Richard Linowes and Mollie Brown Hupert
The Panamanian Government wants to spur economic development along the shores of the Panama Canal, but inadequate waste disposal capabilities discourage substantial investment…
Abstract
Purpose
The Panamanian Government wants to spur economic development along the shores of the Panama Canal, but inadequate waste disposal capabilities discourage substantial investment. Squatters and scavengers now also live on the largest landfill in the area and their living conditions pose serious public health risks to the entire region. Unchecked trash disposal actually threatens the physical operation of the Panama Canal, essential to the country's and world economy, because clogged rivers and streams prevent the flow of water required to move ships through this passageway connecting Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. A governmental task force is charged with addressing these problems and they have summoned a team of American consultants to recommend an action plan for modernizing and improving the waste management system of the entire inter‐oceanic region. This paper aims to examine this.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through field research.
Findings
In their research, the IDG consultants found that the typical urban Panamanian had a casual attitude towards waste. Littering was common practice. The waste management industry all over the world seemed to have its share of shady deals, corruption and scavenger activity coupled with atrocious living conditions. The Panamanian situation was no different. The IDG team struggled with the issues and their recommendations for recycling and waste management along the Panama Canal. The four Panamanian governmental representatives would have ultimate authority in deciding whether to implement their recommended course of action.
Practical implications
This field‐based case study explores the range of public and private institutions that might play a role in resolving the waste management problems of the country.
Originality/value
The paper is case study of environmental issues in an emerging market.
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Alexandre Rambaud and Jacques Richard
This chapter gives in “Introduction to the Human Capital Issue” a critical analysis of the standard (economic) Human Capital (HC) theory, with the help of some “traditional”…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter gives in “Introduction to the Human Capital Issue” a critical analysis of the standard (economic) Human Capital (HC) theory, with the help of some “traditional” (founding) accounting concepts. From this study, to avoid the accounting and social issues highlighted in “Introduction to the Human Capital Issue,” we present, in “The “Triple Depreciation Line” Model and the Human Capital,” the “Triple Depreciation Line” (TDL) accounting model, developed by Rambaud & Richard (2015b), and we apply it to “HC,” but viewed as genuine accounting capital – a matter of concern – that firms have to protect and maintain.
Methodology/approach
From a critical review of literature on HC theory, from the origin of this concept to its connection with sustainable development, this chapter provides a conceptual discussion on this notion and on the differences/common points between capital and assets in accounting and economics. Then, it uses a normative accounting model (TDL), initially introduced to extend, in a consistent way, financial accounting to extra-financial issues.
Findings
This analysis shows at first that the standard (economic) HC theory is based on a (deliberate) confusion between assets and capital, in line with a standard economic perspective on capital. Therefore, this particular viewpoint implies: an accounting issue for reporting HC, because “traditional” accounting capital and assets are clearly isolated concepts; and a societal issue, because this confusion leads to the idea that HC does not mean that human beings are “capital” (i.e., essential), or have to be maintained, even protected, for themselves. It only means that human beings are mere productive means. The application of the TDL model to an accounting redefinition of HC allows a discussion about some key issues involved in the notion of HC, including the difference between the standard and “accounting” narratives on HC. Finally, this chapter presents some important consequences of this accounting model for HC: the disappearance of the concept of wage and the possibility of reporting repeated (or continuous) use of HC directly in the balance sheet.
Research implications
This chapter contributes to the literature on HC and in general on capital and assets, by stressing in particular some confusions and misunderstandings in these concepts. It fosters a cross-disciplinary approach of these issues, through economic, accounting, and sustainability viewpoints. This analysis also participates in the development of the TDL model and the research project associated. It finally proposes another perspective, more sustainable, on HC and HC reporting.
Social implications
The stakes of HC are important in today’s economics, accounting, and sustainable development. The different conceptualizations of HC, and the narratives behind it, may have deep social and corporate implications. In this context, this analysis provides a conceptual, and practicable, framework to develop a more sustainable concept of HC and to enhance working conditions, internal business relations, integrated reporting. As an outcome of these ideas, this chapter also questions the standard corporate governance models.
Originality/value
This chapter gives an original perspective on HC, and in general on the concept of capital, combining an economic and an accounting analysis. It also develops a new way to report HC, using an innovative integrated accounting model, the TDL model.
