bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Health and safety (H&S) awareness and implementation in Botswana's construction industry
Authors: Musonda Innocent , Smallwood John
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present findings of research on the level of health and safety (H&S) awareness and implementation in Botswana's construction industry.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire survey was conducted on construction projects to establish the level of awareness and implementation of construction H&S. Physical observations were also conducted on construction sites in order to relate questionnaire responses to what actually obtained on construction sites. The study was limited to Gaborone and the immediate surrounding areas.

Findings

Findings from the research reveal that the level of H&S awareness is low, H&S legislation is not complied with, the management of contractors is not committed to H&S implementation, there is a lack of H&S management systems, procedures, and protocol, and clients and designers do not participate in the implementation of H&S.

Originality/value

The importance of construction H&S has been recognised by various researchers. This paper provides an insight on the level of awareness and implementation of H&S in Botswana's construction industry and should be viewed in the context of an effort to improve H&S.
SCAFOS: linking sensor data to context‐aware applications using abstract events
Authors: Katsiri Eleftheria , Bacon Jean , Mycroft Alan
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The event‐driven paradigm is appropriate for context aware, distributed applications, yet basic events may be too low level to be meaningful to users. The authors aim to argue that this bottom‐up approach is insufficient to handle very low‐level sensor data or to express all the queries users might wish to make.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors propose an alternative model for querying and subscribing transparently to distributed state in a real‐time, ubiquitous, sensor‐driven environment such as is found in Sentient Computing.

Findings

The framework consists of four components: a state‐based, temporal first‐order logic (TFOL) model that represents the concrete state of the world, as perceived by sensors; an expressive TFOL‐based language, the Abstract Event Specification Language (AESL) for creating abstract event definitions, subscriptions and queries; a higherorder service (Abstract Event Detection Service) that accepts a subscription containing an abstract event definition as an argument and in return publishes an interface to a further service, an abstract event detector; and a satisfiability service that applies classical, logical satisfiability in order to check the satisfiability of the AESL definitions against the world model, in a manner similar to a constraint‐satisfaction problem.

Originality/value

The paper develops a model‐based approach, appropriate for distributed, heterogeneous environments.
Development and evaluation of a context‐driven, mobile tourist guide
Authors: Kramer Ronny , Modsching Marko , ten Hagen Klaus
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The behavior of tourists strongly depends on the availability and quality of information. Too little information as well as too much can be disorienting and forces many tourists to join the majority visiting major sights. This causes a few crowded places in contrast to many which are under‐utilized. A Destination Management Organization has the goal to spread tourists more evenly, whereas the tourists would like to enjoy the destination to its full potential according to their personal interests. The paper aims to focus on the issues surrounding the creation of a mobile tourist guide.

Design/methodology/approach

A field trial was conducted in the summer of 2005 to study the following questions as a precondition for the development: Is it possible to seed generic interest profiles in the mobile context that allow the accurate prediction of actual rankings? Are the interest profiles sufficiently diverse to base personalized tours on individual interest profiles instead of interest prototypes? How do personalized tours affect the spatial behavior of tourist? Three methods to elicit the generic preferences of tourist in the mobile context are compared with actual rankings using Spearman's rank order coefficient.

Findings

The diversity of the interest profiles is analyzed in various ways leading to the conclusion that personalized interest profiles are necessary. For the gathered profiles tours are computed and simulated in order to gain a first insight into the effect on the spatial behavior of tourists.

Originality/value

The dynamic tour guide is supporting both goals by means of pervasive computing based on the actual context which is defined by personal interests, location and schedule of a tourist. It enables a personalized, spontaneous and guided tour.
Adaptation in context‐aware pervasive information systems: the SECAS project
Authors: Chaari Tarak , Celentano Augusto
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The simple environment for context aware systems (SECAS) Project deals with the adaptation of applications to the context (user preferences and environment, terminal, etc.). The authors aim to develop a platform which makes the services, data and the user interface of applications adaptable to different context situations.

Design/methodology/approach

Previous research has concentrated on how to capture context data and how to carry it to the application. The present work focuses on the impact of context on the application core. A case study in the medical field is also analysed.

Findings

The paper illustrates a new definition of the context which separates the application data from the parameters of the context. This definition helps to establish a complete study on how to adapt applications on their three dimensions (services, content and presentation) to the context.

