consumer stated purchasing preferences and corporate social responsibility in the wood products industry a conjoint analysis in the u s and china the impacts of disclosed level of corporate social responsibility csr domestic versus imported origin and type of construction on consumers stated wood product purchasing preferences were examined in the u s and china hierarchical logit models based on a bayesian framework were utilized to test the magnitude and statistical significance of each wood product attribute using survey data results indicate that u s and chinese respondents a were more likely to choose products from manufacturing companies with a higher level of csr rating compared with an unknown one b preferred domestically manufactured wood products compared to imported ones and c expressed higher interest in wood products made of solid wood compared with composites in terms of demographics respondents higher education levels corresponded with higher preferences for products from companies with the highest five star csr rating in the u s statistically significant income effects were detected only in the chinese sample when respondents indicated their purchasing preferences for wood products with three star or five star csr levels implications for improving wood products companies managerial performance and suggestions for future studies are provided

what drives corporate social performance the role of nation level institutions based on whitley s national business systems nbs institutional framework we theorize about and empirically investigate the impact of nation level institutions on firms corporate social performance csp using a sample of firms from 42 countries spanning seven years we construct an annual composite csp index for each firm based on social and environmental metrics we find that the political system followed by the labor and education system and the cultural system are the most important nbs categories of institutions that impact csp interestingly the financial system appears to have a relatively less significant impact we discuss implications for research practice and policymaking

control and performance of international joint ventures control is a critical concept for successful management and performance of international joint ventures ijvs this paper reviews and synthesizes prior studies addressing the conceptualization and operationalization of control within ijvs as well as the ijv control performance relationship the paper also presents a new conceptualization of ijv control as well as a conceptual frame work for studying control of ijvs

corporate social responsibility of the most highly reputed european and north american firms the objective of this article is double first to analyze using a descriptive analysis the main differences in the level and components of social behaviour between european and north american firms and second to contrast empirically using a multiple linear regression model whether the motives behind corporate social behaviour are different depending on the region or country of the firm with this aim an indicator of social behaviour termed effort in sustainability has been constructed by aggregating the firm s social effort with customers employees community and environment for a sample of the 40 european and north american companies most highly reputed in the years 2003 and 2004 the results obtained indicate that the region or country of the firm influences the level components and motivation of its social behaviour

the impact of institutional and social context on corporate environmental social and governance performance of companies committed to voluntary corporate social responsibility initiatives abstract using a neo institutional framework this paper discusses the role of national specific social cultural legal regulatory and economic differences when determining the way that companies committed to a specific voluntary corporate social responsibility csr initiative operate in different sustainability dimensions the differences between companies environmental social and governance esg performance of the companies operating in the three countries with highest number of firms committed to the united nations global compact ungc spain france and japan is assessed through a multidimensional hj biplot technique which is a statistical technique that provides a joint graphical representation in a low dimensional euclidean space usually a plane of a multivariate data matrix this research contributes to the existing literature providing quantitative evidence of how different country specific social and institutional schemes influence companies esg performance the main results reveal the existence of two clusters of companies behaving in different ways with regard of sustainability issues first spanish and french companies exhibit similar levels of social and corporate governance performance higher than those of japanese firms second japanese firms seem more committed to environmental issues than spanish and french companies these results confirm that the different countries with different institutional backgrounds induce different priorities among their firms in terms of esg performance even under a common commitment to the same principles of adopted csr initiative

understanding the evolution and performance of water markets and allocation policy a transaction costs analysis framework abstract water markets and associated allocation policy reforms have struggled to achieve their intended goals in many water stressed rivers in part due to the institutional friction imposed by transition and transaction costs this paper elaborates a transaction costs analysis framework to examine the evolution and performance of water markets and allocation policy reforms this analysis rests on three pillars i a synthesis of three theoretical traditions of institutional analysis williamson north and ostrom often considered independently ii a framework to examine the types and interactions of transaction costs in market based water allocation over time and iii an illustrative analysis of three large river basins the colorado columbia and murray darling with varying levels of success in market based water policy reforms the resulting framework accounts for water s complexity as an economic good this framework and the case studies lead to the identification of several policy implications including the need for a multiphase sequencing of reform strategic investment in institutional transition costs and institutional choices that preserve future flexibility to adjust water rights and diversion limits to manage social and environmental externalities

cultural values and international differences in business ethics we analyze ethical policies of firms in industrialized countries and try to find out whether culture is a factor that plays a significant role in explaining country differences we look into the firm s human rights policy its governance of bribery and corruption and the comprehensiveness implementation and communication of its codes of ethics we use a dataset on ethical policies of almost 2 700 firms in 24 countries we find that there are significant differences among ethical policies of firms headquartered in different countries when we associate these ethical policies with hofstede s cultural indicators we find that individualism and uncertainty avoidance are positively associated with a firm s ethical policies whereas masculinity and power distance are negatively related to these policies

micro processes of translation in the transfer of practices from mne headquarters to foreign subsidiaries the role of subsidiary translators recent research has increasingly emphasized the micro foundations of knowledge transformation in multi national enterprises mnes although the literature has provided ample evidence of the enablers of and barriers to the translation of practices less is known about the activities and efforts of translators that lead to specific types of translation in the context of the transfer of practices initiated at a mne s headquarters hq to foreign subsidiaries we apply a scandinavian institutionalist approach to examine the translation of corporate social responsibility reporting an hq initiated practice that is transferred to five foreign subsidiaries of a uk based mne our paper builds from a preliminary framework based on extant research to develop an extended framework of the micro processes of translation by theorizing the sequence of the micro processes undertaken by translators identifying the conditions under which they occur and connecting them to the three types of translation we provide a deep understanding of the micro foundations of translation when transferring practices from hq to subsidiaries our paper shows that translation is an evolving phenomenon and illuminates the importance of attending to the social spatial and temporal situatedness of translators it also brings insights into the individual experience of institutional distance and its effects on translation

