Robert M. Fulmer, Philip A. Gibbs and Marshall Goldsmith
The authors present a case study of how Hewlett‐Packard is changing its culture under the direction of its new chief executive Carly Fiorina. Fiorina says her challenge is “to…
Abstract
The authors present a case study of how Hewlett‐Packard is changing its culture under the direction of its new chief executive Carly Fiorina. Fiorina says her challenge is “to make sure HP represents the next century rather than the last one.” To prepare for the future, company leaders saw the need to create a “New HP Way.” Under the new way, all HP employees — but especially managers — must be leaders who generate enthusiasm and respond with extra effort to meet customer needs. They must personally accept responsibility and are encouraged to upgrade their skills and capabilities through ongoing training and development.
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Robert M. Fulmer and Philip A. Gibbs
Organizations have been seeking new ways to satisfy the requirement for continuous learning. It is argued that a blend of on‐the‐job education, skill development and action…
Abstract
Organizations have been seeking new ways to satisfy the requirement for continuous learning. It is argued that a blend of on‐the‐job education, skill development and action learning will be required to fuse individual development with corporate development. Some corporations are adopting corporate universities to ensure that education is relevant and to help them become learning organizations. The development of such institutions is considered and a number are described.
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M. Karim Sorour, Philip J. Shrives, Ahmed Ayman El-Sakhawy and Teerooven Soobaroyen
This paper seeks to investigate to what extent (and why) CSR reporting in developing countries reflect instrumental and/or “political CSR” motivations and the types of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to investigate to what extent (and why) CSR reporting in developing countries reflect instrumental and/or “political CSR” motivations and the types of organisational legitimacy sought in these circumstances.
Design/methodology/approach
We adopt a theoretical framework based on neo-institutional theory, “political CSR” framework and types of organisational legitimacy. This interpretive research is set in the Egyptian context post-2011 revolution. We first carry out a content analysis of web disclosures for 40 banks in 2013 and 2016 to ascertain the nature of CSR activities and any changes over time. Second, we draw on 21 interviews to tease out the implications of the change in societal expectations due to the revolution and to deepen our understanding of the organisational motivations underlying CSR reporting.
Findings
Following the 2011 revolution, the banks’ CSR reporting practices have gradually shifted from a largely instrumental “business-case” perspective towards a more substantive recognition of a wider set of societal challenges consistent with a political CSR perspective. Overall, the maintaining/gaining of legitimacy is gradually bound to the communication of accounts about the multi-faceted socially valued consequences or structures performed by banks. Our interview data shows that participants reflected on the legitimation challenges brought by the revolution and the limits of transactional strategies involving traditional constituents, with a preference for pursuing consequential and structural forms of moral legitimacy.
Research limitations/implications
This study demonstrates a constructive shift by businesses towards engaging with the new social rules in response to sociopolitical changes and the need to achieve moral legitimacy. Hence, policymakers and stakeholders could consider engaging with different economic sectors to foster more transparent, accountable, and impactful CSR practices.
Originality/value
We highlight the implications of Scherer and Palazzo’s political CSR approach for accountability and CSR reporting. CSR reporting in some developing countries has typically been seen as peripheral or a symbolic exercise primarily concerned with placating stakeholders and/or promoting shareholders’ interests. We suggest that researchers need to be instead attuned to the possibility of a blend of instrumental and normative motivations.
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Francesco Ravazzolo, Richard Paap, Dick van Dijk and Philip Hans Franses
This chapter develops a return forecasting methodology that allows for instability in the relationship between stock returns and predictor variables, model uncertainty, and…
Abstract
This chapter develops a return forecasting methodology that allows for instability in the relationship between stock returns and predictor variables, model uncertainty, and parameter estimation uncertainty. The predictive regression specification that is put forward allows for occasional structural breaks of random magnitude in the regression parameters, uncertainty about the inclusion of forecasting variables, and uncertainty about parameter values by employing Bayesian model averaging. The implications of these three sources of uncertainty and their relative importance are investigated from an active investment management perspective. It is found that the economic value of incorporating all three sources of uncertainty is considerable. A typical investor would be willing to pay up to several hundreds of basis points annually to switch from a passive buy-and-hold strategy to an active strategy based on a return forecasting model that allows for model and parameter uncertainty as well as structural breaks in the regression parameters.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the underlying drivers for the development and subsequent discontinuation of stand-alone corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the underlying drivers for the development and subsequent discontinuation of stand-alone corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in a multinational subsidiary in Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach
The research approach employed for this purpose is a case study using evidence from a series of in-depth interviews conducted during the period 2002-2010. Interview data are supplemented by examining other sources of information including annual reports, stand-alone social reports and relevant newspaper articles during the study period.
Findings
It appears that the stand-alone CSR reporting process was initiated to give the subsidiary a formal space in which to legitimise its activities in Bangladesh where both tobacco control regulation and a strong anti-tobacco movement were gaining momentum. At the start of the process in 2002 corporate interviewees were very receptive of this initiative and strongly believed that it would not be a one off exercise. However, in the face of subsequent significant national policy shifts concerning tobacco control, irreconcilable stakeholder demands and increasing criticism of the CSR activities of the organisation at home and abroad the process was brought to an abrupt end in 2009.
