Fitra Roman Cahaya, Stacey Porter, Greg Tower and Alistair Brown
The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors explaining voluntary occupational health and safety disclosures (OHSDs).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors explaining voluntary occupational health and safety disclosures (OHSDs).
Design/methodology/approach
Annual report disclosures of 223 Indonesia Stock Exchange listed companies for the year ending 2007 are analyzed. The OHSD components of the 2006 Global Reporting Initiative guidelines are used as the disclosure index checklist.
Findings
The results show that approximately 30 percent of Indonesian listed companies provide OHSD. The most disclosed item is health and safety programs. Logistical regression analysis reveals that industry type and international operations significantly influence the propensity to provide OHSD. These findings suggest that coercive isomorphism partially explains OHSD practices in Indonesia.
Research limitations/implications
The main implications of the findings are that Indonesian listed companies generally have poor health and safety information disclosure sets and largely ignore the potential roles of their workers in any health and safety committees.
Originality/value
This paper provides insights into the disclosure practices of occupational health and safety issues, a vital subset of corporate social responsibility disclosure which is still under-researched. The paper also empirically investigates the key determinants of OHSD, an empirical test which is largely ignored in past OHSD-related studies.
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Fitra Roman Cahaya, Stacey A. Porter, Greg Tower and Alistair Brown
This study aims to advance explanations of the communication level of labor disclosures of Indonesian listed companies.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to advance explanations of the communication level of labor disclosures of Indonesian listed companies.
Design/methodology/approach
Year‐ending 2007 Annual report disclosures of 223 Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) listed companies are analyzed. The labor practices and decent work disclosure component of the 2006 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines are used as the benchmark disclosure index checklist.
Findings
The results show a low level of voluntary disclosure (17.7 per cent). The highest level of communication is for issues related to skills management and lifelong learning programs for employees. Very few companies disclosed information about health and safety committee and agreements, and salary of men to women. Statistical analysis reveals that government ownership and international operations are positively significant predictors of “labour” communication. Isomorphic institutional theory partially explains the variability of these disclosures. Bigger companies also provide more labor practices and decent work disclosures.
Research limitations/implications
The main implications of the findings are that Indonesian companies are not clearly communicating labor responsibility issues as a key precondition of corporate social responsibility (CSR). They may be obfuscating some information to protect their image and reputation.
Originality/value
This paper provides insights into the disclosure practices of labor issues, a specific social disclosure theme which is rarely examined in prior literature, under the umbrella of institutional theory. The research also includes “goal factor” to be tested as one of the independent variables.
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Fitra Roman Cahaya, Stacey Porter, Greg Tower and Alistair Brown
– This paper aims to focus on corporate social responsibility and workplace well-being by examining Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX)-listed companies’ labour disclosures.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on corporate social responsibility and workplace well-being by examining Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX)-listed companies’ labour disclosures.
Design/methodology/approach
Year-ending 2007 and 2010 annual report disclosures of 31 IDX-listed companies are analysed. The widely acknowledged Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines are used as the disclosure index checklist.
Findings
The results reveal that the overall labour disclosure level increases from 21.84 per cent in 2007 to 30.52 per cent in 2010. The levels of four of the five specific labour disclosures also increase with employment being the exception. The results further show that the Indonesian Government does not influence the increase in the levels of the overall labour disclosure or the four categories showing increased disclosure but, surprisingly, does significantly affect the decrease in the level of the employment category.
Research limitations/implications
It is implied that the government is at best ambiguous given that, on one side, the government regulates all corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and reporting but appears to coercively pressure companies to hide employment-specific issues.
Practical implications
It is implied that Indonesian companies need to have “strong and influential” independent commissioners on the boards to counter any possible pressures from the government resulting in lower disclosure levels.
Originality/value
This paper provides insights into the “journey” of labour-related CSR disclosure practices in Indonesia and contributes to the literature by testing one specific variant of isomorphic institutional theory, namely, coercive isomorphism.
