bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Management control competencies and ERP: an empirical analysis in France
Authors: Azan Wilfrid , Bollecker Marc 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThe present paper seeks to address the issue of MIS where developments in IT have had a significant impact on competencies.Design/methodology/approachThis paper explores this notion which has received little coverage in IS literature to date, with a focus on the field of accounting and management control. Many authors have voiced their uncertainty about how the control function will evolve in the future. In effect, IS developments challenge controllers' legitimacy if the latters' know‐how fails to keep up with technological developments. This paper analyses the makeup of controllers' competencies and, in particular, the need for the latter to be able to use ERP systems. It proposes the concept of technological contingency as a means to understand evolutions in ERP controllers' competencies in comparison with traditional controllers.FindingsTechnological progress broadens controllers' competencies, and ERP plays the role of a medium through which increased contingency takes place. Organisations of a certain size are compelled to implement ERP, leading to management controllers having to adjust their skills set. The study provides an ERP model to be used by controllers.Research limitations/implicationsThe antecedents of the evolution can be more developed in another study.Practical implicationsThe managerial impact is considerable. It is crucial for French university programmes to rapidly develop greater focus on ERP training, and job and skill referentials need to be updated in organisations, especially promotion, valorisation, evaluation, and career development systems. Being an IS specialist in a large corporation can confer real legitimacy as it becomes an imperative. For business organisations, interpersonal relations have changed completely; communication takes place through integrated tools and there is less face to face, but on the other hand relationships are pre‐ordained by IS tools. The way economic, accounting, and financial knowledge is disseminated will also change as it is communicated more explicitly.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, studies on management controllers' skills in an ERP environment are nonexistent. This is the first study on this subject.
A study of determinants impacting consumers food choice with reference to the fast food consumption in India
Authors: Anand Ritu 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this case study is to explore and study the determinants (demographics and psychographics) impacting consumers food choice towards fast food in India.Design/methodology/approachFood choice variables have been explored using literature reviews and exploratory survey of young consumers in the age group of 20‐40. Data obtained from the reliable sources (e.g. the World Health Organisation, Euromonitor International and Datamonitor International) have been used to study the implications of consumer food choice and growing trend towards organic food.FindingsBased on literature reviews and exploratory surveys, the key determinants impacting consumers food choice are passion for eating out, socialize, ambience and taste for school and college goers and convenience for dual‐income families in urban India. Findings indicate that fast food companies can no longer rely on convenience as USP in India, unless the implications of same on consumers health is given equal importance in the years to come.Research limitations/implicationsData obtained from the convenience sample and literature reviews have been generalized for inferring consumption patterns of Indian consumers (population).Practical implicationsThis case study focuses on growing trends towards organic food and green consumerism in view of rising global obesity with fast food consumption in Western countries and significantly very less in India despite obesity being an epidemic in India.Originality/valueThis paper focuses on determining a food choice model in wake of changing food and eating habits in India, using literature reviews, exploratory surveys and reliable data sources.
Global HRM and the dilemma of competing stakeholder interests
Authors: Lähteenmäki Satu , Laiho Maarit 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the meaning of socially responsible human resource management (HRM) in the global business context.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on a multiple case study and is descriptive. The study focuses on four case studies of two Finnish multinational companies. The data sources are company documents and web sites, newspapers, financial periodicals and web‐based open communication channels.FindingsThe study shows the contextual nature of socially responsible HRM and highlights the need to recognise the magnitude of the issues and viewpoints that affect the evaluation of social responsibility from the HRM point of view. The study also reveals the gap between the rhetoric used by top management and the messages given out by the HR function.Research limitations/implicationsThe four cases examined in this study do not allow for empirical generalisations.Practical implicationsThe study stresses that the costs and consequences of unethical behaviour cannot be overlooked when aiming to maintain the image of a socially responsible company.Originality/valueThis study addresses a research gap in HRM studies by adopting an ethical perspective and suggesting that instead of balancing global integration with responsiveness to local customs companies should find a balance between profitability and responsibility. The study provides rich material for discussion and illustration.
