The financial crisis,investor activists and corporate strategy: will this mean shareholders in the boardroom?

The concept of stakeholder engagement is gaining increasing attention in the mainstream media and may feature as part of a corporation’s strategy for corporate social responsibility. Not only are boards considering how they might engage with key stakeholders, but stakeholders are also pursuing greater participation in the strategic decisions of companies in which they invest. While this is an emerging concept in companies governed by unitary boards, as in North America, the issue of stakeholder engagement in various forms is also entering debate in other countries around the world. In general, however, the idea of shareholder or stakeholder representation on the boards of most UK and Commonwealth companies is anathema. Forces now influencing the development of strategies for stakeholder engagement and the rise of active investors include changing corporate governance rules which give investors more power in the election of directors, the increasing role of pension plans and hedge fund investment groups which have produced investors who keep a close eye on company performance and value, and a sluggish or turbulent stock market as a result of the financial crisis initiated by the credit crunch in the sub-prime mortgage markets. In this paper the phenomenon of stakeholder representation is examined and results of a recent survey conducted among a large sample of New Zealand directors are presented. The findings suggest that these traditionally oriented boards are increasingly inwardly focused and are without an agenda for building and managing shareholder and stakeholder relations. Accordingly, such boards are unlikely to regard stakeholder engagement as a serious strategic issue and are thus also likely to miss significant opportunities in the changed business environment to benefit from stakeholder support.     

Are Economic Development and Education Improvement Associated with Participation in Transnational Terrorism?

Using transnational terrorism data from 1980 to 2000, this study empirically examines the relationships between frequency of participation in transnational terrorism acts and economic development and education improvement. We find an inverse U‐shaped association between the frequency of various nationals acting as perpetrators in transnational terrorism acts and per capita income in their respective home countries. As per capita incomes increase from relatively low levels, frequencies of participation in transnational terrorism increase. However, at sufficiently higher levels of per capita income, further increase in per capita income is negatively associated with the rate of participation in transnational terrorism. Education improvement from elementary to secondary is positively correlated with frequency of participation in transnational terrorism events, whereas further improvement from secondary to tertiary level is negatively correlated with participation in transnational terrorism. We also find that citizens of countries with greater openness to international trade, lower degree of income inequality, greater economic freedom, larger proportion of population with tertiary education, and less religious prevalence participate in transnational terrorism events less frequently.     

State Dependence,Serial Correlation and Heterogeneity in Intertemporal Labor Force Participation of Married Women

A dynamic search framework is developed to analyze the intertemporal labor force participation behavior of married women, using longitudinal data to allow for a rich dynamic structure. The sensitivity to alternative distributional assumptions is evaluated using linear probability and probit models. The dynamic probit models are estimated using maximum simulated likelihood (MSL) estimation, to overcome the computational difficulties inherent in maximum likelihood estimation of models with nontrivial error structures. The results find that participation decisions are characterized by significant state dependence, unobserved heterogeneity, and negative serial correlation in the error component. The hypothesis that fertility decisions are exogenous to women's participation decisions is rejected when dynamics are ignored; however, there is no evidence against this hypothesis in dynamic model specifications. Women's participation response is stronger to permanent than current nonlabor income, reflecting unobserved taste factors.     

Optimal Strategies for Traditional versus Roth IRA/401(k) Consumption During Retirement

We establish an algorithm that produces an optimal strategy for retirees to withdraw funds between their tax‐deferred accounts (TDAs), like traditional IRA/401(k) accounts, and their Roth IRA/401(k) accounts, in the context of a financial model based on American tax law. This optimal strategy follows a geometrically simple, intuitive approach that can be used to maximize the size of a retiree's bequest to an heir or, alternatively, to maximize a retiree's portfolio longevity. We give examples where retirees following the approach currently implemented by major investment firms, like Fidelity and Vanguard, will reduce their bequests by approximately 10% or lose 18 months of portfolio longevity compared to our optimal approach. Further, our strategy and algorithm can be extended to many cases where the retiree has additional, known yearly sources of money, such as income from part‐time work, taxable investment accounts, and Social Security.      