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Can leadership be taught? Those of us who offer courses on leadership, as part of an academic program, face this question quite often. It is my belief that acquiring more…
Abstract
Can leadership be taught? Those of us who offer courses on leadership, as part of an academic program, face this question quite often. It is my belief that acquiring more knowledge on leadership does not readily translate into becoming a better leader – especially so at a time in history where leaders have to deal with more complexity and change than ever before (Snowden & Boone, 2007; Malloch & Porter-O’Grady, 2009). Leadership is a process of becoming rather than a process of acquiring. In this paper, I argue the need to ground our teaching practices in complex responsive processes (Stacey, 2003), share one such practice we employ in a graduate program for health care professionals, and discuss the implications.
This case presents some of the entrepreneurial challenges faced by a female leader in the technology sector who conceived a new product based on her passion to help others…
Abstract
Social implications
This case presents some of the entrepreneurial challenges faced by a female leader in the technology sector who conceived a new product based on her passion to help others especially those most disadvantaged.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this case study, students should be able to prepare supply chain and distribution analysis that considers ethics and sustainability, integrate philanthropic efforts as part of an organizational strategy and recognize strategies to promote equity within and beyond an organization.
Case overview/synopsis
Connie Stacey (she/her) is an entrepreneur and president of Growing Greener Innovations, an award-winning battery energy storage company based in Alberta, Canada, with a mission to end energy poverty globally. With the emergence of COVID-19 as a global pandemic in 2020, Stacey turned her attention to an innovation called Project Rescue, a ventilator that uses non-identifying patient vitals to track data. It serves as a pandemic early warning system, addressing two key challenges: pandemic data are prone to error, and real-time information is non-existent after the pandemic has spread. This new product was conceived based on her passion to help others, especially those most disadvantaged. This multi-faceted case focuses on the many challenges that Stacey and her team needed to address. The dilemma in this case centres on establishing supply chains amid a pandemic, as well as prioritizing the corporate social responsibility elements of philanthropy and equity within her organization (and beyond).
Complexity academic level
This case is appropriate for third- or fourth-year undergraduate or graduate-level students.
Supplementary materials
In addition to “call out boxes” throughout the case and teaching note, additional readings/links/videos are outlined below. (These supplementary materials, “Teaching Tips”, are included in the teaching notes as well.)
Subject code
CCS 11: Strategy.
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Victor Meyer, Lucilaine Pascuci and Diórgenes Falcão Mamédio
The aim of this study was to analyse strategic planning practices in complex systems by investigating the experiences of Brazilian non-profit hospitals. Growing pressures have…
Abstract
The aim of this study was to analyse strategic planning practices in complex systems by investigating the experiences of Brazilian non-profit hospitals. Growing pressures have been imposed upon hospitals to improve the quality of their services, to increase access to them by reducing costs and to improve their reliability. In order to respond to these demands, managerial approaches such as strategic planning based on business-sector practices have been adopted by non-profit hospitals. The purpose of this study was to identify the most significant results of the experience with strategic planning in two non-profit hospitals. The study is a qualitative one, and the research was based on the concepts of organizational complexity, strategic planning and managerialism in non-profit hospitals. Data were collected by non-participant observation, from documents and in interviews and were analysed using narrative analysis and document-analysis techniques. Three main factors related to strategic planning in non-profit hospitals were identified: firstly, the unsuitability of strategic planning for hospitals given that they are complex, professional organizations, something that was disregarded by managers; secondly, the significant role played by core operating professionals in strategy making; and thirdly, the representation of strategic planning as fancy management in the eyes of internal and external stakeholders, conferring legitimacy on and generating trust in the hospital. The findings indicate that strategic planning as a traditional managerialist approach applied in a hospital context was dysfunctional and failed to produce a significant contribution to organizational performance.
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As the business environment increases in its scope, dynamics and complexity, the task of grasping its changes becomes increasingly demanding. The increased availability of…
Abstract
As the business environment increases in its scope, dynamics and complexity, the task of grasping its changes becomes increasingly demanding. The increased availability of electronic data threatens to exceed the human capacity to cope with and assimilate them. This research aims to provide a support tool that would be able to contribute to a more systematic, intensive, extensive and faster scanning process than the human process alone. This paper serves to build the foundations of such a support system by giving a detailed examination of both the domain and the technology. It is presented in two parts. The first part analyzes the concept of strategic scanning and presents a comprehensive review of its context. It helps us to understand the complicated, interrelated phenomena and reveals useful observations that are relevant to the construction of the system. A scanning‐based strategic management framework is formulated, which guides the system design. The second part will introduce the fundamentals of software agent approach, examine its relevance in offering the needed support, and describe an agent system that is currently under development.