CSR matters in the development of Mauritius
Authors: Deepa Gokulsing Roshni 
Published: July 2011

PurposeRethinking development along the lines of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a new and exciting area of research and development practice. Newly emerging forms of global governance are now relying on private actors (business, non governmental organizations (NGOs)) rather than states. Therefore, CSR policy and programmes are necessary steps in securing responsible corporate behaviour in support of development. The objectives of this paper are to identify the areas of interventions for CSR activities and examine the rationale behind the CSR activities in Mauritius. It aims to analyse the relation between business and poverty reduction and also the successes and failures of CSR initiatives and how the programmes are delivering to the company's business objectives. In short, how is CSR redefining development?Design/methodology/approachBoth primary and secondary data have been collected for this study. Qualitative methods of data collection were privileged to address complex issues such as the relationship between CSR and development. In‐depth interviews were carried out and seen as an appropriate research technique in order to explore and capture the perspectives of the stakeholders, namely private sector and the NGOs on CSR. Secondary sources in the form of company publications, annual reports, press cuttings, web sites of companies and survey reports were consulted.FindingsAlthough CSR initiatives go quite a long way back in Mauritius, it is still believed that CSR is not embedded in its corporate culture. However, in some cases, CSR is merely being used as window‐dressing, for the gallery as a sideshow since it is a trendy issue and that everyone is doing it alongside with the wide media coverage. For CSR to become the national development tool, it is important that coordinated and concerted efforts be undertaken at the private sector level, in the civil society and at government level in achieving equitable, inclusive and sustainable development.Originality/valueThis work contributes to the scarce literature on CSR in Mauritius as well as in the African continent, investigating the relationship between CSR and development in the Mauritian context. It also provides an extensive and critical literature review on CSR and CSR activities in Mauritius.
Product strategy vis‐à‐vis environment: are strategies of pesticide manufacturers in India sustainable?
Authors: Narula Sapna A. , Upadhyay K.M. 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present strategic responses of leading Indian pesticide manufacturers to the voice of stakeholders and regulatory authorities regarding environment friendly products and processes. The study has made a unique attempt to analyze the product portfolio of selected Indian vs multinational companies with respect to market attractiveness as well as environmental attractiveness.Design/methodology/approachA comparison of corporate, business and operational level strategies of domestic vs multinational companies impacting environment has been made by selecting two companies of each type from the industry on the basis of their turnover. The product portfolios of selected companies have been analyzed on the basis of a matrix constructed for market attractiveness and environmental attractiveness.FindingsThe study finds that both domestic and multinational companies have been making efforts to reorient their product strategy towards a relatively greener portfolio. Also, multinationals are having more environmentally safer products than their domestic counterparts. Indian firms have been catching up by acquiring brands/companies to expand/reorient their product portfolios, whereas multinationals have been adopting merger and acquisition strategies as well as launching new products using indigenous research and development of their parent companies. Related diversification is the preferred strategic move by both the groups, though in different areas.Practical implicationsThe study classifies the products of various companies on the basis of market as well as environmental attractiveness and also recommends the strategies to manage a product portfolio. Similar kind of portfolios could be constructed and used for analyzing the product mix of firms in other sectors.Originality/valueThe originality of the study lies in the fact that, although the pesticide industry is very important to study from both an environmental and a strategic perspective, no effort has ever been made to study the environmental strategies of firms and also the comparison of domestic as well as multinational firms. The product portfolio based on market as well as environmental attractiveness devised in the study is novel in nature.
Conceptualising corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social investment (CSI): the South African context
Authors: Hinson Robert E. , Ndhlovu Tidings P. 
Published: July 2011

PurposeWith globalisation pressures and increasing burdens on governments to provide comprehensive social services, there is now a need to better understand how firms play their part in sharing these burdens. Views vary from those who believe that CSR and CSI are distractions from profit maximisation to those who argue that participation in such activities contributes to positive social transformation and also benefits participating firms themselves. This paper seeks to conceptualise these debates.Design/methodology/approachThe paper largely utilises a literature review to derive the research conclusions. Specifically, it examines how CSR, CSI and the socially responsible investment (SRI) index has been used to evaluate corporate behaviour in South Africa, as a novel way of addressing pressing development problems.FindingsCSI has emerged from the specificities of South African historical development, and it has arguably been driven primarily by legislation and industry charters. It is in this context that CSI, with its paraphernalia of the SRI Index and social capital market, promises to present a new and radical way of addressing developmental problems.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the few studies examining the phenomenon of corporate social investment from a developing economy context.