the political roots of corporate social responsibility this article argues that whether and how a firm chooses to adopt corporate social responsibility csr initiatives is conditional in part upon the domestic political institutional structures present in its home market it demonstrates that economic globalization has increased the pressure applied to companies to develop csr policies that might help overcome specific governance gaps associated with the globalization phenomenon drawing upon an examination of domestic institutions and overall political structure it argues that the political conditions and expectations present in a company s home market will condition whether a firm might pursue csr activity for home markets it is posited that perceived electoral salience will be filtered through government type and ideology and state societal structures will influence if and how firms will use csr specific arguments are developed from these categorizations the article concludes with a discussion of how researchers might further explore links between csr domestic political structures and corporate political activity

the economic and financial gains from water markets in chile abstract chile is one of the few countries that has encouraged the use of markets in water resource management in order to assess the impact of water markets and transactions costs in chile four river valleys the maipo elqui limari and the azapa were selected as case studies transactions from the elqui and limari valleys during the years 1986 to 1993 were analyzed to determine the gains from trade from market transfers in the economic and financial analysis of water markets crop budgets were used to estimate the value of water in agricultural production the value of water use rights to urban water supply companies was estimated using the avoided cost of an alternative investment in a water storage reservoir the analysis demonstrated that the market transfer of water use rights does produce substantial economic gains from trade in both the elqui and limari valleys these economic gains produce rents for both buyers and sellers but buyers especially farmers growing profitable crops who buy water use rights and individuals buying water use rights for potable water supply receive higher rents then sellers large table grape producers in the limari valley and individuals buying water for human consumption in the elqui valley received the highest rents in the elqui valley net gains from trade per share were within the range of recent transfer prices of us 1000 in the limari valley gains from trade per share are 3 4 times the recent prices of us 3000 for a share of water from the cogoti reservoir where trading was active especially in the limari valley transactions costs have not presented an appreciable barrier to trading nonetheless in the large canal systems with fixed flow dividers in the elqui and maipo valley there have been very few transactions various factors contribute to the lack of trading but the absence of trading in these large canal systems highlights the costs of modifying fixed infrastructure especially for trades between farmers

escaping the iron cage liabilities of origin and csr reporting of emerging market multinational enterprises this article examines the link between the condition of institutional voids in emerging markets and the use of the practice of corporate social responsibility csr reporting by emerging market multinational enterprises em mnes based on neo institutional theory and in light of the specificity of emerging markets we propose a positive relationship between institutional voids and csr reporting home country institutional voids push companies to internationalize as a way to escape the institutional constraints and inefficiencies in their own markets but at the same time create legitimacy challenges for these companies abroad in particular em mnes from less institutionally developed countries are likely to face liabilities of origin negative perceptions in host countries about these firms willingness and ability to conduct legitimate business csr reporting is an effective strategy to overcome such liabilities and barriers to legitimation as it conveys to host countries and global stakeholders alignment with global meta norms and expectations internationalization listing on developed country stock exchanges and time further magnify em mnes legitimacy challenges and thus the use of csr reporting to mitigate them our hypotheses are supported in a longitudinal study of 157 of the largest em mnes ranked by the united nations conference on trade and development unctad between 2004 and 2011

bargaining power ownership and profitability of transnational corporations in developing countries as the bargaining power of the transnational corporations tncs in the sample increased relative to the bargaining power of the host country and as the desire of the tncs for a high level of equity ownership increased the percent equity ownership of the tncs in their subsidiaries increased the relationship between percent equity ownership and subsidiary success from the tncs viewpoint however was j shaped high and low levels of equity ownership were associated with high levels of success control of critical operational variables by the tnc was directly related to success

irrigation districts and water markets an application of cooperative decision making theory water supply organizations control a large portion of agricultural water rights in the western u s this paper applies cooperative and club theory models to analyze the response of these organizations to potential rural to urban water transfers application of the models is to a proposed water trade between southern california s imperial irrigation district and metropolitan water district the analysis reveals that substantial intraorganizational conflict can emerge in response to specific transfer proposals and this conflict may be sufficient to defeat or delay otherwise beneficial transfers poorly defined property rights and a failure to align these rights with operational control in the water supply organization are pinpointed as key sources of conflict

do esg controversies matter for firm value evidence from international data the aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between environmental social and governance esg controversies and firm market value we use a unique dataset of more than 4000 firms from 58 countries during 2002 2011 primary analysis surprisingly shows that esg controversies are associated with greater firm value however when interacted with the corporate social performance csp score esg controversies are found to have no direct effect on firm value while the interaction appears to be highly and significantly positive building on this evidence we attempt to explore the channels through which csp may enhance market value conducting sample split analysis indicates that higher csp score has an impact on market value only for high attention firms those firms which are larger perform better located in countries with greater press freedom more searched on the internet more followed by analysts and have an improved corporate social reputation thus our findings provide new insights on the role of firm visibility through which firms can profit from their csp

what determines principle based standards implementation reporting on global compact adoption in spanish firms international accountability standards have proliferated in the last 20 years with the un global compact gc as the most widely accepted principle based standard catalyzing voluntary participation by firms this study aims to improve understanding about the factors that determine companies progress in adopting principle based standards drawing on the resource based view of the firm we examine the direct and combined influences of different organizational resources firm specific resources innovative capability length of participation and internationalization of the firm on standard implementation as perceived by 213 spanish gc signatories our results reveal that the level of firm specific resources has a positive effect on the extent of gc principles implementation and that innovative capability and length of gc participation strengthen this effect contrary to our expectations we find that the internationalization of firms does not have an effect on gc principles implementation we discuss the implications of these findings for scholars and practicing managers