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Norman T. Sheehan and Nicolai J. Foss
Porter's activity‐based view of the firm is a comprehensive strategic framework which analyzes firm‐level competitive advantage. Although Porter's activity‐based view is widely…
Abstract
Purpose
Porter's activity‐based view of the firm is a comprehensive strategic framework which analyzes firm‐level competitive advantage. Although Porter's activity‐based view is widely cited by academics, taught to students, and applied by practitioners, little is known about its intellectual roots. Given that a framework's intellectual antecedents not only determine its current content, but also its future development, this paper aims to examine the intellectual roots of Porter's activity‐based view and the value chain.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines Porter's writings in an effort to document his influences while developing the activity‐based view and value chain. Porter's and other scholars' explanations are found to be lacking, so the paper ventures further down paths first suggested by Porter and others.
Findings
Whereas Porter's five forces framework built on the existing industrial organization paradigm, the activity‐based view is not derived from any existing paradigms. While consultants of the 1970s impacted Porter's development of the value chain and the activity‐based view, its deeper roots lay in operations research, particularly activity analysis; and the work of Arch Shaw, who was the first to teach a business policy course at Harvard Business School. Porter's contribution is to bring the diverse threads together into a coherent whole which managers can apply to analyze and improve their competitive positions.
Practical implications
Following Porter, the authors argue that activities are a key link between resource holdings and strategic positions. Therefore, it is only when the activity‐based and resource‐based views are integrated that they provide a comprehensive explanation of firm value creation.
Originality/value
The paper is the first to critically examine the intellectual antecedents of the activity‐based view.
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Colin Clarke‐Hill, Huaning Li and Barry Davies
Co‐operation and competition characterise the inter‐firm relationships in strategic alliances. This article proposes a paradox approach to studying co‐operation and competition…
Abstract
Co‐operation and competition characterise the inter‐firm relationships in strategic alliances. This article proposes a paradox approach to studying co‐operation and competition. It explains the paradox perspective and provides an analytic framework for the paradox of co‐operation and competition. In the light of the paradoxical nature, it advocates a multi‐paradigm approach to co‐operative and competitive strategies, which combines strategic positioning, the resource‐based view and game theory. The article suggests that the multi‐paradigms can not only encompass the contradictions of the paradox from the different perspectives, but also emulate the individual ones and provide a holistic picture. The multi‐paradigm approach therefore establishes a better methodology basis than fragmented orthodox theories in exploring the contradictory, interactive and dynamic nature.
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Lisa Evans and Ian Fraser
The paper aims to explore the social origins of Scottish chartered accountants and the accounting stereotype as portrayed in popular fiction.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to explore the social origins of Scottish chartered accountants and the accounting stereotype as portrayed in popular fiction.
Design/methodology/approach
The detective novels of the Scottish chartered accountant Alexander Clark Smith are used as a lens through which to explore the social origins of accountants and the changing popular representations of the accountant.
Findings
The novels contribute to our understanding of the construction of accounting stereotypes and of the social origins of Scottish accountants. They suggest that, while working class access to the profession was a reality, so was class division within it. In addition, Smith was ahead of contemporary professional discourse in creating a protagonist who combines the positive aspects of the traditional stereotype with qualities of a private‐eye action‐hero, and who uses accounting skills to uncover corruption and address (social) wrongs. However, this unconventional portrayal may have been incongruent with the image the profession wished to portray. The public image (or stereotype) portrayed by its members would have been as important in signalling and maintaining the profession's collective status as the recruitment of its leadership from social elites.
Originality/value
Smith's portrayal of accountants in personal and societal settings at a time of profound social change, as well as his background in the Scottish profession, provide a rich source for the study of social origins of Scottish chartered accountancy during the first half of the twentieth century. Further, Smith's novels are of a popular genre, and innovative in the construction of their hero and of accounting itself; as such they merit attention because of their potential to influence the construction of the accounting stereotype(s) within the popular imagination.