内部营销对员工品牌内化行为的影响关系与路径研究——以服务型企业为例

基于5个典型案例企业,提出了品牌内部营销的构成要素(品牌培训、品牌沟通和品牌贡献激励),发现品牌内化的结果主要体现为员工的参与意识和参与行为。对保险、银行、酒店、通信4个行业中的113家企业实施问卷调查,分析了以上3个品牌内部营销要素对品牌内化员工参与的影响关系与路径,研究发现品牌培训对品牌内化员工参与意识和参与行为没有显著的影响;品牌沟通和品牌贡献激励2个因素更能有效地影响员工参与品牌内化的意识和行为。     

Cooperative Advertising with Bilateral Participation

We study cooperative (co‐op) advertising strategies in a two‐tier distribution channel and extend the popular unilateral participation strategy to bilateral participations. Our research shows that a properly designed bilateral participation has several advantages over unilateral participation. Bilateral participation is capable of coordinating the distribution channel under a very general demand function. In addition, when channel members determine participation parameters endogenously, the bilateral participation improves the channel efficiency and leads to a Pareto improvement over the corresponding unilateral participation.     

Employee Volunteering and Social Capital: Contributions to Corporate Social Responsibility

As employee volunteering (EV) is increasingly regarded as a means of improving companies' community and employee relations, we investigate the contribution of EV to corporate social responsibility, specifically whether and how it contributes to social capital. We investigate the dynamics of EV in three UK companies. We explore the social relations and resources which underpin social capital creation; the roles of opportunity, motivation and ability in bringing the actors together and enhancing their capacity for cooperation; and the ways in which alternative EV modes inform the different dimensions of social capital – networks, trust and norms of cooperation. Our paper contributes to our understanding of EV and the factors that enable it to create social capital. Finally we assess the contribution of EV to the overall corporate social responsibility agenda of companies.     

Changing Conceptions of Employee Compensation

Abstract

This paper reviews and discusses many differing forms of incentive compensation systems that are being used in today's organizations. The review traces the roots of bonus compensation from individual piece-work plans through the adoption of organization-wide gainsharing plans to the growing recognition of open-book management. Reasons for the shift in units of analysis from the individual employee to the work team or organization as a whole are discussed. Explanations are also given for why many companies are beginning to concentrate on outcomes rather than process measures as indicators of organizational success. Lastly, suggestions for enhancing the research agenda and bridging the gap between science and practice are provided for the scientists and practitioners of organizational behavior management.     

Improving Participation in Green Infrastructure Planning

Green infrastructure is a strategic planning concept that is able to address environmental, social and even economic problems by supplying a variety of benefits for society. Especially in times of public financial crises and spatial transformation, it is important to ensure that those services are high quality to guarantee that they will provide the intended benefits by integrating stakeholders’ knowledge and experience into green infrastructure planning. Active stakeholder participation leads to legitimate and informed future planning that accounts for society’s needs. This paper investigates participation approaches of six green infrastructure investments in Belgium, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. The major aim is to explore how and when participation should take place to optimize participation in green infrastructure planning. This is achieved by surveying the stakeholders involved and conducting stakeholder discussions to identify their views on the participation approaches employed and their integration into the planning process. We found that stakeholders were generally satisfied with how they were involved but desired a broader and more tailored mix of approaches. Furthermore, we found several Arnstein gaps, which lead us to conclude by suggesting recommendations that are helpful for successful participation in green infrastructure planning.     