Originality/value

The paper presents the SECAS platform, one that ensures the deployment of adaptive context‐aware applications.
A scenario‐based approach for direct interruptability prediction on wearable devices
Authors: Bernstein Abraham , Vorburger Peter , Egger Patrice
Published: April 2008

Purpose

People are subjected to a multitude of interruptions. In order to manage these interruptions it is imperative to predict a person's interruptability – his/her current readiness or inclination to be interrupted. This paper aims to introduce the approach of direct interruptability inference from sensor streams (accelerometer and audio data) in a ubiquitous computing setup and to show that it provides highly accurate and robust predictions.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors argue that scenarios are central for evaluating the performance of ubiquitous computing devices (and interruptability predicting devices in particular) and prove this on the setup employed, which was based on that of Kern and Schiele.

Findings

The paper demonstrates that scenarios provide the foundation for avoiding misleading results, and provide the basis for a stratified scenario‐based learning model, which greatly speeds up the training of such devices.

Practical implications

The direct prediction seems to be competitive or even superior to indirect prediction methods and no drawbacks have been observed yet.

Originality/value

The paper introduces a method for accurately predicting a person's interruptability directly from simple sensors without any intermediate steps/symbols.
Ethics and morality in human resource management
Authors: Simmons John
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The paper seeks to focus on operationalising corporate social responsibility in the context of employee governance. Its purpose is to evaluate critically the ethics of “mainstream” human resource management (HRM) and to propose an alternative stakeholder systems model of HRM.

Design/methodology/approach

Stakeholder theory is utilised to critique modes of employee governance, in the light of concepts of stakeholder accountability and organisational justice. Conceptual analysis attests to the need for a different philosophy of employee governance – in particular within knowledge‐intensive organisations.

Findings

The paper identifies the concept of “the responsible organisation” as a means of assessing organisational maturity in employee governance, and relates this to dimensions of organisational justice. Linkage enables employee perceptions of equitable treatment to be combined with effectiveness measures in the employee governance model proposed.

Research limitations/implications

The paper demonstrates the significance and application potential of a stakeholder systems development of current modes of managing people. Conclusions confirm instrumental and ethical rationales for the greater involvement of and accountability to employee stakeholders.

Practical implications

The paper demonstrates a business‐based rationale for the adoption of ethical corporate governance and HRM.

Originality/value

The stakeholder systems model represents a holistic approach to human resource management by its incorporation of employee perspectives at HRM system design, operation and evaluation stages. It responds to the need for a new philosophy of HRM in an era of stakeholder‐accountable organisations.
Values in organizations: difficult to understand, impossible to internalize?
Authors: Mattila Merita
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to study personnel perceptions about value processing in three case organizations in the Finnish context, especially management's role in organizational change where values are considered.

Design/methodology/approach

The research follows the methodology of the case study approach to tackle the research theme. The data include interviews from multiple (managerial) hierarchical levels, from top management to local levels (in top management and at the local level) in the case companies. The interviews are analyzed by content analysis.

Findings

The paper provides information about personnel perceptions in organizational value processes, especially the management's and organizational culture's role, in this kind of change process, as well as the individual's own role and responsibilities as an employee.

Research limitations/implications

The research reported is not exhaustive and was done in the Finnish context, which may reduce its applicability to other, especially non‐European, countries.

Practical implications

The paper represents a very useful source of information and practical advice for companies encountering changes where organizational values are processed.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils the growing need for information about value management and value processing in organizations, and offers practical help to individuals working among these themes in their organizations.
Corporate governance and innovative leaders
Authors: Musa M.A. , Ismail S.E. , Othman S.
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to attract readers' attention to the importance of the integration of corporate governance and innovation for companies to strive further in business. The paper also attempts to illustrate how an innovation champion can exist in companies with a good corporate governance structure and fully utilize the structure, at the same time being aware of the limitations of innovation activities. Along the way, corporate social responsibilities should also be taken into consideration.

Design/methodology/approach

The objectives of this paper are achieved first through an explanation of how corporate governance structure works and what purpose it serves. By understanding the mechanics of corporate governance, the integration of the structure with other fields of knowledge, in order to boost corporate performance, becomes possible. The paper also makes several references to companies around the world which have integrated successfully.