a framework to update hofstede s cultural value indices economic dynamics and institutional stability this study offers an update of the hofstede cultural value dimensions we argue that changes in economic conditions are the source of cultural dynamics while the endurance of institutional characteristics provides the foundation for cultural stability it is found that national wealth measured by gdp per capita has a curvilinear relationship with individualism long term orientation and power distance scores relatively speaking uncertainty avoidance and masculinity mainly reflect some rather stable institutional traditions such as language religion climate ethnic homogeneity and legal origin and are less likely to change over time

corporate sustainability reporting index and baseline data for the cruise industry sustainability policies and corporate reports demonstrate the impacts cruise companies acknowledge as their responsibility and the actions put in place to address them this paper develops a corporate social responsibility index based on the global reporting initiative with industry specific additions including labor and human rights health and safety and environmental and economic aspects companies disclose more management than performance data which is typical of early stages of development companies disclosing less information focus on soft indicators which are easy to mimic and demonstrate posturing items disclosed tend to be marginal to the core of the business have a positive economic impact or pre empt sector regulation reports echo the voice of the corporations and not the demands of stakeholders institutional isomorphism has not influenced a homogenization in reporting with only the largest firms reporting at this stage

the scope for collective action in a large groundwater basin an institutional analysis of aquifer governance in western australia the gnangara groundwater system in western australia supports multiple ecological systems and human uses and is under unprecedented stress this paper examines some of ostrom s situational variables for the analysis of institutional choice in common pool resources as they relate to the gnangara case the institutional analysis identifies elements of the current governance institutions that could be altered to facilitate collective action we use data from a set of water licensing documents obtained from the state s department of water a number of factors are identified as inhibiting the potential for collective action current arrangements are top down in nature with all rules monitoring and any enforcement supplied by the state level management agency norms and expectations among appropriators appear to be competitive rather than co operative and discount rates appear to be high monitoring and enforcement are under supplied and opportunistic behaviour affects compliance the interactions between user and regulator influence the appropriation of flows and have resulting impacts on the resource stock we conclude that several factors in this case prejudice the development of collective action institutions by appropriator efforts alone the study highlights important aspects of the institutional arrangements in place and their likely effects upon the attitudes and behaviours of appropriators who along with wildlife and ecosystems depend on the common pool resource

multinationals and corporate social responsibility in host countries does distance matter prior studies have found that foreign affiliates of multinational enterprises mnes suffer from liability of foreignness lof foreign affiliates may be able to improve their social legitimacy and overcome lof by demonstrating social commitment to host country constituents through corporate social responsibility csr if lof is positively related to the distance between the home and host countries and csr activities confer social legitimacy benefits on foreign affiliates we should expect csr activities and distance to be positively related however we argue that despite this potential motivation foreign affiliates from more distant home countries are in fact less likely to engage in host country csr our argument focuses on the ways in which distance affects the mne s willingness and ability to engage in csr abroad we also predict that host country csr reputation negatively moderates this relationship using community reinvestment act data for foreign bank affiliates from 32 countries in the united states over 1990 2007 we find strong support for our hypotheses the paper enriches our understanding of csr practices in mnes and of when and how mnes try to overcome legitimacy issues in host countries

the signaling effect of corporate social responsibility in emerging economies what signals do firms in emerging economies send to stakeholders when they adopt corporate social responsibility csr practices we argue that in emerging economies firms that adopt csr practices positively signal investors that their firms have superior capabilities for filling institutional voids from an institution based view we hypothesize that the institutional environment moderates the signaling effect of csr on a firm s financial performance based on a sample of firms from ten asian emerging economies we find a positive relationship between csr practices and financial performance this positive relationship is stronger in the less developed capital market than in the more developed one the financial benefits of csr practices are also more salient in the low information diffusion market than in the high one we emphasize that signaling theory and the institution based view can jointly contribute to the csr literature

partner contributions as predictors of equity share in international joint ventures the type of expertise that a company contributes to a joint venture may affect the amount of equity that it owns this research observes the ownership patterns associated with four common combinations of partner expertise in international joint ventures the results rank company assets with respect to the contributor s ability to negotiate majority ownership in the original joint venture contract and that company s tendency to buy up equity from the partner later on

the impact of stakeholder power on corporate reputation a cross country corporate governance perspective corporate reputation has roots in national beliefs about the role of the business corporation in society these beliefs are constructed in accordance with the preferences of powerful stakeholders building on a stakeholder power approach to corporate governance we investigate whether differences in the legal rights and protections of shareholders creditors and workers across countries affect the general public s reputation assessments of business corporations using a sample of 593 of the largest publicly traded companies in the world from 32 countries during 2007 to 2011 we find that in societies where shareholders enjoy a high degree of legal rights the impact of stock market returns on corporate reputation becomes more positive likewise the negative relationship between earnings volatility and reputation becomes greater when creditor rights are stronger contrary to expectations we found no evidence of an interaction effect between labor rights and corporate social performance on corporate repu

how virtuous global firms say they are a content analysis of ethical values this study compares the different emphases on virtuous characters presented in their values across global firms considering country and industry of origin it presents a content analysis of the 122 codes of conduct statements from fortune global 500 firms drawn from four sectors and using correspondence analysis american firms tend to emphasize courage while european firms emphasize integrity and empathy surprisingly with asian firms being closer to european ones retailers and pharmaceutical firms emphasize empathy while banks and petroleum emphasize courage this study extends the newly emerging strategic paradigm of organizational virtue by introducing an empirical study of ethical values implications for multinational companies are then discussed