Employee correlates of sickness presence: A study across four European countries

The model of sickness presence (SP) proposed by Aronsson and Gustafsson consists of two parts. The first postulates SP as an employee's reaction to his/her general state of health, and as depending on employee correlates relating to the individual and the job. The second proposes longitudinal relationships between SP and future health. The present study is the first to test the first part of the model outside Scandinavia. Positive sickness presence factors studied were work involvement and job satisfaction; negative presence factors were financial household contribution, time pressure at work, and perceived job insecurity. Control variables were general health, age, gender and autonomy. Data (N=2348) were gathered from a total of 110 organizations in four European countries (Belgium, Spain, Sweden and the UK) with differing welfare state regime, degree of employment protection, labour market and sickness absence-related indicators. The data were analysed by hierarchical multiple regression per country. The findings partially confirmed the Aronsson and Gustafsson model. In all countries, employee general health status was a prerequisite of SP, and time pressure at work related to SP. In Sweden and the UK, job satisfaction related to SP. In the UK, work involvement related to SP.     

Capacity for Stakeholder Participation in Recovery Planning

It is generally accepted that meaningful participation by a representative, well-informed public contributes to a better plan. We surveyed the lead official responsible for the development of recovery plans in a sample of US Atlantic and Gulf Coast counties to determine capacity for stakeholder participation. We report on a variety of engagement techniques that were positively associated with an increase in participation in recovery plan development. We also link increased participation with better plan quality scores in plan quality principles. Investing human and fiscal resources in participation can increase involvement in the planning process and improve recovery plan quality.     

交叉上市股票价格发现及贡献差异的横截面分析

本文在非线性协整理论的基础上重新推导了Hasbrouck(1995)的信息份额模型,以A+H股上市公司为研究对象计算了每家样本公司A股与H股的信息份额,并对交叉上市股票价格发现能力的横截面特征和影响因素进行了实证研究。发现:(1)虽然交叉上市公司A、H股价格存在差异,但是两者的变动存在线性或非线性的协整关系且互为调整,平均来看A股比H股更具价格发现功能;(2)交叉上市公司间股票价格发现贡献存在较大差异;(3)流动性、市场稳定性及信息不对称对公司A、H股价格发现能力存在重要影响。     

The rudiments of an Internet-based health plan for consumers: an interview with John Danaher, MD, MBA. Interview by Richard L. Reece

Richard L. Reece, MD, interviewed John Danaher, MD, MBA, on August 16, 2000, to discuss how his new company is preparing for the perfect storm--the looming convergence of demanding consumers, defined contributions, and Internet-based health plans. He describes how his firm is putting financial and clinical tools in the hands of consumers and physicians, so consumers can be more enlightened in their health care choices. Danaher says, "We're not about buying goods and services online. We are transforming the way consumers buy health care and seek insurance. We're trying to be a 401 k where people get on, knowing their risk profile and return horizons. We aim to motivate consumers to be proactive in making health care choices. How do we make consumers responsible and motivated enough to take control of managing their health care costs? How well we articulate this call to consumer action will be the key to our success."     

Adaptation in new technology‐based ventures: Insights at the company level

Recent research shows that, owing to the presence of uncertainty and ambiguity, new ventures have great difficulties in defining a viable business model from the outset and that minor or major adaptations to this initial business model are needed as the venture evolves. Technology‐based companies are confronted with particularly high degrees of uncertainty and ambiguity. This paper therefore focuses on new technology‐based ventures as a special case worth investigating. Most of the entrepreneurship literature studies adaptation at the individual level. However, many new technology‐based firms are founded by a team of entrepreneurs. This paper therefore looks at how existing literature at the company level can inform us about adaptation in new technology‐based companies. It starts by relating the concept of adaptation in new technology‐based ventures to the existing literature on organizational adaptation at the firm level. Based on an overview of existing literature at the firm level, a propositional model is then put forward, describing (1) the process of adaptation and (2) the factors enabling adaptation in new technology‐based ventures.     