Findings

Innovation is a teamwork effort. Concentrated efforts are needed from every person in the organisation, from the board of directors and all the employees. The main actor in the picture is the board of directors. Also, other critical factors such as culture, conducive environment and rewards very much need to be present in the system.

Practical implications

Innovation, even though deemed risky, must be supported. The board of directors or leaders of corporations must change the way they think. Leaders of corporations must make an effort to understand innovation, and subsequently spread it far and wide among managers by creating corporate policies that support innovation. With a consumer‐centric organizational principle in mind, corporations can improve their innovation success rate. A successful innovation effort requires full participation from everyone in the corporation to ensure that the end results of research and development are for the interests of society at large.

Originality/value

Corporate governance is a structure that needs input from other fields of knowledge. Too much faith is put in corporate governance to bring about performance; unfortunately corporate governance is just a structure. There are a lot more factors that should be taken into consideration before achievement can be seen and success stories can be heard. This integration of knowledge is suggested to companies so that they can generate more revenue.
Moral commitments to community: mapping social responsibility and its ambiguities among small business owners
Authors: Lange Elizabeth A. , Fenwick Tara J.
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to map the different moral positions articulated by small business owners in relation to social responsibility (SR) commitment and practice.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study utilized collaborative action research with 25 small business owners in two Canadian provinces and used combined methods of group dialogue, personal semi‐structured interviews, and thematic analysis through researcher triangulation.

Findings

We found that the morality underpinning business owners' social responsibility tended to be embedded in a sense of relationship with and commitment to the well‐being of the local geographic community. However, this was threaded with felt ambiguities, revealing their understanding of a spectrum of SR practices.

Research limitations/implications

Through an ethical analysis, we argue that this moral commitment to community is connected to a relational worldview as part of a distinctive ethical vision while, at the same time, the small business owner‐managers were continuing to pursue business within an environment of orthodox economic ethics and practices. This substantially impacted the shape of their commitment as social change agents and their engagement in collective activities with like‐minded peers.

Practical implications

Further research is needed to reveal how much the lack of engagement in collective social change activities and collective promotion of social responsibility is related to the practical issues of time famine, maintenance of a business niche, or an individualist ethos.

Originality/value

This study contributes several original findings by identifying a range of SR practices and the ethics behind each, from the perspective of small business owners, how they position themselves, as well as the paradoxical constraints they experience.
CSR, women and SMEs: the Croatian perspective
Authors: Koričan Mirna , Jelavić Ivija
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the idea that CSR needs to be communicated from four different levels – government, community, company, and the individual. It also aims to stress that women managers in Croatia are still discriminated against and to show that managers in SMEs in Croatia need to become more aware of the importance of CSR.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on several different researches conducted on different populations – those of women managers and of SME managers.

Findings

The findings of this paper show that, for the improvement of CSR awareness in general, the CSR idea needs to be communicated on four different levels simultaneously. Even though there are more women managers in higher positions in Croatia, they are still discriminated against. Managers of small and medium‐sized enterprises are still not thinking enough about all stakeholders when making decisions.

Practical implications

This paper shows that, in practice, government, community, companies and individuals should be consistent in communicating and working on the CSR idea for the general welfare and advancement of society.

Originality/value

The main value of the paper is that it provides the newest results on CSR for companies in Croatia. This paper also gives a new perspective on the importance of simultaneous attempts to communicate the CSR idea for the advancement of society.
Corporate ethics: an end to the rhetorical interpretations of an endemic corruption
Authors: Tran Ben
Published: April 2008

Purpose

Crime, fraud, and corruption, are all nouns that pertain to the act of deception that depicts an intention to increase an opportunity in one's favor in an unlawful manner that pertains to an organization's interest and goals. Such offenses are numerous and quite costly and are now a commonplace criminal behavior within corporations. Motivations and purposes for corruption may be subjective but the legality of corruption is not. Thus, the rhetorical interpretations of corruption may be analyzed through two distinctive paradigms, the social behavioral science paradigm and the legality paradigm. This paper seeks to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

Court cases were analyzed, 70 major American corporations, in addition to a study of the largest industrial firms focused upon a two‐year period.

Findings

Based on the above samples, it was found that corporate corruptions are extremely common, but taboo to admit. The limitations to this study are accessibility, participants, and whistle‐blowers.

