Does Ownership Form Matter for Corporate Social Responsibility? A Longitudinal Comparison of Environmental Performance between Public,Private, and Joint‐venture Firms

This study examines whether a firm's ownership form has any influence on its social performance. Conventional wisdom suggests that public (publicly traded) corporations are more susceptible to corruption and socially irresponsible behavior than privately owned corporations because of the intense short‐term profit maximization pressure from shareholders and the lack of sufficient monitoring mechanisms. This study introduces an alternate perspective in thinking about the relationship between ownership form and corporate social responsibility. This study reasons that public corporations are more likely to become socially responsible because of their greater exposure to external influence and greater dependence on external actors with diverse interests. Using a panel data on the pollution management practices of 118 industrial facilities over a 13‐year period, this study shows that public corporations were indeed subject to greater external pressure to reduce pollution, and the pressure led to consistently stronger environmental performance.     

A Vertical World: The Eastern Alps and Modern Mountaineering

New sporting practices of modernity were products of complex dynamics of cultural remaking. Most accounts of the emergence of alpinism describe the new activity as part of modernization. As ways of seeing mountains changed, so did ways of moving in them. This involved a sharp break with the British gentlemanly preference for climbing without technical assistance. Modernists and alpinists found a new common ground in the Ostalpen of Tirol, a place commonly represented as one of the most traditional and Catholic locations in central Europe. In mountaineering, we may imagine a similar turn to that of artistic modernists. This article explores how the region pulled together two apparently oppositional cultural forces. In this process, there is no simple grand narrative of modernization that creates an international sporting culture of the mountains: on the one hand, in popular culture, the Ostalpen and the Dolomites in particular represented premodern forms of religiosity, from Orientalist aesthetics to the most conservative styles of Catholicism; on the other hand, the region served as a proving ground for the most technologically advanced and self-consciously modern forms of alpinism.     

Product universality and design for supply chain management

We describe our experience of developing models in which the principles of design for supply chain management (DFCM) have been implemented for new product development at Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). This experience arises from the development of a new product that is scheduled to be released in 1995. A key design decision faced by the product development team was whether to use a universal module or regionally dedicated modules to satisfy global market requirements. We describe a wide range of factors—including manufacturing and logistics costs—that could be used to support the design decision; these factors associated with product and process design contribute to tolal supply chain costs. We review the analytical model used to evaluate the cost and service implications of the two design alternatives. Finally, we discuss qualitative considerations that might influence the eventual decisions as well as the lessons learned from this real world experience.     

院校协作式校本课程开发与教师专业化——以香港小学常识科科学探究课为例

上世纪90年代以来,香港一直致力于教学改善.教学改善以学生的发展为终极目标,这对教师工作的专业化提出了更高的要求.教师唯有主动地在教育实践中产生一定的有创新意义的活动,才能更好地把握教育变革的脉搏.伙伴合作式校本课程开发的主旨在于通过大学研究员与教师合作,双方共同经历思考一行动一反思的过程,以促进教师专业自主性的方式优化教学.     

MEASURING PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR THE NEW CHRISTIAN RIGHT: THE PERILS OF POINT ESTIMATION

It has been reported that 30% of American adults support the"sociomoral platform of the Moral Majority" (Simpson, 1983).We lodge several criticisms of this estimate and/or the wayit has subsequently been interpreted, involving the treatmentof "don't know" responses, the selection of response categorycutting points, the passage of time, the effects of questionwording, and substance. We derive a much different estimateof public support for the Moral Majority platform in the sameyear, but our more basic conclusion is simply that public opinionon this issue, as on most complex issues, cannot be fairly reflectedby a single number.     

Why Does Presidential Popularity Decline? A Test of the Expectation/Disillusion Theory

According to the "expectation/disillusion" interpretation ofthe decline of presidential popularity over time, popularitydeclines as unrealistically high expectations of presidentialperformance inevitably give way to more realistic assessments.This paper puts that interpretation and several specific aspectsof it to the test through analysis of data from a series ofnationwide polls conducted between 1977 and 1979.     

The company-wide effects of just-in-time manufacturing within an integrated materials handling system: a case study

Abstract

The paper describes the formulation of a cellular manufacturing methodology to allow the use of an automated guided vehicle system (AGVS) in a difficult environment. The resulting methodology allowed just-in-time operation on the factory floor. The methodology was also shown to provide benefits additional to those associated with AGV usage, namely increased integration of the manufacturing control departments of the organization, and increased efficiency of their MRP system.     

台湾地区环保志工参与动机、工作满意度及组织承诺的探讨--以太鲁阁和阳明山国家公园为例

生态文明和社会文明同为中国特色社会主义建设的重要内容。志愿服务作为社会文明的标志之一，与生态文明建设发生交集即为环保志工。充分了解环保志工的特性，将有助于我国合理运用这一人力资源，利于生态环保领域公共事业的发展。以我国台湾地区太鲁阁、阳明山国家公园为例，对其环保志工进行问卷调查，用 SPSS 软件处理数据，分析志工的参与动机、工作满意度及组织承诺，并探究不同社经背景者在此3方面的差异，最后针对环保志工的有效管理和长足发展提出相关建议。     

Risk Aversion and Self-Insurance-cum-Protection

Self-insurance and self-protection have been discussed separately in the literature. However, as observed in practice, many actions individuals take to modify a potential loss serve both as self-insurance and as self-protection. Given this practical importance of self-insurance-cum-protection activities, this paper examines the effect of increased risk aversion on such activities. The analysis shows that the effect depends in part on the shape of the loss function and that of the probability function.