Sandra Meadows and Peter Rankin
Based on personal observation, discusses personal reflections onjob sharing – the application process, scope, and successes duringthe first year. Notes benefits both for the job…
Abstract
Based on personal observation, discusses personal reflections on job sharing – the application process, scope, and successes during the first year. Notes benefits both for the job sharers and their employers and indicates areas which the authors feel still need to be addressed. Gives some suggestions for those considering job sharing.
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Lyton Chithambo and Venancio Tauringana
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between company-specific factors and the extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) disclosures.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between company-specific factors and the extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) disclosures.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a sample of 210 FTSE 350 companies and uses the disclosure index to quantify GHG disclosures made in the annual reports, sustainability reports and web sites in 2011. Ordinary least squares regression is employed to model the relationship between the company-specific factors and the extent of GHG disclosures.
Findings
The results indicate that company size, gearing, financial slack and two industries (consumer services and industrials) are significantly associated with GHG disclosures while profitability, liquidity and capital expenditure are not. When the authors disaggregate GHG disclosures into qualitative and quantitative, the results suggest that the effect of some company factors differ depending on the type of GHG disclosures.
Research limitations/implications
The study is cross-sectional. A longitudinal study is necessary to understand the dynamics of GHG disclosures as firms may change their disclosure policy as the importance of GHG increases. The results imply that policy makers need to take into account certain company-specific factors when formulating policy aimed at improving GHG disclosures.
Originality/value
The results add evidence to the growing body of research focusing on the relationship between company-specific factors and GHG disclosure. The study also provides evidence that the effect of some company-specific factors on GHG disclosures differ depending on whether the GHG disclosures are quantitative or qualitative.
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Lyton Chithambo and Venancio Tauringana
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether four corporate governance mechanisms (board size, non-executive directors, ownership concentration and directors’ share…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether four corporate governance mechanisms (board size, non-executive directors, ownership concentration and directors’ share ownership) influence the extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) disclosure.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a mixed-methods approach based on a sample of 62 FTSE 1,000 firms. Firstly, the authors surveyed the senior management of 62 UK-listed firms in the FTSE 1,000 index to determine whether the corporate governance mechanisms influence their GHG disclosure decisions. Secondly, the authors used ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to model the relationship between the corporate governance mechanisms and GHG disclosure scores of the 62 firms.
Findings
The survey and OLS regression results both suggest that corporate governance mechanisms (board size and NEDs) do not influence GHG disclosures. However, the results of the two approaches differ, in that the survey results suggest that corporate governance mechanisms (ownership concentration and directors’ share ownership) do not influence the extent of GHG disclosure, while the opposite is true with the OLS regression results.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size of 62 firms is small which could affect the generalisability of the study. The mixed results mean that more mixed-methods approach is needed to improve the understanding of the role of corporate governance in GHG disclosures.
Originality/value
The use of mixed-methods to examine whether corporate governance mechanisms determine the extent of GHG voluntary disclosure provides additional insights not provided in prior studies.
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Times were tough for the heads of Australian independent schools in the 1950s and 1960s. In New South Wales alone, Knox Grammar School lost two, Barker College and P. L. C…
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Times were tough for the heads of Australian independent schools in the 1950s and 1960s. In New South Wales alone, Knox Grammar School lost two, Barker College and P. L. C. Croydon one each in the 1950s and Newington College had lost two and Meriden School one in the 1960s. And in 1965, Allen McLucas was forced to resign from The Scots College Sydney. Behind these problems of governance and leadership in independent schools lay deeper social and moral changes in the broader community and changing educational philosophies.
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A unique venture called the Middle Market Drug Project has been raising more than a few eyebrows. Based in the City of London, the new police project is taking out an impressive…
Abstract
A unique venture called the Middle Market Drug Project has been raising more than a few eyebrows. Based in the City of London, the new police project is taking out an impressive amount of supply and distribution of Class A drugs. The force behind this success is innovation. Peter Mason of the Centre for Public Innovation (CPI) explains how innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit are changing the shape of policing and efforts to tackle the resourceful drug dealing gangs.
Acklesh Prasad, Peter Green and Jon Heales
This paper aims to investigate whether organisations in developing economies legitimise their level of profit.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate whether organisations in developing economies legitimise their level of profit.
Design/methodology/approach
Organisations’ level of profit is evaluated against the readability of sections of information available in the corporate annual reports. These sections include the Chairman’s Report, the Chief Executive Officer Report and the Notes to the Accounts.
Findings
More profitable organisations report more readable information in their corporate annual reports. Information in the non-mandatory sections of the report (Notes to the Accounts) is more readable compared to the information in the mandatory sections of the report (Chairman’s Report). Larger organisations report more readable information. Public Enterprises report more readable information compared to the Publicly Listed Companies.
Research limitations/implications
Organisations in the developing economies are aware of their role in their society. They respond to instances of possible violation of the implied social contract by sharing information in ways that relays news in certain ways.
Practical implications
Evidence of presence of legitimising activities by organisations would imply the need to strengthen the regulatory and monitoring guidelines to ensure efficient use of society’s resources and a fair rent charge for the utilities.
Social implications
There is a greater need to monitor and question organisations’ level of earned profit to ensure it is necessary to maintain their operations.
Originality/value
This study is the first attempt to investigate organisations’ immediate legitimising activities in relation to their reported profit.
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Culture is still an issue for organisations both internally and externally, and becoming increasingly complex as markets, customers and employees go ‘global’. Culture is a…
Abstract
Culture is still an issue for organisations both internally and externally, and becoming increasingly complex as markets, customers and employees go ‘global’. Culture is a multidimensional concept: organisations need to negotiate their own corporate culture; the national cultures of the nation‐states in which they operate; ethnic differences at regional and pan‐national levels; differences in the industry cultures of the market sectors in which they operate; and the various functional or professional cultures of the people that work within the organisation. While each of these dimensions poses its own issues, it is the interaction between them that is of key concern. When one dimension clashes with another the results can have a negative effect on the organisation; this clash is called a ‘culture impact’. Like earthquakes along fault lines, cultures are static until an event occurs which rocks the steady state. These events cannot be prevented, but they can be predicted and prepared for. And good preparation can mean the difference between survival and destruction. So it follows that negotiating culture requires the organisation to identify its position within the dimensions of culture, to understand the expectations and perception of these culture groups, to foresee when and how these groups will clash, and to plan strategies for dealing with the impact.