addresses this issue. Specifically, the paper empirically investigates the mediating roles of three drivers of brand equity in the brand image—consumer-based brand equity relationship and explores the moderating roles of product type and word of mouth (WOM) on the linkages between brand image and brand equity. In order to understand these relationships, a questionnaire survey was administered among brand consumers, yielding a total of 321 responses. Confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha were utilized to estimate the validity and reliability of the measures. Structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation was employed to test the hypotheses. The authors find that brand image positively affects brand attachment, brand attitude, and brand awareness. Brand attachment and attitude positively influence consumer-based brand equity. The findings show that brand attachment and brand attitude partially mediate the relationship between brand image and brand equity. Product type and WOM have a significant moderating effect on the relationships among brand image, drivers of brand equity, and brand equity. The authors discuss the limitations of the study and provide future research directions.     

A Contingency Approach to Decentralization

After decades of centralization, in 1980 the central government of the Netherlands embarked upon an ambitious project to decentralize the administrative system. It proclaimed a series of general decentralization measures that aimed to improve the performance of the administrative system and to boost local democracy. This article presents the results of research into the effects of these measures. It shows that the decentralization project did not meet the high expectations. This can be explained by the fact that the theoretical framework underlying the decentralization policy was overly simple. The authors present a new framework that represents the contingent character of the effects of decentralization.     

A People-Based Approach to OBM

Abstract

This rejoinder discusses some common points raised in the commentaries of this special issue of JOBM, including (1) different definitions of positive and negative, (2) use of the terms reinforcement and establishing operation, and (3) concerns over the abandonment of behavior analysis for mentalistic research. In addition, a people-based approach to psychology is introduced and advocated as a leading-edge approach to understanding and improving organizational behavior.     

A Promissory Theory of the Duty to Tip

In this article, I argued that in contexts in which tipping is customary, there is a moral duty to tip or to explicitly tell the server that you will not be tipping. The evidence for this rests on anecdotes about people's mental states, and customers and server's intuitions about duties that would arise were a customer unable to tip his server. The promise is a speech act that is implicit in ordering food. The speech act must be matched by the server's uptake, which is implicit in her taking the order. The promise argument rests on an actual promise and not a merely hypothetical promise. If there is such a duty, then in the absence of an explicit content, its content is likely set by convention. The convention is that customers tip 15–20%. Thus, customers have a duty to tip servers 15–20%. Other purported moral considerations do not ground this duty. These include custom, desirable incentives, role‐relative obligation, and gratitude.     

A Portfolio Approach to Procurement Contracts

The purpose of this paper is to develop a general framework for supply contracts in which portfolios of contracts can be analyzed and optimized. We focus on a multi‐period environment with convex contract, spot market, and inventory holding costs. We specialize the model to the case of a portfolio consisting of option contracts. We characterize the optimal replenishment policy and show that it has a simple structure. Namely, the use of every different option contract and the spot market is dictated by a modified base‐stock policy. In addition, we derive conditions to determine when an option is relatively attractive compared to other options or the spot market. Finally, we present our computational study, where we report the sensitivity of the results to the parameters of the model. Our experiments indicate that portfolio contracts not only increase the manufacturer's expected profit, but can also reduce its financial risk.     

A managerial approach to environmental assessment

The external environment of a corporation is one of the major determinants of its strategy. While this view is readily accepted, the tools to monitor this important determinant are still relatively underdeveloped. The authors have developed a managerial process which fills this gap by enabling an organization to assess its external environment effectively and economically. The approach helps executives identify major forces for strategic change in the market and non-market dimensions of the environment. The relevance of these changes is determined by measuring their impact on the mission and the strategies of the company. The process, furthermore, provides a starting point for assessing an organization's capabilities to respond to these forces for change.     

A commonsense approach to portfolio planning

For the diversified firm, business portfolio planning offers a way of determining its individual businesses' roles and developing a synergistic corporate strategy. In practice, however, the common tools of portfolio planning—the growth/share and market attractiveness/business position matrices—present problems in that often neither of the matrices is precisely suitable for a given individual business. This article makes use of modifications of the growth/share and market attractiveness/business position matrices in order to make them more operational. The authors believe that a step-by-step ‘shirt-sleeve’ approach to portfolio planning can make this type of analysis accessible and invaluable to a small diversified firm, as well as providing insights to larger corporations with formal planning departments.     

A rational approach to career change

Recently, the number of physicians who have been interested in alternative careers has vastly increased. Many physicians express dissatisfaction with clinical practice, but they are uncertain about which nonclinical options are appropriate for them. Pursuing a different career after many years of studying and practicing medicine can seem like an overwhelming task. In this article, the author briefly outlines a decision-making process that can be used in analyzing career options and suggests some careers that have provided challenging opportunities for physicians.