参与的乐趣——一个有中介的调节模型

随着消费个性化的提高和网络信息技术的发展,越来越多的企业通过提供定制化的产品建立顾客忠诚和赢得竞争优势。以产品定制为背景,基于顾客的视角,探讨顾客对不同参与程度的情感和行为反应及其影响因素,通过情境-角色模拟实验设计收集数据,运用逐步回归分析验证有中介的调节效应。研究结果表明,体验乐趣和满足独特性需求是顾客在参与产品定制过程中追求的重要利益;顾客参与程度正向影响消费者的感知乐趣和购买意愿,消费者独特性需求对顾客参与程度与感知乐趣和购买意愿的关系具有正向调节作用;同时,感知乐趣有效地传递顾客参与程度、独特性需求以及两者的交互作用对购买意愿的影响。因此,企业应该针对不同的细分群体采用顾客参与程度不同的定制化策略,并注重在定制过程中与顾客共同创造充满乐趣的独特体验。     

基于新消费者行为理论的供应链应急预案研究

本文利用应急管理中的分级思想和新消费者行为理论,提出了应急事件下,估计供应链损失的新方法.通过该方法能够比较容易地算出供应链应急损失值,然后把该值与应急预案的阀值进行比较,从而确定供应链应急预案的启动时机.     

The Grasshoppers and the Great Cattle: Participation and Non-Participation in the ASB's Standard-Setting Process

This paper presents the results of a research study of participation in the accounting standard-setting process in the United Kingdom. The study considers the 1,519 responses to the Accounting Standards Board's ('the ASB') proposals for accounting standards. Consistent with the findings of other studies in the USA and Australia, the present paper finds that there is a high level of participation by the preparers of financial statements in the ASB's consultation process. The paper then examines the size of the preparer firms which formally lobby the ASB. The evidence confirms that those firms which become involved in the lobbying process in the UK tend to be larger than non-lobbying firms, and the paper concludes that, as elswhere, the standard-setting process in the UK appears to be a discourse of the powerful.     

Making and Mending your Nets: Managing Relevance, Participation and Uncertainty in Academic–Practitioner Knowledge Networks

Making and mending your nets is concerned to examine, from an actor–network theory perspective, how the relevance debate concerning research and teaching is a significant non‐human actor in the development and management of industry–academic networks associated with UK business schools. By significant, we do not imply the most important because it is only one of many human and non‐human actors that may arouse interest, be problematized, enrolled and/or mobilized for such networks to become ‘obligatory passage points’ and ultimately irreversible collective assemblies. The paper then utilizes actor–network theory as a framework for examining our primary empirical research on academic–practitioner knowledge networks – nets that require a continuous making and mending in managing relevance, participation and uncertainty. We argue that the actor–network framework is more compatible than alternative knowledge diffusion or transfer models with the data we have collected on academic–practitioner knowledge networks in the UK. In accounting for the dynamic instability and precariousness of knowledge networks, it avoids raising false expectations about business knowledge and its relevance or effectiveness. If knowledge in the physical sciences and engineering unfolds slowly and unevenly in the face of many disputes, disruptions and setbacks, as actor–network theory has claimed, then how much more likely is this to be the case in the social sciences? Consequently there should be no expectations of one‐to‐one, direct causal chains between knowledge production and application, as some business school critics seemingly demand.     

跨国公司在华子公司战略角色演变的影响因素与路径：以业务范围和竞争能力为框架

通过文献研究和对世界500强在华子公司战略角色及其演变的问卷调查,发现以下结论:依据职能活动范围及竞争能力2个变量,跨国公司在华子公司可以分为单一活动、微型复制、高度专业化和战略中枢4种类型,同时存在稳定型、成长型、退化型和波动型4种演变路径。跨国公司在华子公司战略角色演变受子公司选择、母公司决策和环境驱动3方面因素的影响。跨国公司既可主动制定战略以调整子公司角色,也可以被动适应经营环境变化而改变子公司战略角色,二者均可能使子公司沿稳定型或成长型的路径演变。