Originality/value

Implementing organizational guidelines (OG) is one appropriate and objective method in addressing corporate corruption and to confirm corporate compliance. While implementing the OG is objective, the process of implementing the OG is subjective. Subjectivity derives from opportunistic interpretations of the imperfect OG. Objective interpretation and objective implementation of the OG will confirm corporate compliance, and it is the CEO's responsibility to oversee this process.
Corruption as a moral issue
Authors: Kreikebaum Hartmut
Published: April 2008

Purpose

Corruptive behaviour penetrates the business process itself and permeates the mental attitude of decision makers on all hierarchy levels. This paper seeks to present the special legal situation in Germany as the regulatory environment for business transactions and to discuss the moral consequences of an “economy of greed”.

Design/methodology/approach

The moral aspects of corruption are treated from an institutional ethics viewpoint as well as an individual ethics perspective. Regarding the institutional aspects (compliance approach) reliance is placed on the empirical study of ethical conflicts of companies in Germany and the USA. The individual ethics perspective is derived from a Christian understanding of man's personal responsibility in society.

Findings

A compliance approach can only serve as a necessary first step to counteract fraud and corruption. To obtain a good corporate citizen status, a company should also develop an open dialogue with all stakeholders (integrity management approach).

Research limitations/implications

The concept of quasi‐regulation, which combines governmental legal aspects with a company‐wide good corporate citizen approach, offers a viable concept and needs further empirical research.

Practical implications

This paper proposes to restore the concept of an honourable entrepreneur. Decision makers should pursue personal authenticity, fairness, and mutual trust in their relations with others.

Originality/value

Preventing corporate corruption requires a new way of thinking based on a loyal attitude and the personal commitment of leaders.
Can we teach ethics and professional deontology? An empirical study regarding the Accounting and Finance degree
Authors: Alegria Carreira Francisco , do Amparo Guedes Maria , da Conceição Aleixo Maria
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper sets out to analyse the role of ethics and moral values in higher education, as well as the articulation with two important professions in the financial area, because ethics and professional deontology play an important role in organizations and society, which have a great concern with corporate social responsibility.

Design/methodology/approach

The literature review allows one to build a questionnaire used to evaluate the ethical behaviour and rules of ethics in a sample of higher education students of the third year of an Accounting and Finance course in the Business Administration College of the Setúbal Polytechnic Institute. The same questionnaire was applied to those students wishing to become chartered accounts and statutory auditors. Finally an exploratory analysis was carried out that summarises the questionnaire, categorising in several clusters as result of cluster analysis, according to the variables that had higher scores.

Findings

The concept of ethics is not a consensual one among the different investigators: for some it means a set of rules, principles and values that may be mistaken for morality from a broader point of view. Some authors consider ethics as a judging reflection upon morality. Concerning the cognitive dimension of attitude towards ethics, the subject of ethics and professional deontology strengthened the answers to the questions with lower scores. Concerning the affective/assessing attitude of ethics, the subject of ethics and professional deontology strengthened the students' convictions about the importance of the existence of a deontological code, of ethical principles and of accounting information, as well as the question with the lowest score (the entity's interest is more important).

Practical implications

The results of this research confirm the initial hypothesis that higher education students of the third year of an Accounting and Finance course in the Business Administration College of the Setúbal Polytechnic Institute do not know the limitations of ethical behaviour.

Originality/value

This paper provides valuable empirical evidence in the role of ethics and moral values in higher education, because teaching ethics and professional deontology is an essential need of society and is inherent to teaching activity that must be promoted by policy makers.
Corporate social responsibility, new activism and public relations
Authors: Demetrious Kristin
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse why some contemporary corporate organisations are reluctant to articulate the effect of their market positioning behaviour on the unwilling communities that oppose their activities. It describes the communicative interactions between several large corporate organisations and the grassroots activist groups opposing their activities, in Victoria, Australia.

Design/methodology/approach

Extensive secondary data were collected, including extensive newspaper and radio transcripts from the campaign periods, web site downloads, letters and other campaign documents. The research design applied to the data, a qualitative, interpretative analysis, drawing on key theoretical frameworks.

Findings

The research findings suggest that powerful protest strategies, combined with the right political and social conditions, and a shift in the locus of politics and expertise, bring to light public concerns about the ethics of corporate practices, such as public relations, used egocentrically by organisations, to harmonise their activities in late modern Western society. It finds that no serious overhaul of business ethics can occur until the unity of public relations is critically scrutinised and reformed. It helps define an alternative holistic communicative approach which could be applied more widely to business practice that helps avoid the limitations and relativism of public relations.