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Kristen Bell De Tienne and G. Stoney Alder
Employee evaluation and monitoring have been common in America since colonial times. With industrialization, employers have implemented increasingly creative ways to monitor…
Abstract
Employee evaluation and monitoring have been common in America since colonial times. With industrialization, employers have implemented increasingly creative ways to monitor employees. For example, in the early part of this century, Ford Motor Company employed investigators to enter employees' homes to verify that employees were not overly drinking and that their homes were clean
The story of business ethics would seem to be a tale of horses,deckchairs, Molotovs and ostriches. There is little evidence that thegrowth in organisational codes of ethics (OCoE…
Abstract
The story of business ethics would seem to be a tale of horses, deckchairs, Molotovs and ostriches. There is little evidence that the growth in organisational codes of ethics (OCoE) in recent years has had much effect on organisational activity. Such was also the experience with the social responsibility debate of the 1970s – a debate which the current business ethics experience so closely parallels. The theme here is that business ethics and social responsibility have failed to “root” because (a) they have remained undefined and imprecise, and (b) organisations have neither the mechanisms for, nor the interest in, their adoption. As a result neither ethics nor responsibility has entered the “soul” of organisations. Commentators have misunderstood this and continue so to do because the bulk of debate in the business ethics arena adopts the individualist orientation that characterises much of the history of the philosophy of ethics.
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The purpose of this paper is to draw disclosure of corporate social responsibility from annual reports of companies which went public on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX). The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw disclosure of corporate social responsibility from annual reports of companies which went public on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX). The objective of this research is to show the pattern of the companies in practicing social disclosure. The pattern includes category and item, focus, amount and difference per category including high and low profile companies in multifarious group members of JSX.
Design/methodology/approach
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was identified, evaluated and measured, along with the effect on the company and communication to stockholders, as it was seen how much the disclosure about social responsibility accounting was present in the annual report.
Findings
Its use of coding processes in the annual report, with use of content analysis, was specifically for indexing a “yes” or “no” approach. There are 16 members of JSX for Multifarious Group of Industry including High‐Profile and Low‐Profile companies. The research results show the significant difference between High‐Profile and Low‐Profile for disclosure about corporate social responsibility in annual reports.
Originality/value
The paper suggests that the behavior of a company disregarding its social responsibility will harm that company.
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Xiaorui Wang and Shen Hu
This article intends to explore the sustainability accounting practices that emerge from the business of artificial forestry in the Qingshui River society of southwest China in…
Abstract
Purpose
This article intends to explore the sustainability accounting practices that emerge from the business of artificial forestry in the Qingshui River society of southwest China in the 18th-19th centuries.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a historical approach, we set out to discuss the systematic use of “folk contract” as a tool of tracing accountability in timber trading and in the collective management of community forests in this region, based on the archives of Qingshui River Manuscripts.
Findings
The findings indicate that active transactions of small forest plots facilitated by the prevalent use of folk contracts allow both the landlords and the tenants to easily acquire cashflow needed any time before the harvest, and in turn prevent premature logging and deforestation for crop farming. An “open ledger” bookkeeping system emerged from the extensive contracting practices guarantees the functioning of a dualistic accountability system, where both market value of timbers and “face” value of community members' reputation are preserved for long-term sustainability of local economy, society and ecological environment.
Originality/value
From the perspective of economic anthropology, this study forms the link between the folk contract practice in sustainable forestry of the Qingshui River society and the emancipatory accounting literature.
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Dennis J. Gayle and Jonathan N. Goodrich
As both concept and process, privatization possesses ambiguous connotations and multiple meanings. Webster's Dictionary (1981) defines one related noun, privatism, as “an attitude…
Abstract
As both concept and process, privatization possesses ambiguous connotations and multiple meanings. Webster's Dictionary (1981) defines one related noun, privatism, as “an attitude of uncommitment or uninvolvement in anything beyond one's immediate interests,” while another associated noun, privacy, denotes a state of “withdrawal from society or the public interest” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1972). If government is a means of providing a wide range of collective goods, which do not necessarily lend themselves to market exchange, the public sector is naturally a highly visible target.4 At the same time, unrestrained public-sector expansion inevitably leads to public policy failure, as problems of communication, coordination, effective cost–benefit control, and revenue satiation accumulate.5 Privatization represents a logical reaction.
Seeks to isolate those intra‐organizational factors affecting theinformation technology (IT) structure of the firm. Analyses thisphenomenon from two management perspectives: the…
Abstract
Seeks to isolate those intra‐organizational factors affecting the information technology (IT) structure of the firm. Analyses this phenomenon from two management perspectives: the agency and governance perspective on the one hand, and the management characteristics perspective on the other. Using a sample of 72 large organizations, empirical results indicate that information technology structure (centralized versus decentralized) is strongly related to management equity ownership, to concentration of stock holding and to the age of the CEO. For example, an organization where top executives and managers own a relatively high percentage of the company′s stock, possesses a more centralized information technology structure than an organization with a relatively lower percentage of management ownership. This means that user departments in the latter have more control over their IT functions than users in the former. On the other hand, companies with a high level of stock concentration have a more decentralized IT structure. The research also revealed a statistically significant relationship between a company′s equity‐to‐debt ratio and the age of the CEO on the one hand, and the level of IT centralization on the other.