Research limitations/implications
The paper has a number of implications for policy makers concerning the future prospects for stand-alone social/sustainability reporting as a means of enhancing organisational transparency and accountability. In addition the paper discusses a number of theoretical implications for the development of legitimacy theory.
Originality/value
Using the lens of legitimacy the paper theorises the circumstances leading to the initiation and subsequent cessation of CSR reporting in the organisation concerned. As far as the authors know this is the first study which theorises and provides significant fieldwork-based empirical evidence regarding the discontinuation of stand-alone social reporting by a multinational company operating in a developing country. Thus, it extends previous desk-based attempts at using legitimacy theory to explain a decrease (or discontinuity) in CSR disclosures by de Villiers and van Staden (2006) and Tilling and Tilt (2010).
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Manal M. Yunis, Kai S. Koong, Lai C. Liu, Reggie Kwan and Philip Tsang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that information and communication technologies (ICT) maturity plays in the achievement of global competitiveness at the country…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that information and communication technologies (ICT) maturity plays in the achievement of global competitiveness at the country level. The paper investigates the socio‐economic and technological factors that are most likely to be associated with ICT maturity, and then assesses their role in driving the global competitiveness wheel forward.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary data were used, based on data sets generated by the World Bank, World Economic Forum, and UNESCO for the years 2003‐2007. The countries common to all reports were included, yielding a study sample of 93 cases. Cluster analysis was used to categorize countries in terms of ICT usage, readiness, and environment. Structural equation modeling was used to test the fit of a model employing these factors.
Findings
First, it was found that ICT plays an important role in driving a country's global competitiveness forward, with a stronger relationship existing in high readiness countries than in low readiness countries. Second, ICT maturity was found to mediate the relationship between ICT quality and R&D spending on one hand and global competitiveness on the other. Finally, the relationship between R&D spending and global competitiveness was found to be stronger for low readiness countries than for high readiness countries.
Practical implications
The paper's findings provide insights to managers and government policy makers regarding the effects of economic, social and technological factors on ICT maturity, as well as the relationship between ICT maturity and global competitiveness. Such insights can influence the standards, programs, and strategies that governments implement in order to attain and maintain global competitiveness.
Originality/value
The paper presents a holistic model that depicts the ICT maturity factors and their dynamic contributions to global competitiveness. Despite the considerable contributions of existing research in this domain, there is a lack of substantive research that examines the relationship at the country level between ICT maturity and its indicators on one hand and global competitiveness on the other. The paper is an attempt to fill this gap.
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Philip Gerrard and J. Barton Cunningham
Hotels can be classified as a type of business which not only uses large amounts of capital, but also employs relatively large numbers of people. The present study sets out to…
Abstract
Hotels can be classified as a type of business which not only uses large amounts of capital, but also employs relatively large numbers of people. The present study sets out to establish how Singapore’s Gazetted hotels (i.e. those hotels which have met certain minimum criteria as laid down by the Singapore Tourism Board) select their bank. The study also sought to establish how satisfied these hotels were in relation to the various selection criteria, the range of bank and non‐bank financial products they used and the extent to which they engaged in multiple banking and why. The results showed that pricing and geographical proximity were very important when selecting a bank. Generally, banks were found to more than satisfy the respondents in relation to the selection criteria, especially in regard to geographical convenience and accuracy of bank statements. The Gazetted hotels used a range of borrowing and non‐borrowing products, indicating that they are generators of both fee and interest income for banks. A majority of the respondents engaged in multiple banking and mainly did so in order to seek out the best borrowing rates.
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The process by which a new shirt sponsorship was struck between SEGA Europe and Arsenal FC is described through a case study. The circumstances leading both organizations to seek…
Abstract
The process by which a new shirt sponsorship was struck between SEGA Europe and Arsenal FC is described through a case study. The circumstances leading both organizations to seek out a sponsorship partner are identified. SEGA Europe was preparing to launch its new Dreamcast video console in Europe and wished to create a high-impact marketing program. Arsenal was looking for a company to replace its former shirt sponsor JVC. The case study also provides information about the sponsorship deal, the first 18 months of the partnership, and draws out some some more general lessons.
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This paper surveys theoretical and practical issues associated with a particular type of information retrieval problem, namely that where the information need is pictorial. The…
Abstract
This paper surveys theoretical and practical issues associated with a particular type of information retrieval problem, namely that where the information need is pictorial. The paper is contextualised by the notion of a visually stimulated society, in which the ease of record creation and transmission in the visual medium is contrasted with the difficulty of gaining effective subject access to the world's stores of such records. The technological developments which, in casting the visual image in electronic form, have contributed so significantly to its availability are reviewed briefly, as a prelude to the main thrust of the paper. Concentrating on still and moving pictorial forms of the visual image, the paper dwells on issues related to the subject indexing of pictorial material and discusses four models of pictorial information retrieval corresponding with permutations of the verbal and visual modes for the representation of picture content and of information need.