The Meaning and Meaningfulness of Corporate Social Initiatives

In response to pressures to be more “socially responsible,” corporations are becoming more active in global communities through direct involvement in social initiatives. Critics, however, question the sincerity of these activities and argue that firms are simply attempting to stave off stakeholder pressures without providing a corresponding benefit to society. By drawing on institutional theory and resource dependence theory, we consider what factors influence the adoption of a “meaningful” social initiative—an initiative that is sustainable and has the potential for a significant positive impact on society—as opposed to a symbolic initiative. In addition, we raise the question of how social initiatives—both meaningful and symbolic—participate in the “institutional war” over the meaning of corporate social responsibility.     

Corporate planning in local government: Some measurement problems

A corporate planning system makes measurement demands on an organisation which it may not have met before. This paper describes these in the context of corporate planning in local government, and discusses some typical examples, especially as far as needs for services and the effects of providing them are concerned. It also deals with the extent to which choices can be measured, and with the constraints that a real-time decision system puts on the planner.     

盛名难副: 明星 CEO 与负面信息隐藏

以 2009 年 ～ 2016 年间 A 股上市公司为研究样本,采用双重差分法研究明星 CEO 成名后负面信息的披露策略． 以 CEO 是否登上媒体发布的榜单作为明星 CEO 的代理变量,研究结果表明: 明星 CEO 上榜将显著增加隐藏负面信息的可能性,验证了“名声俘获假说”; 明星CEO上榜后发生财务重述的概率显著增加,而一旦退出榜单其隐藏负面信息的可能性则显著降低,验证了名声的负面效应． 机制检验表明明星 CEO 通过管理层权力抑制负面信息披露． 另 外,上榜前盈余质量较低、代理问题较严重的公司,其明星 CEO 隐藏负面信息的可能性更高．文章丰富了 CEO 个人特质对信息披露行为的影响及其经济后果的研究,对于资本市场的健康发展具有一定的启示意义．     

Corporate planning and Corporate Collapse

In this article John Argenti describes what he found during a year's investigation into company failure that he undertook for a recently published book ‘Corporate Collapse’. At first it was difficult to see any pattern but certain conclusions gradually emerged as he discussed the causes and symptoms of failure with more and more people.

Many of the lessons are of particular significance for bankers, shareholders, accountants and others but John Argenti believes there are a number of extremely important lessons for corporate planners as well—especially as ‘defective response to change’ turns out to be one of the prime causes of failure in mature companies.     

Doing Well by Reporting Good: Reporting Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Performance

This article aimed to examine the impacts of reporting‐type corporate responsibility activities (CRA‐R) on corporate social and financial performance. Academic research has explored how varying attributes of markets, industry sectors and firms might shape corporate social and financial performance, but includes little effort to examine the impacts of different kinds of CRA on corporate performance. We build on debate about the value of firms' reporting activities related to corporate responsibility. Recent literature suggests that CRA‐R is superficial marketing or “greenwashing.” Despite this viewpoint, corporate reporting activities related to responsibility are rising. In order to solve this puzzle, this article explores the impact of CRA‐R on corporate performance. First, drawing from the institutional perspective, we propose that CRA‐R will positively impact corporate social performance (CSP) oriented toward secondary stakeholders. Second, combining the stakeholder–agency perspective and corporate responsibility literature, we motivate the hypotheses that CRA‐R positively influences corporate financial performance (CFP). Empirical testing with a unique dataset of large US corporations selected in the Fortune 500 support the proposed hypotheses. In particular, both corporate social responsibility and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) activities positively influence corporate environmental performance, and financial performance. In particular, GRI reporting is a strong indicator to impact both social and financial performance. Our findings indicate that CRA‐R should not simply reflect shallow motivations, but deliver value to noninvestor stakeholders as well as investors.     

Corporate Social Responsibility: A Complementary Perspective of Community and Corporate Leaders

Research studies on Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) often focus on revealing corporate leaders’ attitudes toward various issues of CSR. The position of the present paper is that to understand CSR, we must grasp the collaborative perspective of CSR, and discern the attitudes of community leaders as well as corporate leaders. To this end, the study compares attitudes of community leaders with those of corporate leaders in three localities in Israel. The study examines various issues of CSR, highlighting the benefits to both community and corporation of reciprocal relations. Results from t‐tests confirmed significant differences between the groups. Some important implications for CSR particularly in terms of collaboration between community and corporation are discussed.     