Corporate sustainability reporting of major commercial banks in line with GRI: Bangladesh evidence
Authors: Khan Habib‐Uz‐Zaman , Azizul Islam Muhammad , Kayeser Fatima Johra , Ahmed Khadem 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the tendencies of sustainability reporting by major commercial banks in Bangladesh in comparison with global sustainability reporting indicators outlined in the GRI framework together with banks' predilection toward reporting 16 GRI financial service sector (FSS) specific performance indicators.Design/methodology/approachBased on the GRI G3 guidelines, the paper investigated banks' reporting in five broad areas of sustainability, such as environment, labour practices and decent works, product responsibility, human rights and society. The 2008/2009 annual reports of 12 major commercial banks listed on Dhaka stock exchange were analysed and coded using a content‐based technique.FindingsThe results show that information on society is addressed most extensively with regard to extent of reporting. This is followed by the disclosures prepared on decent works and labour practices and environmental issues. Furthermore, the disclosures of product responsibility information and the information for human rights are rather scarce in banks' reporting; on the subject of FSS‐specific disclosures, only seven items out of 16 are disclosed by all sample banks.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of the study indicate that Bangladeshi commercial banks' social disclosures could develop in this style to become more holistic and over time (in association with the country's central bank involvement) to resemble a type of structured reporting to the point where they are properly labelled per se.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the social disclosure literature, in particular in a developing countries banking sector context, seeing as it disseminates evidence of the standing on social disclosures practices at the level of GRI with developing countries' banks data.
Corporate responsibility performance in the forest industries
Authors: Amberla Tomi , Wang Lei , Juslin Heikki , Panwar Rajat , Hansen Eric , Anderson Roy 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThe basic purpose of this research is to compare and describe various aspects related to student perceptions of forest industry CR performance in Finland and the USA.Design/methodology/approachWith a quantitative research method, this study investigated 568 students. CSR and CSR reporting are the fundamental concepts that shape the development of the hypotheses and thus are integral to this empirical study.FindingsFinnish students have a stronger belief that reporting is reliable and open than their US counterparts. Finnish students show more positive views on the way forest industry companies implement environmental responsibility than their US counterparts. US students show more positive views on social responsibility, especially those connected with stakeholder relations, than their Finnish counterparts.Originality/valueThe obvious connections between reporting views and perceptions of corporate responsibility highlight the significance of reliable reporting in the context of CR. Major fields of study significantly affected student perceptions of CR. The results of the study can help schools and enterprises to design proper CR‐related education courses or programs. Results of this study indicate that the CR weakness of the industry still lies in environmental responsibility. Thus, while forest industry companies should strive to apply a multi‐dimensional CR strategy, emphasis should still be on the environmental component.
Logistics sector development potential of world's oil exporters
Authors: Hilmola Olli‐Pekka 
Published: July 2011

PurposeOil exporters have been identified as having problems in the friendliness and performance of their logistics sector, particularly in general cargo group. The purpose of this research is to identify, through proposed data envelopment analysis (DEA) models, those oil exporters with most potential to develop (who have resources for this through their economic prosperity). Benchmarks of improvement are not only identified among top oil exporters, but also from larger group of emerging countries.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses two different DEA models, and quantitative data available from economic prosperity and general cargo logistics performance. Models are input oriented, and use the most recent data from year 2009.FindingsMajor oil exporters are not homogeneous group in their performance turning logistics competence on prosperity. Actually, there could be one group of very low performance identified in general cargo logistics performance as compared to the DEA models, and other group with similar or slightly above performance with general cargo handling. Those performing at the lower end, and with most development potential, include such countries as Russia, Venezuela, Algeria, Qatar, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan (possibly also including Iran, Kuwait and UAE). From the group of major oil exporters, these countries should learn exceptional logistics competence from Malaysia and Canada. Similarly, this research shows that the emerging economies, particularly China, but also India as well as Philippines, Thailand and South Africa are useful benchmarks to develop general cargo logistics performance further (to some extent Korea (South), Taiwan, Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey and Lebanon also could be included).Research limitations/implicationsThe research is not based on longitudinal data, and should be enlarged to take into account earlier logistics performance index ratings from the World Bank studies (year 2007); this not only to verify the results, but also to highlight possible progress in the development of the logistics sector. Also, other global logistics performance ratings (e.g. from infrastructure) should be taken into account, and DEA models be developed further (often infrastructure drives other layers of performance).Originality/valueResearch work is seminal to study in respect to identifying which countries “lower performing oil producers” include, and which have potential in better developing their logistics sector (general cargo). Among this, research also proposes benchmarks for these countries, not only among oil exporters, but also from other emerging economies. The research findings give a unique and fresh perspective on the logistics performance of oil exporters and emerging economies in general.