a review of sustainable supply chain management practices in canada there is a growing body of research on the theory and practice of sustainable supply chain management sscm however relatively little research has been conducted on the extent to which corporations have integrated sustainability principles into the management of their supply chain and the evaluation of supplier performance the purpose of this article is to explore the extent to which corporate sustainability principles are integrated into supply chain management scm in corporations canada is used as a case study in this article the study included a content analysis of one hundred canadian corporate sustainable development reports and in depth interviews with 18 canadian experts on sscm the article highlights the wide array of ways in which canadian corporations address sscm issues amongst other topics issues associated with supply chain governance standards for sscm collaboration with suppliers performance measurement and accountability within the supply chain are explored the findings reveal that there are many challenges in integrating sustainability into scm these challenges shed light on possible future directions for research in sscm this article underlines the need for research that reflects the interconnected nature of the economic environmental and social dimensions of sustainability particularly as it relates to measuring supplier performance on sustainability initiatives

how do firms comply with international sustainability standards processes and consequences of adopting the global reporting initiative this paper addresses the issue of the influence of global governance institutions particularly international sustainability standards on a firm s intra organizational practices more precisely we provide an exploratory empirical view of the impact of the global reporting initiative gri on a multinational corporation s corporate social responsibility csr management practices we investigate standard compliance by comparing the stated intention of the use of the gri with its actual use and the consequent effects within the firm based on an in depth case study our findings illustrate the processes and consequences of the translation of the gri within the organization we show that substantive standard adoption can lead to unintended consequences on csr management practices specifically it can influence the management structure and csr committee function the choice of csr activities the relationships between subsidiaries the temporal dimension of csr management and the interpretation of csr performance we also highlight the need to look at the relationship dynamics or lack of between standards finally we illustrate and discuss the role of reporting and its influence on management in order to better understand the internal issues arising from compliance with standards

an integrated anti opportunism system in international exchange building on economic and social exchange theories this study develops an integrated model in which curtailing opportunism in international joint ventures ijvs requires four interrelated sets of suppressing forces 1 contractual ordering contractual inclusiveness and contractual obligatoriness 2 structural ordering managerial governance and equity captiveness 3 relational ordering interparty attachment and boundary spanner ties and 4 justice ordering procedural justice and distributive justice using a sample of 192 ijvs in an emerging market this study finds general support for our theoretical model our research validates that countering opportunism involves a system wide effort that integrates economic and social mandates unifies ex ante and ex post mechanisms controls both egoistic and non egoistic motivations and combines organizational level and individual level forces for partners from individualist cultures economic ordering forces contractual and structural are stronger than social ordering forces relational and justice in relation to opportunism resistance whereas for partners from a collectivistic culture social ordering forces are relatively stronger than economic ordering forces for this end

the value of scarce water measuring the inefficiency of municipal regulations abstract rather than allowing urban water prices to reflect scarcity rents during periods of drought induced excess demand policy makers have mandated command and control approaches primarily rationing the use of water outdoors while such policies are ubiquitous and likely inefficient economists have not had access to sufficient data to estimate their economic impact using unique panel data on residential end uses of water in 11 north american cities we examine the welfare implications of urban water rationing in response to drought using estimates of expected marginal prices that vary both across and within markets we estimate price elasticities specific to indoor and outdoor water use our results suggest that current policies do target water uses that households themselves are most willing to forgo nevertheless we find that rationing outdoor water in cities has costly welfare implications primarily due to household heterogeneity in willingness to pay for scarce water we find that replacing rationing policies with a market clearing drought price would result in welfare gains of more than 29 of what households in the sample spend each year on water

role conflict and role ambiguity of chief executive officers in international joint ventures this study examines the organizational and personal correlates of role conflict and role ambiguity of chief executive officers heading international joint ventures role conflict was found to be lower when the number of parent firms was higher and when the ceo had spent more years with the organization role ambiguity was found to be lower when the ceo had more years of education when the power distance and masculinity femininity gap between parents were lower and when the individualism collectivism and uncertainty avoidance gaps were higher the implications of these findings for role theory and international management are discussed

the role of the board of directors in disseminating relevant information on greenhouse gases in today s world the corporate image of the largest companies is closely linked to their performance in the field of corporate social responsibility and the disclosure of information on that topic specifically on climate change since the board of directors is the body responsible for this process the aim of this article is to show the role that companies boards of directors play in the accountability process vis a vis stakeholders in relation to one specific aspect which has enormous significance in environmental information practices used to monitor greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve this we shall verify certain business characteristics in addition to the size and activity of the board of directors and we shall take different dependence models into consideration these models will include variables related to the level of independence and diversity of the board of directors which interact with dummy variables representing the company s litigation risks regarding environmental behavior and the institutional macro context of the organization s country of origin the results make it clear that boards of directors are basically focused on the traditional responsibility of creating economic value instead of dealing with today s broader business world concepts which include social responsibility this focus therefore does not favor the accountability process before other stakeholders if this makes it more difficult to protect the interests of shareholders