Originality/value

The research flags new ways of thinking expressed in the notion of public communication that could lead to creative and unusual coherences vital to deal with the apparent ecological challenges for society in late modernity.
“What we learn today is how we behave tomorrow”: a study on students' perceptions of ethics in management education
Authors: Duarte Fernanda
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ perceptions of studying ethics in a business management degree.

Design/methodology/approach

The method used is qualitative design with some quantitative elements. Data were collected through an anonymous survey with 119 students from a management subject, and analysed in the light of deontological and theological theories of ethics.

Findings

A large majority of the students surveyed (95 percent) believed that the study of ethics in management is important, and that they had personally benefited from studying ethics in the subject surveyed (84 percent). Four major thematic patterns emerged in the responses: a teleological view of ethics; a “hybrid” view of ethics; a link between ethical behaviour and leadership; and a gap between the ideal and practice of ethics.

Research limitations/implications

The study had a small sample and referred only to one subject. Further studies should be done with larger samples, comparing different cohorts of students, or students at different stages of a degree.

Practical implications

The study draws attention to issues that emerge from the teaching of ethics in management, in particular the need for sustained efforts to foster critical thinking and reflexivity among management students.

Originality/value

The paper is based on an original study that addresses the current gap in studies investigating management students’ attitudes to studying ethics. It is particularly valuable for ethics teachers.
Ten principles of corporate citizenship
Authors: Birch David
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to reflect briefly on some of the major principles that have emerged from the developing policies, practices and debates about corporate citizenship in the last ten years or so.

Design/methodology/approach

Considerable scholarly work has been conducted on corporate citizenship in the past, and will continue to be done in the future. This paper is deliberately written for a non‐scholarly audience.

Findings

Ten principles are outlined, all of them focusing on developing a cultural aspect of corporate citizenship as good business.

Originality/value

The basic premise of this paper is that significant cultural change, through corporate citizenship will only take place by business implementing policies, and practices based on the sort of sound (but basic) principles presented here. These ten principles, in this format, are original to this paper.
The “ethics” of being profit focused
Authors: Mercia Selva Malar S.
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper seeks to emphasise the importance of firms being responsible to society.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines firms' omissions and commissions in the various functional areas of management while they focused on profit. Examples of such omissions and commissions are also discussed. Support from businessmen and authors who share such a viewpoint is mentioned

Findings

In the long term, firms that are socially responsible are successful.

Practical implications

Practising social responsibility consciously, firms can make the world a better place for all people. It can be beneficial for the entire society.

Originality/value

Omissions and commissions arising out of being profit‐focused are the author's original contribution. The paper is of value to researchers and practitioners of corporate social responsibility and business ethics. Firms need to understand that they cannot succeed and excel for long if they neglect stakeholders other than shareholders.
Revisiting rights and responsibility: the case of Bhopal
Authors: Wong Loong
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper seeks to examine the activities and consequential effects of a transnational corporation in a developing country. Via an examination of the industrial accident in Bhopal and a discursive examination of the firm's strategies, the paper seeks to contest the firm's claims that it has been acting responsibly. The paper further suggests that the contexts and development of the relationships, and claims by Union Carbide and its supporters, and its place within the global economy, must be critically examined and subjected to a systemic analysis if corporate social responsibility is to have any significant resonance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper seeks to integrate a wide range of epidemiological and social science literature relating to Bhopal. It seeks to examine Bhopal within the context of power discourse and the relationships engendered via its manifestations and practices. This discursive approach enables the researcher to disentangle various strands of practice within the context of the transnational firm and local communities

Findings

The paper finds that a more systemic approach to corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is necessary, if developing countries and local communities are to be treated as critical in the development process and as stakeholders in the debate on CSR.

