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The plethora of changes in the corporate governance landscape over the past two decades has the potential to tighten governance regimes and influence the preference of supervisory board members vis-à-vis the involved decision-making role of business unit (BU) controllers and their independent fiduciary role. Stricter financial reporting and compliance requirements may lead organizations to prioritize the latter role. However, recent studies support the need to balance these roles, inducing the potential for role conflict. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the influence of a tight and loose governance regime on this balance as preferred by supervisory board members.

This study uses a unique data set from an experiment among 73 supervisory board members. The authors take their perspective because compliance with governance codes and corporate policies are relevant topics for their function.

The authors find evidence for the preference of supervisory board members for “all-round” BU controllers who, irrespective of the governance regime, demonstrate substantial levels of fiduciary and decision-making qualities and deal with the resulting role conflict.

The outcomes of the experiment among supervisory board members provide evidence for their preferences concerning the balance of the two primary controller roles and for the potential of role conflict. The authors have not found studies that provide such empirical evidence.

Metallographic sections are an indispensable tool in the assessment and failure analysis of solder joints, as surface appearance is an unreliable guide to their internal state. This paper outlines methods for the preparation of sections through solder joints, and gives some guidelines for their interpretation. Finally, some typical features and defects are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceived benefits of integrated reporting (IR) and factors influencing the motives that supervisory board members (SBMs) have for advocating a change towards IR implementation.

An exploratory survey study was conducted to investigate the influence of external market conditions, internal organizational conditions and observed benefits on the motivation to advocate IR adoption in companies that have not yet implemented IR. A unique set of survey data from 62 SBMs of Dutch companies was used for analysing the propositions derived from IR literature and based on institutional theory, legitimacy theory and diffusion of innovation theory.

The respondents indicated to be supportive of IR adoption. SBMs who had experienced the implementation of IR observed that IR offers benefits. Their motives for advocating a change towards IR in companies that had not implemented IR were influenced most by the observed benefits in IR companies. SBMs only involved in companies that had not adopted IR are motivated to support IR adoption to a similar extent. These findings suggest that directly observed benefits by SBMs need to exceed a considerable minimum level before these SBMs are more motived to advocate IR than their peers who have not witnessed the implementation of IR and that experiences are shared across companies. The motivation of both groups is influenced by external market conditions but not by internal organizational conditions.

The findings have implications for potential IR adopters and institutions promoting the further diffusion of IR as they emphasize the need for tangible benefits of IR and confirm that sharing good practices and benefits of IR can provide a catalyst for IR adoption. The findings contribute to the understanding of the motivation of SBMs as an important organizational condition for implementing IR as this study provides insights in the factors that drive this motivation of key actors influencing the decision to implement IR. Furthermore, the finding that these factors predominantly comprise tangible results and external market conditions is relevant from an organizational change perspective.

Understanding the mechanisms of IR-adoption decisions provides a relevant basis for deploying programmes promoting IR as a general reporting standard. This could provide society and a broad range of stakeholders with access to information incorporated in integrated reports. It could ultimately have a major impact on society by improving decision-making and increasing the long-term sustainability of organizations and their relations with stakeholders.

This study provides preliminary empirical evidence concerning the perspectives of SBMs on their motives for advocating IR, based on a unique sample from a country that has been involved with IR from its start.

Even though sustainability appears to be a relevant driver for the relocation of production, this has only to a limited extent been studied as an independent motive or a result of backshoring. This study explores the literature on backshoring and sustainability and discusses some empirical cases to shed light on the connection between sustainability and backshoring. This study argues that sustainability issues may require a broader perspective than the dominant economic logic framing previous studies on backshoring. Institutional theory is suggested as a theoretical framework for analyzing how sustainability can play a role in companies’ backshoring decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to comparatively investigate the microstructure and interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) layer of Cu/SACPG/Ni and Cu/SAC0307/Ni solder joints after thermal aging.

The specimens were thermally aged at 150°C for 0, 24, 168 and 500 h. The microstructure and morphology of the interface IMC layer were observed by means of scanning electron microscope. The IMCs and the solder bump surface were analyzed by EDS. Moreover, the thickness of IMC layer was measured by using the image analysis software.

