Sinziana Dorobantu, Ruth V. Aguilera, Jiao Luo and Frances J. Milliken
Gregory Jackson and Nikolas Rathert
Multinational corporations (MNCs) utilize corporate social responsibility (CSR) to govern their global economic activities. Yet CSR adoption is influenced by institutional…
Abstract
Multinational corporations (MNCs) utilize corporate social responsibility (CSR) to govern their global economic activities. Yet CSR adoption is influenced by institutional diversity of both home and host countries. This article uses neoinstitutional and comparative capitalism theories to understand how CSR is shaped by different forms of stakeholder salience in diverse institutional contexts. Using data on labor rights CSR adoption by 629 European MNCs, our empirical results indicate that CSR complements institutionalized stakeholder power in home countries, but substitutes for its absence in host countries. Hence, CSR may paradoxically legitimate MNC behavior given both the presence and absence of stakeholder rights.
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Nikolaos Kavadis and Xavier Castañer
To show that differences in the extent to which firms engage in unrelated diversification can be attributed to differences in ownership structure.
Abstract
Purpose
To show that differences in the extent to which firms engage in unrelated diversification can be attributed to differences in ownership structure.
Methodology/approach
We draw on longitudinal data and use a panel analysis specification to test our hypotheses.
Findings
We find that unrelated diversification destroys value; pressure-sensitive Anglo-American owners in a firm’s equity reduce unrelated diversification, whereas pressure-resistant domestic owners increase unrelated diversification; the greater the firm’s free cash flow, the greater the negative effect of pressure-sensitive Anglo-American owners on unrelated diversification.
Research limitations/implications
We contribute to corporate governance and strategy research by bringing in owners’ institutional origin as a shaper of owner preferences in particular with regards to unrelated diversification. Future research may expand our investigation to more than one home institutional context, and theorize on institutional origin effects beyond the dichotomy between Anglo-American and non-Anglo-American (not oriented toward shareholder value maximization) owners.
Practical implications
Policy makers, financial analysts, owners, and managers may want to reflect about the implications of ownership structure, as well as promoting or joining corporations with particular ownership configurations.
Social implications
A shareholder value-destroying strategy, such as unrelated diversification has adverse consequences for society at large, in terms of opportunity costs, that is, resources could be allocated to value-creating activities instead. Promoting an ownership configuration that creates value should contribute to social welfare.
Originality/value
Owners may not be exclusively driven by shareholder value maximization, but can be influenced by normative beliefs (biases) stemming from the institutional context they originate from.
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Sonia Moi, Fabio Monteduro and Luca Gnan
Recent literature on nonprofit boards of directors has extensively investigated the composition, role, responsibilities, and characteristics of boards. Given the growing number of…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent literature on nonprofit boards of directors has extensively investigated the composition, role, responsibilities, and characteristics of boards. Given the growing number of studies on nonprofit boards, which added new impulse to the debate on the role and characteristics of these players, it is time to analyze the state of the art and systematize the current knowledge. On the other hand, despite the presence of some literature reviews, a research comparing the debate among the nonprofit, private, and public sectors is still lacking. Using Gabrielsson and Huse’s (2004) framework, we wanted to identify factors that can influence research on nonprofit boards and compare our results with existing studies on private and public sector.
Methodology/Approach
We conduct a systematic literature review, selecting empirical articles published in international scientific journals from 1992 to 2012.
Findings
We found similarities and differences in relation to research on boards among sectors. As a common result, we found that evolutionary studies still remains a neglected area in all of three realms. Finally, whereas input–output studies prevail in the private sector and contingency studies prevail in the public sector, behavioral studies prevail in the nonprofit sector, demonstrating, also, that the sector itself can make a difference in the board’s research.
Research Limitations/Implications
This literature review provides some suggestion for further research on boards for all of three sectors. For example, we suggest complementing research on boards on all three sectors, especially in relation to evolutionary studies.
Originality/Value of Paper
This paper fills the need to clarify the status of research on nonprofit boards, in order to address scholars in the understanding of the phenomenon.