is corporate responsibility converging a comparison of corporate responsibility reporting in the usa uk australia and germany corporate social reporting while not mandatory in most countries has been adopted by many large companies around the world and there are now a variety of competing global standards for non financial reporting such as the global reporting initiative and the un global compact however while some companies e g henkel bhp johnson and johnson have a long standing tradition in reporting non financial information other companies provide only limited information or in some cases no information at all previous studies have suggested that there are country and industry specific differences in the extent of csr reports e g kolk et al 2001 business strategy and the environment10 15 28 kolk 2005 management international review45 145 166 maignan and ralston 2002 journal of international business studies33 3 497 514 however findings are inconclusive or contradictory and it is often difficult to compare previous studies owing to the idiosyncratic methods used in each study graafland et al 2004 journal of business ethics53 137 152 furthermore previous studies have relied mainly on simple measures such as word counts and page counts of reports to compare the extent of reporting that may not capture significant differences in the content of the reports in this article we seek to overcome some of these deficiencies by using textual analysis software and a more robust statistical method to more objectively and reliably compare the csr reports of firms in different industries and countries we examine a sample of leading companies in four countries us uk australia and germany and test whether or not membership of the global compact makes a difference to csr reporting and is overcoming industry and country specific factors that limit standardization we conclude that globalcompact membership is having an effect only in certain areas of csr reporting related to the environment and workers and that businesses from different countries vary significantly in the extent to which they promote csr and the csr issues that they choose to emphasize in their reports these country differences are argued to be related to the different institutional arrangements in each country

ties that grind corroborating a typology of social contracting problems contractualism conceives of firm stakeholder relations as cooperative schemes for mutual benefit in essence contractualism holds that these schemes as well as the normative principles that guide and constrain them are ultimately ratified by the consent and endorsement of those subject to them this paper explores the empirical validity of a contractualist perspective on firm stakeholder relations it first develops a typology of firm stakeholder contracting problems it subsequently confronts this typology with empirical data collected in an interview study of concrete stakeholder management practices involving in depth research interviews with forty four managers working in the dutch financial services industry the findings of this theory building study suggest that there are limits to the applicability of the contract model in the context of stakeholder management and that disregarding either the model or its limitations may lead to highly ineffective firm stakeholder relations

inter partner credible threat in international joint ventures an infinitely repeated prisoner s dilemma model we use an infinitely repeated prisoner s dilemma model to examine the role of inter partner credible threat in international joint ventures ijvs inter partner credible threat refers to the certainty of either partner s retaliation given the other partner s earlier cheating we argue that inter partner credible threat represents the first order determinant and partners management control represents the second order determinant of partner payoffs when inter partner credible threat is present both partners achieve balanced payoffs whereas when it is absent partners relative control will determine their relative payoffs in depth interview data from four ijvs in china provide preliminary support for our theoretical arguments

corporate social responsibility in challenging and non enabling institutional contexts do institutional voids matter the extant literature on comparative corporate social responsibility csr often assumes functioning and enabling institutional arrangements such as strong government market and civil society as a necessary condition for responsible business practices setting aside this dominant assumption and drawing insights from a case study of fidelity bank nigeria we explore why and how firms still pursue and enact responsible business practices in what could be described as challenging and non enabling institutional contexts for csr our findings suggest that responsible business practices in such contexts are often anchored on some csr adaptive mechanisms these mechanisms uniquely complement themselves and inform csr strategies the csr adaptive mechanisms and strategies in combination and in complementarity then act as an institutional buffer i e institutional immunity which enables firms to successfully engage in responsible practices irrespective of their weak institutional settings we leverage this understanding to contribute to csr in developing economies often characterised by challenging and non enabling institutional contexts the research policy and practice implications are also discussed

natural gas prices lng transport costs and the dynamics of lng imports according to the u s energy information administration lng is projected to become a much larger share of u s natural gas consumption rising from current levels of around 2 5 of total natural gas consumption to 12 4 by 2030 because natural gas and lng are substitutes natural gas prices are expected to be an important determinant of lng imports furthermore an increasing share of lng is traded under short term contracts with spot shipments being diverted to markets offering the highest returns netbacks relative natural gas prices as well as lng transportation costs are important determinants of lng netbacks this paper examines the empirical relationship between u s lng imports the henry hub price of natural gas relative to u k and asia gas prices and a proxy for lng transportation costs using monthly data from 1997 to 2007 granger causality tests error variance decomposition and impulse response analyses using a var model are employed to establish granger causality as well as the dynamics of natural gas prices and lng transportation innovations on lng imports

what drives natural gas prices a structural var approach abstract in this study we develop a structural vector autoregressive model var for the german natural gas market our setup allows us to analyze the determinants of the natural gas price in a comprehensive framework in particular we illustrate the usefulness of our approach by disentangling the effects of different fundamental influences on gas prices during three recent supply interruptions the russian ukrainian gas dispute of january 2009 the libyan civil war in 2011 and the withheld russian exports in february 2012 our results show that the natural gas price is affected by temperature storage and supply shortfalls in the short term while the long term development is closely tied to both crude oil and coal prices capturing the economic climate and the substitution relationship between the different energy commodities

measuring performance of international joint ventures international joint ventures ijvs are increasing in frequency and strategic importance however efforts to identify variables associated with ijv performance have been constrained by disagreements regarding the comparability and reliability of alternative performance measures and methods this study tests several hypotheses regarding the reliability and comparability of a range of objective and subjective measures of ijv performance as well as evaluating the relative utility of different data collection approaches

company delistings from the un global compact limited business demand or domestic governance failure while a substantial amount of the literature describes corporate benefits of corporate social responsibility csr initiatives the literature is silent concerning why some companies announce csr initiatives yet fail to implement them the article examines company delistings from the un global compact delistings are surprising because the csr agenda is seen as having won the battle of ideas the analysis proceeds in two parts i first analyze firm level characteristics focusing on geography while controlling for sector and size i find that geography is a significant factor while small firms are more likely to be delisted than large firms and some sector characteristics determine delistings next i proceed to uncover country level characteristics including the degree of international economic interdependence as well as the quality of governance institutions multivariate regression analysis shows that companies are less likely to be delisted from countries where domestic governance institutions are well functioning to a lesser extent i find that firms from countries with international economies are more willing to comply with the un global compact requirements countries with a high share of outward fdi capita have a lower share of delisted firms as do countries that are internationally competitive