Economic‐emission unit commitment solution for wind integrated hybrid system
Authors: Pal Verma Yajvender , Kumar Ashwani 
Published: July 2011

PurposeWith the inclusion of significant wind power into the power system, the unit commitment (UC) has become challenging due to frequent variations in wind power, load and requirement of reserves with sufficient ramp rate. The pumped storage units with lesser startup time and cost can take care of these sudden variations and reduce their impact on power system operation. The aim of this paper is to provide a solution model for UC problem in a hybrid power system.Design/methodology/approachThe model developed has been implemented through GAMS optimization tool with CONOPT solver. The model has been called into MATLAB platform by using GAMS‐MATLAB interfacing to obtain solutions.FindingsThe model provides an efficient operating schedule for conventional units and pumped storage units to minimize operating cost and emission. The effects of wind power and load profiles on emission, operating cost and reserve with enough ramping capabilities have been minimized with the use of pumped storage unit. The commitment schedule of thermal and pumped storage units have been obtained with significant wind power integrated into the system for best cost commitment (BCC) and for a combined objective of cost and emission minimization.Originality/valueThis paper finds that the operating cost and emission in a commitment problem can be reduced significantly during variable wind and load conditions in a hybrid system. The model proposed provides operational schedules of conventional and pumped storage units with variable wind power and load conditions throughout operating horizon. The coordinated optimization approach has been implemented on a hybrid system with IEEE‐30 bus system.
Sustainability criteria for biomass – views of Finnish stakeholders
Authors: Hämäläinen Anne , Panapanaan Virgilio , Mikkilä Mirja , Linnanen Lassi , Heinimö Jussi 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to find out the views, concerns and opinions of stakeholders in Finland about the on‐going EU‐wide development of sustainability criteria for biomass production and utilization.Design/methodology/approachInterviews were conducted among Finnish stakeholders in the biomass sector which include representatives from government ministries, associations of industries and agricultural producers, research institutions and non‐governmental organizations.FindingsThe majority of Finnish stakeholders are in agreement that sustainability criteria for biomass are needed because of the expanding and globalizing nature of the use and trade of biomass. Finnish stakeholders generally agreed that they should actively participate in the development of sustainability criteria both at international and local levels. Administrative/technical, environmental, social and economic aspects were elicited as critical factors for the development of sustainability criteria.Practical implicationsThis study emphasizes and puts forward the importance of taking stakeholders' viewpoints and their participation in the planning and development of sustainability criteria. This study affirms how Finnish stakeholders can strongly articulate their views and opinions about the sustainability of biomass. These views and concerns of stakeholders can be significant or critical inputs in top level decision making related to biomass production and utilization in Finland and in the EU.Originality/valueThis paper can be a position paper to highlight the concerns of Finnish stakeholders on sustainability criteria development. It also highlights the special circumstances of Finnish biomass. These concerns and circumstances are valuable information for criteria developers, biomass certifiers, decision makers and regulatory bodies.
Social enterprise in China: driving forces, development patterns and legal framework
Authors: Yu Xiaomin 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThis paper seeks to address emerging practices of social enterprises (SEs) in China by exploring the institutional context, organisational features and legislative framework of this new phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on data drawn from secondary sources (laws and regulations, forum transcripts and news reports) and primary evidence (in‐depth study of six SE cases).FindingsThe various kinds of SEs are highly diversified in terms of social mission, organisational nature, legal form, and operational pattern; the institutional context is underdeveloped, providing growing but still limited financial, intellectual, technical, and human resources; although it allows increasing space for diversified development dynamics of SEs, the legislative system regulating SEs is still flawed in several vital ways.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper relies heavily on qualitative research methods to make a preliminary assessment of the development of China's SEs. Neither primary nor secondary data sources collected for this paper can be used to draw any general conclusion of statistical significance.Originality/valueThe paper sheds light on the overall landscape of the recent development of SEs in China, providing a descriptive and normative foundation for cross‐country comparative studies and quantitative, explanatory analysis.