企业生命周期、公司治理与公司资本配置效率

现有关于公司治理机制对公司非效率资本配置治理效果的检验大多局限于静态层面,本研究通过构建企业生命周期划分指标,从企业发展进程的动态层面考察我国上市公司资本配置效率的动态演变,并检验公司治理机制在企业不同生命周期中的治理效果.结果表明,我国上市公司过度投资随企业生命周期呈先降后升的趋势变化,且不同阶段差异显著,但投资不足在企业生命周期内几乎不发生变化.公司治理机制对公司资本配置效率的治理效果随企业生命周期发生演变.在过度投资组,董事长与总经理两职合一在成长阶段显著抑制过度投资;大股东持股在衰退阶段加剧过度投资.在投资不足组,管理层持股能够降低公司投资不足;成长阶段中董事长与总经理两职合一、成熟阶段中的独立董事反而加剧投资不足.     

管理者代理行为、公司过度投资与公司治理——基于企业生命周期视角的实证研究

通过建立企业生命周期新的划分指标,从企业发展的动态层面研究管理者代理行为与公司过度投资之间关系随企业生命周期的演变,并检验公司治理机制随企业生命周期的治理效果。结果表明,我国上市公司管理者代理行为随企业生命周期动态变化,其对公司过度投资的影响随企业生命周期发展不断减弱。不同公司治理机制的治理效果随企业生命周期也发生变化,其中董事长总经理兼任在成长阶段能够有效抑制公司过度投资,而独立董事在成熟阶段及大股东在衰退阶段均显著没有发挥应有的监督作用。成长阶段中的公司监事会能够对代理行为引致的过度投资起到显著的监督作用,而董事长总经理兼任则显著加剧代理行为引致的过度投资,成长阶段中管理层持股、成熟阶段中独立董事与外部机构持股以及衰退阶段中大股东均显著没有起到应有的治理作用。     

When reputation management is people management: Implications for employee voice

This article explores the relationship between internal reputation management, HRM, and employee voice. Drawing on qualitative data from 25 medium-size and large Norwegian organizations, we find that organizations pursue a desired reputation through a single, official corporate voice by discouraging prohibitive employee voice through technocratic control and coercive HRM practices. The emphasis on technocratic control and coercive HRM occurs despite the widely held belief in reputation and branding literatures that employees should be committed corporate ambassadors who enthusiastically promote their organization's desired reputation and deeply believe in the images they convey to internal and external stakeholders. The findings contribute to studies on reputation management by linking internal reputation management, HRM, and employee voice, pointing out “people management” aspects of reputation management and highlighting important organizational and employee-based consequences.     

关于双向声誉机制的作用机理及有效性研究

通过建立博弈论模型比较了双向声誉机制中的同步声誉机制和非同步声誉机制在实现诚实评价方面的有效性.结论表明,当买家严格偏好惩罚某种类型的卖家时,非同步声誉机制产生的评价不能真实反映坏的交易结果,如果要让非同步声誉机制实现诚实评价,则需要增加诸多约束条件.另一方面,同步声誉机制能够实现诚实评价,而且当买家严格偏好惩罚某种类型的卖家时,诚实评价还是同步声誉机制唯一的均衡.     

关于双向声誉机制的作用机理及有效性研究

以公司治理困境为切入点,讨论如何配置公司股权结构既能发挥股东的支持行为,又能增强经理人的主动性,最终促进企业自主创新行为。整合代理理论与行为动机理论,引入经理人创新动力作为中介变量,并将市场竞争程度和创新空间作为调节变量加入模型,探讨股权集中度对自主创新行为的作用路径,利用182家企业的调研数据进行模型检验。研究结果表明,股权集中度与经理人创新动力、自主创新行为之间都存在倒U形关系,股权集中度通过经理人创新动力间接影响自主创新行为,创新空间正向调节经理人创新动力与自主创新行为间的关系,且这一调节效应不影响经理人创新动力中介作用的发挥,市场竞争程度的调节作用并不显著。     

公司治理:新趋势与启示

良好的公司治理是资本市场健康发展的基石。通过概括全球公司治理的发展趋势,以及对我国和全球公司治理发展趋势的对比,认为提升我国公司治理水平需要进一步完善董事会质量和组成,大力发展机构投资者,引导中小股东向积极股东转变,此外,还需关注与企业长期价值和可持续性相关的ESG等非财务信息。     

慈善捐赠、公司治理与股东财富

近些年来,越来越多的企业开始从事慈善捐赠,而企业这种利他主义行为会给股东财富带来何种影响却始终没有得到回答。通过研究2008年汶川地震后中国上市公司的捐赠行为,本文发现慈善捐赠对于股东财富来说是一把双刃剑:不论从短期还是长期来看,累计超额回报率均和捐赠排名正相关,表明了慈善捐赠能够提升股东财富;而对于成长性高的公司而言,其捐款的机会成本较高,企业的捐赠活动降低了股东财富。更为重要的是,慈善捐赠对于股东财富的提升仅体现在大股东非绝对控股和机构持股的公司中,说明只有有效的公司治理机制才能够确保企业做出最大化股东财富的捐赠行为。本文的发现为更好地评价和规范企业慈善捐赠活动提供了一定的经验支持。     