united nations global compact the promise performance gap the united nations global compact ungc was created in 2000 to leverage un prestige and induce corporations to embrace 10 principles incorporating values of environmental sustainability protection of human rights fair treatment of workers and elimination of bribery and corruption we review and analyze the gc s activities and impact in enhancing corporate social responsibility since inception first we propose an analytical framework which allows us to assess the qualities of the ungc and its principles in the context of external and internal elements that influence code effectiveness and implementation second we analyze ungc performance in encouraging companies to become signatory members and bring about demonstrable change in corporate csr sustainability activities in its 10 year report ungc has proclaimed growth in both membership and program activity however all credible and publicly available data and documentation conclusively demonstrate that the ungc has failed to induce its signatory companies to enhance their csr efforts and integrate the 10 principles in their policies and operations the result has been a loss of public trust and support of ungc from important constituencies among civil society organizations and those individuals and groups adversely impacted by corporate activities and resultant negative externalities this diminished credibility has also made ungc largely dependent on the corporate sector for its very survival we conclude that this dependence has in turn impaired and would continue to hinder ungc s ability to fulfill its mission such an outcome raises serious questions as to the viability usefulness and continued existence of ungc

firm ownership preferences and host government restrictions an integrated approach two approaches may explain how multinational enterprises mnes select ownership structures for subsidiaries the first argues that mnes prefer structures that minimize that transaction costs of doing business abroad the second argues that ownership structures are determined by negotiations with host governments whose outcomes depend on the bargaining power of the firm this paper presents a framework integrating these two approaches and uses statistical methods to separate their effects empirically

correlation between chinese and international energy prices based on a hp filter and time difference analysis abstract to establish a reasonable system and mechanism for chinese energy prices we use the granger causality test hodrick prescott hp filter and time difference analysis to research the pricing relationship between chinese and international energy prices we find that chinese and international crude oil prices changed synchronously while chinese refined oil prices follow the changes of international oil prices with the time difference being about 1 month to 2 months further australian coal prices granger causes chinese coal prices and there is a high correlation between them the u s electricity price is influenced by the wti crude oil price the u s gasoline price and the henryhub gas price due to the unreasonable price setting mechanism and regulation from the central government china s terminal market prices for both electricity and natural gas do not reflect the real supply demand situation this paper provides quantitative results on the correlation between chinese and international energy prices to better predict the impact of international energy price fluctuations on china s domestic energy supply and guide the design of more efficient energy pricing policies moreover it provides references for developing countries to improve their energy market systems and trading and to coordinate domestic and international energy markets

business and children mapping impacts managing responsibilities in recent years issues of childhood obesity unsafe toys and child labor have raised the question of corporate responsibilities to children however business impacts on children are complex multi faceted and frequently overlooked by senior managers this article reports on a systematic analysis of the reputational landscape constructed by the media corporations and non government organizations around business responsibilities to children a content analysis methodology is applied to a sample of more than 350 relevant accounts during a 5 year period we identify seven core responsibilities that are then used to provide a framework for enabling businesses to map their range of impacts on children we set out guidelines for how to identify and manage the firm s strategic responsibilities in this arena and identify the constraints that corporations face in meeting such responsibilities

exploring the driving factors of global lng trade flows using gravity modelling abstract taking into account the attributes of the liquefied natural gas lng trade and the space time characteristics of trade flows this paper identifies the multiple dimensional factors that influenced the global lng trade between 2004 and 2015 following an analysis of the data via the application of gravity models the empirical results of this study indicate that these influencing factors possess both general and regional characteristics in contrast to general trade the lng trade is mainly affected by the economic magnitude of the demand side regionally pipeline natural gas has a significant substitute effect on the lng trade within the global model though not within the asian model additionally the lng trade in asia is more sensitive to the influence of import prices and research and development investment than in the global model our subsample analyses show that the results are robustness across different periods finally this paper discusses pertinent policy implications for the lng trade especially as related to asia

modes of foreign entry a transaction cost analysis and propositions a frontier issue in international marketing is the appropriate choice of entry mode in foreign markets the objective of this paper is to offer a transaction cost framework for investigating the entry mode decision this framework provides 1 a theoretical basis for systematically interrelating the literature into propositions 2 propositions about interactions which resolve the apparently contradictory arguments advanced to date specifically the paper illustrates the feasibility of clustering 17 entry modes into the degree of control the mode provides the entrant proposes that the most appropriate i e most efficient entry mode is a function of the tradeoff between control and the cost of resource commitment advances testable propositions delimiting the circumstances under which each mode maximizes long term efficiency

foreign direct investment the role of institutional and cultural determinants abstractusing panel data for 29 source and 65 host countries in the period 1995 2009 we examine the determinants of bilateral fdi stocks focusing on institutional and cultural factors the results reveal that institutional and cultural distance is important and that fdi has a predominantly regional aspect fdi to developing countries is positively affected by better institutions in the host country while foreign investors prefer to invest in developed countries that are more corrupt and politically unstable compared to home the results indicate that foreign investors prefer to invest in countries with less diverse societies than their own