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The apparent contemporary corporate model is that of a “responsible firm” – a firm that pursues not only profit and shareholder return but also considers the concerns and…
Abstract
The apparent contemporary corporate model is that of a “responsible firm” – a firm that pursues not only profit and shareholder return but also considers the concerns and interests of its social and environmental stakeholders. Research on corporate social responsibility (CSR), investor recognition via environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, and long-term sustainability has developed into an established field of study. We attempt to clarify the terminologies and models of this field by conducting a brief review of the existing work and suggesting an integrated conceptual framework for CSR, ESG, and sustainability in a domestic and global context. We suggest that externality and temporality are the drivers of this integrated framework.
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Dong Guan, Harry H. Hilton, Zhengwei Yang, Li Jing and Kuan Lu
This paper aims to investigate the lubrication regime in spherical pump, especially under different structural parameters and operational conditions.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the lubrication regime in spherical pump, especially under different structural parameters and operational conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
A ball-on-plane configuration is adopted to represent the contact model between spherical piston and cylinder cover. The governing equations, which include the Reynolds and elasticity equations, are solved and validated by Jin–Dowson model. Both minimum film thickness and lambda ratio (ratio of minimum fluid film thickness to combined surface roughness of the piston and cylinder cover) of the equivalent model are obtained using an established model.
Findings
The results indicate that piston diameter and radial clearance are the two main factors affecting the pump lubrication regime. Other related parameters such as rotation speed of the piston, load, viscosity of working medium, material matching and surface roughness of piston and cylinder cover also have different impacts on the lubrication regime of the spherical pump.
Originality/value
These results emphasize the importance of the design and manufacturing parameters on the tribological performance of spherical pumps and these are also helpful in improving the spherical pump lubrication regime and enlarging its life cycle. This is to certify that to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the content of this manuscript is their own work. This manuscript has only been submitted to this journal and never been published elsewhere. The authors certify that the intellectual content of this manuscript is the product of their own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this manuscript and sources has been acknowledged.
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Throstur Olaf Sigurjonsson, Robert H. Haraldsson and Jordan Mitchell
Building on the institutional theory perspective on corporate governance change and based on interviews with investor relations (IR) managers in large Japanese companies, this…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on the institutional theory perspective on corporate governance change and based on interviews with investor relations (IR) managers in large Japanese companies, this study aims to examine Japanese IR managers’ perceptions of the influence of foreign shareholders on Japan’s corporate governance reform and stakeholder-based system. The paper examines tensions, conflicts and collaborations among different stakeholders involved in corporate governance changes in Japan, especially in the areas of firm ownership, employment relations and boards of directors. The paper explains why convergence does not happen in some large Japanese companies by investigating Japanese managers’ responses to and perceptions of foreign shareholders in multiple corporate contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The author conducted in-depth interviews with ten IR managers at large, listed Japanese companies in Kyoto and Tokyo and two managers at foreign investment banks in Tokyo, between 2018 and 2021.
Findings
This paper explores five themes that emerged from my interviews: Chief executive officers’ (CEOs’) mixed perceptions of foreign investors, the effectiveness of CEO compensation and outside directors, managers’ reluctance to accept stock price-driven business strategies, foreign investors’ engagement vs investments in index funds and gender patterns, including the effectiveness of token female outside directors. The Japanese companies the author looked at incorporated foreign shareholders as consultants and adopted a few major shareholder-based customs, such as CEOs communicating with investors, having outside directors, increasing CEO compensation and slimming down unprofitable parts of the business via restructuring and downsizing. Simultaneously, they resisted a few major shareholder-based practices. Foreign shareholders’ pressure revealed tensions and contradictions between the Japanese stakeholder system and shareholder primacy-based customs.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the few qualitative studies that explores Japanese IR managers’ responses to and perceptions of foreign shareholders in corporate governance reform, with a particular focus on ownership, employment relations and board members. This paper provides examples of tension, conflict and cooperation between Japanese managers and foreign investors, as seen through the eyes of Japanese IR managers. Examining changes in Japan’s stakeholder-based system of corporate governance reform enables us to better understand the processes by which, with vigorous pressure from government and foreign shareholders, a non-western country like Japan may adopt shareholder-based customs and how such a change may also lead to institutional changes.