Originality/value

By its examination if this case, the paper emphasises the need for a more systemic approach to corporate governance and CSR.
Paradigms in corporate ethics: the legality and values of corporate ethics
Authors: Tran Ben
Published: April 2008

Purpose

It has always been claimed that business ethics are ambiguous and thus hard to define. As such, with recognizable unethical corporate behaviors as an epidemic, it is hard to hold perpetrators accountable. Even more detrimental are the miscommunication, the misunderstanding, the misinterpretation, and the misuse of the various paradigms in business ethics. Such flawed values and legality of business ethics paradigms cannot persist. There exist a gap and a bridging in the analysis of the paradigms in business ethics between the practitioners and the ethicists. This paper aims to provide an elaborate analysis of the values, trust, and legality of corporate behaviors in business ethics utilizing various paradigms.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis of this paper focused on the founding values and legality of business ethics and the underlying paradigms that practitioners and ethicists adopt.

Findings

The limitation of this study is that the probability of the diverse schools of thought intertwining is smaller than that their coexisting.

Originality/value

It is this coexistence of schools of thought that makes corporate USA humane, civilized, and balanced. Thus, to maintain this coexistence, if not improve it, this paper maintains that practitioners of higher education and corporate USA must take responsibility in training, educating, and producing future ethical business practitioners.
The organisation's captives: the no mean production of the contemporary administrative techniques
Authors: Coltro Alex
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper seeks to understand administrative action, to know its deeper and excellent roots. Such roots, for the West, are based in the concept of reason and its derivatives.

Design/methodology/approach

Initially the paper presents the basic relationship between administrative action, organizational theories and its roots. It then develops an archaeological process of historical recovery of the concepts and ideas associated with the reason, and concludes by clearly pointing out the remaining challenge: the development of an administrative boarding that respects the human being per se and not as a recourse thing, at the same time making if possible for organizations reach their objectives.

Findings

Taking into consideration comparative traces of the diverse characteristics of organizational theories, this research has empirical findings which provide new comprehension and insights about the main product of any organization – people.

Originality/value

This paper presents a new view and a deep comprehension about the roles that people develop in an organization, particularly from an administrative focus.
Accountability discourses in advanced capitalism: who is now accountable to whom?
Authors: Green Miriam , Vandekerckhove Wim , Bessire Dominique
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to argue that the concept of “accountability” has changed and become perverted. Originally the concept meant answerability or the act of rendering an account. Those who were traditionally accountable were the powerful in organisations, public institutions and international bodies. The paper seeks point out that the notion of “accountability” has largely been emptied of its substance, as over the past few decades the concept of accountability has become perverted in discourse and in practice. The powerful are often no longer held accountable and are able to make those to whom they have hitherto been accountable, accountable to them instead.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis is developed at the micro, meso and macro levels, through an analysis of the academic literature, in particular journals dealing with the interface between accounting and organisation studies.

Findings

It was found that what happens at the micro and meso levels becomes comprehensible when put into the context of the macro level. Instances of partial or reversed accountability in practice are pointed out and linked with insights from commentators in the fields of sociology and philosophy.

Originality/value

Concepts of accountability have become increasingly important in organisational discourse and practice over recent decades. This is particularly so given the importance now accorded to corporate governance and new public management. This paper is intended to formulate resistance to a particular discursive domination of corporate social responsibility. The paper is also new in the linking of this analysis with the argument that the weakening and reversal of accountability might be all‐pervasive in the current era of advanced capitalism and free market ideologies, and that the subversion of accountability is an instance of politically motivated hegemony.
Corporate social responsibility in India: towards a sane society?
Authors: Das Gupta Aruna , Das Gupta Ananda
Published: April 2008

Purpose

Based on a survey, this paper seeks to confirm that Indian corporates are already working on the guideline of the Global Compact.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach is theoretical with ample scope for application.

Findings

It is found that there should be a realisation that the real CSR leadership is not just putting one's own house in order, but advocating the right conditions to reward responsible practice.

Research limitations/implications

A disadvantage is the paucity of literature for the survey.

Originality/value

The paper succeeds in confirming that Indian corporates are already working on the guideline of the Global Compact, because the Indian ethos and religious values teach these doctrines from a socio‐religious aspect.
“Me, myself & I”: practical egoism, selfishness, self‐interest and business ethics
Authors: Debeljak Jelena , Krkač Kristijan
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to elucidate some of the arguments against egoism in the current debate, as well as to create some new arguments, or rather objections (epistemological and ontological from the position of egoism as moral solipsism), and to explicate some arguments against egoism (descriptive, normative, and ideological) as being not so convincing. It also aims to explicate Jesus's second commandment in a fashion similar to that of Adam Smith when he tried to combine self‐love with sympathy.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on the premise that some foundational philosophies, worldviews, or paradigms exemplify at least one type of egoism/selfish strategy. In that light the analysis of egoism and the objections are formulated.