scarcity rents for water a valuation and pricing model for most natural resources the existence of scarcity and the extent of the scarcity rent can be readily determined at least conceptually that portion of the resource price in excess of extraction costs signals scarcity and defines the value of the resource in situ drawing on hotelling s 1931 treatment heal 1976 pindyck 1978 and hanson 1980 among others have used various forms of this relationship to analyze efficient extraction and consumption of natural resources given clear ownership no externalities and the existence of viable markets competitive market processes will establish the efficient level of this rent and thus the efficient time path of extraction and consumption in the absence of clear ownership rights and markets however scarcity value frequently goes unrecognized water resources provide an important example of this phenomenon given the growing apparent shortages in both urban and agricultural uses government agencies typically own the resource or otherwise have free access to it and need only cover extraction treatment and distribution costs ignoring scarcity rents in water pricing means that water prices are too low thereby inducing excessive extraction capacity investment and consumption even if water utilities were aware of the concept and importance of scarcity rent the absence of marketdetermined water prices makes the valuation of scarcity rents very difficult most water supply utilities obtain water from sources that have a recognized finite capacity this occurs where the withdrawal rates exceed the current rate of recharge a similar situation exists when utilities approach their legal entitlement to some given water source such as california water authorities now face with respect to their colorado river rights the anticipated higher cost for water implies a scarcity rent howe 1979 78ff on use of existing cheaper water sources today the usual lack of markets in water makes this rent implicit but it exists just as with oil or diamonds or any scarce natural resource this c st is completely distinct from outlays for exploration development transmission treatment and distribution which as out ofpocket costs readily become embedded in conventional water prices scarcity rent could arise with or without economies or diseconomies of scale in extraction or distribution it

predicting stakeholder orientation in the multinational enterprise a mid range theory as the reach of corporations increasingly extends across borders a key research question is whether overseas subsidiaries adopt a shareholder centric orientation centered on maximizing shareholder wealth or a stakeholder centric orientation centered on creating value for a broader range of stakeholders existing theories addressing the corporate level of analysis focus on forces exogenous to the firm local resource pressures and institutional norms using a combination of induction and fuzzy set analysis i draw on documentary evidence and 298 interviews with managers and stakeholders to build theory about the conditions that shape subsidiaries stakeholder orientations two major findings emerge first although theory emphasizes external stakeholders control over resources internal control through the corporate parent can crowd out the voices of local stakeholders second although institutional theory proposes isomorphism with local norms and standards some corporations are subject to scrutiny by global stakeholders and their subsidiaries face higher requirements for social engagement than their peers these findings are the foundation of a mid range theory that combines conventional explanations focused on environmental factors and an internal stakeholder perspective based around the roles of the parent corporation as owner and resource provider to predict stakeholder orientation

the gains from agricultural groundwater trade and the potential for market power theory and application this article models and estimates the efficiency gains from using market based instruments relative to command and control to manage groundwater a theoretical model of an imperfectly competitive groundwater market is developed to show how the magnitude and distribution of the gains from trade change as market structure varies market structure is a key consideration because future groundwater markets will likely feature geographic limitations to trade large agricultural players and a legal environment that is conducive to forming cartel like coalitions application of the model to a groundwater dependent agricultural region in southern california shows the existence of large gains from trade despite the potential for market power with benefits up to 36 greater than that under command and control distributional impacts however can be sizable even for small degrees of market power simulations that vary market conditions show that results likely generalize to other groundwater basins

firms corporate social responsibility behavior an integration of institutional and profit maximization approaches understanding firms behavior across countries a key concern in the international business literature requires the joint consideration of both institutional influences and firms profit maximization goals in the corporate social responsibility csr area however researchers have utilized theories that take into account only one or the other institutional theory which explains csr as legitimacy seeking activities in line with national level institutions or economic based approaches that consider csr effects only in terms of firm profitability while an institutional argument implies convergence in csr behavior among firms in similar institutional contexts profit maximization logic treats csr as a firm specific behavior we integrate these perspectives by demonstrating the moderating effects of firms economic motivations for seeking legitimacy on the relationship between institutional environment and csr responsiveness we argue that variations in firms economic visibility and economic vulnerability can bring about differences in their need for societal goodwill and in turn their legitimacy seeking findings on a database of apparel firms employee related csr across 23 countries support this overall argument the integration of such fundamentally different theoretical perspectives allows us to contribute new theoretical insights to international business on the influence of national institutions on firms behavior

an institutional analysis of corporate social responsibility in kenya there is little doubt that corporate social responsibility csr is now a global concept and a prominent feature of international business with its practice localised and differing across countries despite the growing body of research focussing on csr in developing countries there is dearth research on csr institutionalisation in african countries drawing on institutional theory it this article examines the focus and form of csr practice of companies in kenya it is evident from our findings that the nature and orientation of csr differ across companies with operations only in kenya and those headquartered abroad or with international operations significantly firm related drivers such as public relations and performance as well as global institutional pressures explain the focus and form of csr in kenya this article concludes that for the institutionalisation of csr in kenya attention must be paid to conditions that stifle csr uptake such as lack of government regulations and the government s capacity and commitment to enforce regulation the establishment of functional csr institutions and a vibrant civil society that advance civil regulation ought to be encouraged

dared to care organizational vulnerability institutional logics and mncs social responsiveness in emerging markets a significant gap exists in our understanding of what explains the varying responses of multinational corporations mncs to social issues in emerging markets arguably in a setting where both market institutions and regulations and norms of corporate social responsibility are underdeveloped it is more difficult for corporations to take actions beyond those that serve their immediate economic interests proposing a social movement perspective on mncs responsiveness to social issues in emerging markets we identify the mechanisms by which online activists grab firms attention and force them to become more socially responsive a perception of organizational vulnerability and a home country institutional logic that is consistent with the demands of the online campaign provide political opportunity structures that hasten the corporate response but affect the magnitude of firm response differently we test our framework in the empirical context of corporate philanthropic action following the 2008 earthquake in sichuan province in china which triggered an online campaign that questioned mncs donations to the disaster relief effort our study contributes to the literature on heterogeneous organizational responses to social movements a better understanding of the antecedents for mncs social responsiveness in emerging markets and research on mncs