基于“Meta分析”视角的企业社会绩效与企业财务绩效之间的关系研究

随着企业社会责任理论体系逐步的发展与完善,国内外学者开始关注企业社会绩效(CSP)与企业财务绩效(CFP)之间的关系,但是其中大量有关的研究结果却是互相矛盾的。本研究首先提出了一个理论模型以及相关研究假设,以国内外有关的实证研究文献作为研究对象,采用Meta分析方法对各项独立研究结果进行综合统计分析。其研究结果表明:企业社会绩效常常与企业财务绩效是直接地相互作用和相互影响的;企业管理能力和企业声誉作为中介变量对CSP与CFP关系有着正向的影响,其中企业声誉有着高度的影响;大多数CSP测量方法与CFP测量方法之间有着显著的正向关系,其中CSP声誉排名测量方法与CFP测量方法之间显示出相当高的正向关系,而以市场基础和会计基础CFP测量方法与CSP测量方法之间的关系要低于感知(调查)CFP测量方法的。最后,将其研究结果与相关文献的研究结果进行了比较,并提出了研究结论和相关启示。     

Firm reputation and investment decisions: The contingency role of securities analysts' recommendations

Moving beyond resource-based consequences of a firm's reputation, we develop a behavioral perspective on the impact of corporate reputation. Although there has been extensive discussion in previous studies of the benefits of reputation in terms of gaining resource advantages, we apply theory on self-regulatory focus to suggest that highly reputable firms may tend to have a prevention focus rather than a promotion focus in their investment strategies. This tendency will lead the firm to opt for low-risk investments rather than high-risk investments. Furthermore, we develop a contingency model and argue that the main effect of reputation on the investment decisions of the firm is further strengthened by the negative recommendations of securities analysts. We find support for our hypotheses. In doing so, we address emerging theories about the potential negative consequences of a firm's reputation and provide important insights for our theoretical understanding of the behavior of highly reputable firms.     

公司治理学科发展的新阶段--《公司治理学》述评

公司治理是国内外管理、经济、法律等学术界和实业界共同关注的一个世界性课题。2005年,作为中国公司治理研究的开拓者,全国首批文科长江学者特聘教授、国家“985”哲学社会科学重点研究创新基地——南开大学公司治理研究中心首席专家李维安教授主编并由高等教育出版社出版了普通高等教育“十五”国家级规划教材《公司治理学》。该书立足学科前沿,全面系统论述了公司治理学的理论基础、框架体系及运作机制。该书的出版,开创了公司治理学科发展的新阶段,标志着公司治理学在我国工商管理教育体系中学科地位的正式确立。一伴随着证券市场的建设…     

Effects of data breaches from user-generated content: A corporate reputation analysis

A threat for a growing number of firms in various industries is the occurrence of different breaches of sensitive corporate data. These critical events represent vulnerability for firms' corporate reputations, whose multiple dimensions are affected by customers negative perceptions in various ways. Further, in the Industry 4.0 era, the redundancy of scandals on social media can exacerbate negative effects. This paper reports an investigation into the effects of data breaches on corporate reputation dimensions. In this context, the study conducted latent Dirichlet allocation analysis on social media user-generated content (UGC) for a sample of 35 firms in nine industries that suffered a data breach incident between 2013 and 2016. Incidents have been categorized into three categories: “intentional and internal,” “unintentional and internal,” and “intentional and external” data breaches. The aim of the study was to discover how reputational dimensions changed after these critical events and to identify the differences among the types of data breaches.Results reveal that after critical events, more reputational dimensions appear to be relevant. While before critical events, users typically discuss the “perceived quality” of a firm's offer, after all three types of data breaches, users also pay attention to “customer orientation” and “corporate performance” dimensions. Another key reputation dimension, especially after intentional and internal data breaches, is the “firm as employer,” particularly in the context of a lack of investment in training regarding these events.These findings provide key insights for academics and practitioners to understand large-scale data breaches effects and reputational drawbacks after such incidents.     

两阶段基于信号博弈的声誉模型

建立了一个两时期基于信号博弈的声誉模型. 有两个参与人进行博弈,拥有私人信息的 参与人叫发送者,另一个不拥有私人信息的叫接收者;该声誉模型研究L 类(低能力类型) 发 送者是否有动机在第一时期建立声誉. 证明显示,如果L 类发送者在第一时期建立声誉,则他 在第二时期的最优信号更大,在第一时期的效用更小,但是,他将在第二时期获得更高的效用.