Findings

They paper finds that present arguments in favour of egoism in business, and especially as certain “business ethics”, are not acceptable, at least on the practical and theoretical grounds on which they are presented as sound arguments.

Research limitations/implications

The paper implies that there is fundamental difference between theoretical and practical egoism, and that practical egoism sometimes uses the theoretical one as its “quasi‐justification”.

Practical implications

The paper can be summarized in a series of general advices about an altruistic attitude and practices which in the long term show more benefits than costs for any group, and consequently for business organizations as well.

Original/value

The paper presents ontological and epistemological interpretations and objections against egoism, emphasizing the somewhat neutral or at least bivalent position of Adam Smith regarding the matter in question, and introducing altruistic strategies as being compatible with the basic ideas of a free‐market system.
Fighting a smoky fire: an analysis of Philip Morris's CEO speeches according to image restoration strategies
Authors: de Fatima Oliveira Maria
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper seeks to investigate Philip Morris's responses to a decade‐long crisis through the analysis of its CEO's speeches. It also aims to reveal the rich potential of corporate speeches as examples of crisis management strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 67 speeches of Philip Morris's CEO are analyzed using centering resonance analysis. The data are also cluster‐ and factor‐analyzed. Combining quantitative and qualitative examination of the dataset provides a broader understanding of the organization's rhetoric strategies.

Findings

Philip Morris's CEO crafted specific frames and image repair strategies to fit different stages of the crisis. The frames and restorations strategies used are, respectively: profitable multinational bolstering, minimization, and attack the accuser (1994‐1996); litigation target, transcendence (1997‐1998); and corporate good citizen, bolstering and transcendence (1999‐2001).

Research limitations/implications

The paper highlights the significance of corporate speeches as a fully controlled form of corporate discourse that reveals strategic frames and communication tactics. Future research should concentrate on comparing such messages with other important actors' discourse.

Practical implications

The paper draws attention to the role of lawyers and other actors in defining crisis management strategies as well as emphasizing that corporate values may not be accepted by the entire society, yet may meet the expectations of specific stakeholders.

Originality/value

This paper combines qualitative and quantitative analysis to investigate a rich source of corporate communication: top management speeches. The study underscores how rhetoric strategies can play for time during crisis, but are limited in changing inherently bad products into socially acceptable ones.
Back to basics: an Islamic perspective on business and work ethics
Authors: Ragab Rizk Riham
Published: April 2008

Purpose

In the light of major corporate failures worldwide, business ethics have become an increasingly important area of managerial competence and responsibility. Most studies on business ethics in general and the work ethic in particular have been based on the experiences of Western nations, with a primary focus on the Protestant work ethic (PWE) as advanced by Max Weber. This paper aims primarily to explore the Islamic perspective to ethics, which follows the Judeo‐Christian tradition as the last of the three great monotheistic religions.

Design/methodology/approach

A range of relevant works published over the past two decades is compared with and heavily supplemented by extracts from the Islamic Holy Book, the Qur'an, in order to outline the Islamic approach to business and work ethics.

Findings

The paper highlights that within the Holy Qur'an and other aspects of Shari'ah, there is much with which to construct an authentic Islamic approach to ethics. It also highlights the substantial need to examine the work ethic and other work‐related attitudes, such as individualism in non‐Western settings.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the body of knowledge in several ways. First, it is one of a very limited number of papers that does not use a research instrument created specifically to measure work orientations in a Western setting. Second, it provides a better understanding of cultural variations among nations, by examining the ethical beliefs of the fastest growing religion in the world.
The impact of television dependency on teleshopping adoption
Authors: Ruiz Mafé Carla , Sanz Blas Silvia
Published: April 2008

Purpose

To analyse key drivers of television dependency and its impact on teleshopping adoption.

Design/methodology/approach

The applicability of the media dependency scale is tested in the Spanish market. The impact of demographics, television exposure and television affinity on television dependency is analysed together with behavioural changes deriving from television dependency (willingness to teleshopping).

Findings

Data analysis shows that the media dependency scale needs to be adapted to the Spanish market and Spanish televiewers show intermediate levels of television dependency. Dependent televiewers are mainly mature, feel high‐television affinity and have high levels of exposure as televiewers. Television dependency determines teleshopping adoption, with the most relevant factor being that of searching guides for decision taking and fun.