The morphology of IMC of Cu/SAC0307/Ni solder joint was consistent with that of the Cu/SACPG/Ni joint, which indicates that the addition of P and Ge had little effect on the IMC formation. The needle-like (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 was formed at the interface of solder/Ni solder joints. Meanwhile, the tiny particles inferred as Ag3Sn phase attached to the surface of (Cu,Ni)6Sn5. The growth rate of IMC layer of the Cu/SACPG/Ni joint was smaller than that of Cu/SAC0307/Ni joint with aging time increasing, which means the addition of trace P and Ge can slightly suppress the diffusion rate of the interfacial IMC.

There are no previous studies on the formation mechanism of the IMC layer of SAC0307 solder alloys with P and Ge addition.

To investigate fluxless plasma ball bumping and effect of under bump metallization (UBM) thickness on joint properties using lead‐free solders.

A fluxless soldering process was investigated in this study using Ar‐10 percent H₂ plasma reflow. Balls made from two lead‐free solders (Sn‐3.5 weight percent Ag and Sn‐3.5 weight percent Ag‐0.7 weight percent Cu) were reflowed and, also Sn‐37 weight percent Pb as a reference. In particular, the effects of the UBM thickness on the interfacial metallurgical bonding and joint strength were studied. The UBM (Au/Cu/Ni/Al layers) thicknesses were 20 nm/0.3 μm/0.4 μm/0.4 μm and 20 nm/4 μm/4 μm/0.4 μm, respectively.

The experimental results showed that in the case of a thin UBM the shear strengths of the soldered joints were relatively low (about 19‐27 MPa) due to cracks observed along the bond interfaces. The thick UBM improved joint strength to 32‐42 MPa as the consumption of the Cu and Ni layers by reaction with the solder was reduced and hence the interfacial cracks were avoided. To provide a benchmark, reflow of the solders in air using flux was also carried out.

This paper provides information about the effect of UBM thickness on joint strength for plasma fluxless soldering to researchers and engineers.

Many jurisdictions fine illegal cartels using penalty guidelines that presume an arbitrary 10% overcharge. This article surveys more than 700 published economic studies and judicial decisions that contain 2,041 quantitative estimates of overcharges of hard-core cartels. The primary findings are: (1) the median average long-run overcharge for all types of cartels over all time periods is 23.0%; (2) the mean average is at least 49%; (3) overcharges reached their zenith in 1891–1945 and have trended downward ever since; (4) 6% of the cartel episodes are zero; (5) median overcharges of international-membership cartels are 38% higher than those of domestic cartels; (6) convicted cartels are on average 19% more effective at raising prices as unpunished cartels; (7) bid-rigging conduct displays 25% lower markups than price-fixing cartels; (8) contemporary cartels targeted by class actions have higher overcharges; and (9) when cartels operate at peak effectiveness, price changes are 60–80% higher than the whole episode. Historical penalty guidelines aimed at optimally deterring cartels are likely to be too low.

The dissolution rates of iron and alloyed steels in molten lead‐free solders were investigated in order to clarify the effect of erosion of iron plating on soldering iron tips. The dissolution rates of iron‐based alloys in lead‐free solders were found to be about three times greater than in conventional Sn‐Pb eutectics, indicating that the iron plating of a soldering iron tip is subjected to heavier damage when used with lead‐free rather than eutectic Sn‐Pb. Several steel alloys showed dissolution rates similar to that of pure iron, suggesting that compositional changes in the iron plating may have little influence on the erosion depth. Decreases in the reaction temperature and time, and a small addition of iron into the solder was found to be effective in suppressing both dissolution of iron wire and erosion of iron plating.

This is the second of two papers reporting work carried out under a programme sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), involving collaboration between the above companies and research centres. The objectives of the programme are to identify/develop lead‐free alternatives to Sn‐40Pb solder, progress towards the development of which is described in this paper. A number of promising alloys have been selected for trial in a further round of experimentation.