contested exchange versus the governance of contractual relations there is much in the paper by samuel bowles and herbert gintis with which i agree but there are also real differences which is to be expected since they and i examine economic organization through very different lenses thus whereas they view economic organization through the lens of power and contested exchange i believe that economizing and governance is for most purposes a more productive perspective i also have a variety of minor differences with their paper i begin with our agreements next consider conceptual differences and then run through the more minor matters

the united nations global compact as a facilitator of the lockean social contract the united nations global compact ungc has difficulties in attracting new voluntary members and inciting them to implement its ten principles the present article analyzes this implementation deficit from the perspective of lockean social contract theory and derives new strategies for reducing it on this view the ungc presents itself as the attempt to realize a set of moral norms typically enforced by an impartial minimal state protecting its citizens from violations of their natural rights negative externalities and discrimination by bribed officials it will only succeed in facilitating the realization of those norms on a strictly voluntary basis if it manages to overcome the underlying n person prisoner s dilemma this requires the existence of a critical mass k n of conditionally moral firms which are willing to observe the ungc principles and to resist the temptation to free ride on their observance by others if it does not disadvantage them in comparison to their situation in a state of universal non observance four contracting problems can impede the conclusion of this lockean social contract the ungc has a slim chance of overcoming its implementation deficit on a non coercive basis by cultivating four institutional capabilities assisting conditionally moral firms in surmounting those four problems of voluntary norm compliance

corporate social responsibility in europe and the u s insights from businesses self presentations the paper compares the extent and content of businesses communications about corporate social responsibility csr in france the netherlands the u k and the u s in particular the study investigates the nature of csr principles processes and stakeholder issues discussed in web pages the results show that businesses in the four countries do not display the same eagerness to appear as socially responsible and employ diverse means to convey social responsibility images

multi stage flexible expansion co planning under uncertainties in a combined electricity and gas market natural gas is an important fuel source in the power industry electricity and natural gas are both energy that can be directly consumed to improve the overall efficiency of the energy infrastructure it is imperative that the expansion of gas power plants electricity transmission lines and gas pipelines can be co planned the co planning process is modeled as a mixed integer nonlinear programming problem to handle conflicting objectives simultaneously we propose a novel model to identify the optimal co expansion plan in terms of social welfare to evaluate the robustness of plans under different scenarios the flexibility criterion is used to identify each plan s adaptation cost to uncertainties such as demand growth fuel cost and financial constraints etc we developed a systematic and comprehensive planning model to understand develop and optimize energy grids in order to reach higher social welfare and is therefore of great importance in terms of supporting and guiding investment decisions for the power and gas industry meanwhile we use the sequential importance sampling sis to perform scenario reduction for achieving a higher computational efficiency a comprehensive case study on the integrated ieee 14 bus and a test gas system is conducted to validate our approach

corporate social responsibility and different stages of economic development singapore turkey and ethiopia the u s and u k models of corporate social responsibility csr are relatively well defined as the phenomenon of csr establishes itself more globally the question arises as to the nature of csr in other countries is a universal model of csr applicable across countries or is csr specific to country context this article uses integrative social contracts theory isct and four institutional factors firm ownership structure corporate governance openness of the economy to international investment and the role of civil society to examine csr in singapore turkey and ethiopia field research results illustrate variation across the institutional factors and suggest that csr is responsive to country differences research findings have implications for consideration of the tradeoff between global and local csr priorities and practices

gas and lng trading hubs hub indexation and destination flexibility in east asia abstract in the east asian gas markets issues like gas trading hubs hub indexed pricing and destination flexibility are being debated this paper examines the impact of a change in east asia s pricing benchmark and contract flexibility on the regional and global gas markets the paper uses the nexant world gas model a linear program with global cost minimization as the objective to our knowledge this study on hub competition price benchmark change and contract flexibility improvement in east asia will be the first in the literature and have real policy relevance the results show that both price benchmark change and contract flexibility improvements will create an overall benefit for the world and east asia importers but the impacts are different among exporters and importers however there is no evidence of competition among different benchmark hubs and no evidence that destination restrictions cause the asia premium it implies that removal of destination clauses has higher priority than the change to hub indexation for japan korea and chinese taipei but both should be treated equally in china the study also suggests that east asian importers should cooperate among themselves and with exporters to facilitate the hub creation and contract changes in east asia

from chain liability to chain responsibility this article examines whether the involvement of stakeholders in the design of corporate codes of conduct leads to a higher implementation likelihood of the code the empirical focus is on occupational safety and health osh the article compares the inclusion of osh issues in the codes of conduct of 30 companies involved in international framework agreements ifas agreed upon by trade unions and multinational enterprises with those of a benchmark sample of 38 leading multinational enterprises in comparable industries it is found that codes of the ifa group have a higher implementation likelihood in osh than the codes of the benchmark group further european firms culturally more used to stakeholder involvement score higher than their us and japanese competitors and hence are more capable of addressing the safety and health issues in international supply chains the implementation likelihood of codes seems closely related to the type of corporate csr approach

the effects of national culture on corporate social responsibility disclosure a cross country comparison this article presents a cross country analysis of the influence of national culture on corporate social responsibility csr disclosure we analyse the relationship between the hofstede s cultural