Practical implications

This research enables companies to know the different objectives which television can help consumers to attain and, therefore, what aspects to highlight in their direct marketing strategies. Television agents should exploit the dimensions television offers to increase individual dependency and message effectiveness. The significant influence that “decision taking and fun” exerts on willingness to teleshopping shows managers that program contents become a key tool to increase future television purchases.

Originality/value

Despite dramatic online differences were discovered between television dependent and non‐dependent consumers, very limited research has been conducted to examine them. There are still no enough studies that analyse the background and effects of television dependency on the non‐purchasing televiewers behaviour. This paper analyses the background of television dependency and its influence on future purchase intentions of non‐buyer Spanish televiewers.
The attitudes of e‐commerce channel members in the textile industry
Authors: Razzouk Nabil Y. , Seitz Victoria , Wu Gloria
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of the research was to investigate the attitudes and perceptions of e‐markets as members of their value chain.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire was developed and sent electronically to members of a textile industry e‐market.

Findings

The research showed that most of the companies participated in more than one e‐market. As indicated by the research, only 52 percent of respondents indicated that they had a positive experience with e‐markets, suggesting that there was room for improvement. However, 72 percent of respondents agreed that e‐markets increased business opportunities, 52 percent said it increased distribution channels, 60 percent noted it increased exposure of their company and 64 percent of members noted that they provided more transparent competition.

Research limitations/implications

The research was limited to a small sample of textile e‐markets which may limit the generalizability of the results. Like all e‐commerce, e‐markets need to generate enough traffic so they can generate profit through revenue streams such as advertisement, memberships, transactions, and specific services.

Practical implications

To have an effective e‐market site managers and marketers need to provide a critical mass of accurate up‐to‐date knowledgeable information. Moreover, e‐markets need to establish trust with prospective buyers and sellers. “Community message boards” are important because they provide members opportunities to exchange all kinds of information on the e‐market, thus building trust among each other.

Originality/value

Electronic commerce has revolutionized the process of creating and distributing products and services. It is now asserted that electronic transactions can take place wherever there is access to the internet, a development that technically erases the geographic borders of traditional markets.
Customer cross‐selling model based on counter propagation network
Authors: Liu Chao‐hua , Cai Shu‐qin
Published: April 2008

Purpose

With increasing market competition, enterprises have come to realize that it is easier to maximize profit by cross‐selling services to existing customers than to attract new customers. It can often be observed that consumers sequentially purchase multiple products and services from the same provider. Accordingly, this commonly observed situation offers huge opportunities for companies carrying multiple products and services to “cross‐sell” other products and services to their existing customer group. The purpose of this paper is to find out a convenient way to identify the customers with cross‐selling potential.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the authors investigate the customer demographic data, including age, income, gender and educational level, and study the relation between the variables and the customers' cross‐selling potential based on counter propagation network (CPN).

Findings

The authors set up a cross‐selling model successfully. After inputting age, gender, education level, and income into the input layer of the model, the model will show us which products the potential customers should buy in the output layer. This process can provide useful information for the enterprise to persuade the customers into buying the unpurchased products and provide the products to the right customer.

Originality/value

In this paper, the authors set up the cross‐selling model based on the CPN. The model can predict the customer cross‐selling potential successfully according to the customer demography data – age, income, gender, and educational level.
Applicability of autonomic computing to e‐government problems
Authors: Furlong Shauneen
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of preliminary analysis and research on the potential relevance and applicability of autonomic computing principles and practices to problems unique to e‐government.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper examines the applicability of autonomic computing principles to four main e‐government problems thought to be potential candidates for autonomic computing practices. These problems include issues related to interoperability, blending technology and processes, and outdated business models and systems development methodologies.

Findings

This paper concludes that based upon current research and autonomic computing practices, solutions to interoperability could become realized through the application of autonomic computing practices within the public sector.

Practical implications

Additional research is required to determine how other e‐government problems could benefit from future research and innovative solutions potentially available from the examination of autonomic computing practices.

Originality/value

Problems associated with the successful implementation of e‐government are significant around the world; if autonomic computing, or some form of enabled technology could advance progress, this would be of value to the democratization of e‐government, and its associated social and economic implications.