A conceptual framework for changes in Fund Management and Accountability relative to ESG issues

Major developments in socially responsible investment (SRI) and in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues for fund managers (FMs) have occurred in the past decade. Much positive change has occurred but problems of disclosure, transparency and accountability remain. This article argues that trustees, FM investors and investee companies all require shared knowledge to overcome, in part, these problems. This involves clear concepts of accountability, and knowledge of fund management and of the associated ‘chain of accountability’ to enhance visibility and transparency. Dealing with the problems also requires development of an analytic framework based on relevant literature and theory. These empirical and analytic constructs combine to form a novel conceptual framework that is used to identify a clear set of areas to change FM investment decision making in a coherent way relative to ESG issues. The constructs and the change strategy are also used together to analyse how one can create favourable conditions for enhanced accountability. Ethical problems and climate change issues will be used as the main examples of ESG issues. The article has policy implications for the UK ‘Stewardship Code’ (2010), the legal responsibilities of key players and for the ‘Carbon Disclosure Project’

Social Media Advertising for Achieving Long-term Marketing Objectives

Increasing competition on consumer markets forces businesses to elaborate marketing plans focused on long-term perspectives. This is important in today’s fluctuating and unpredictable business environments, where high level of competitiveness and positive reputation is a premise of survival for a business. Otherwise, it will be unable to retain its share on consumer markets and make plans focused on long-term periods. In this regard, social media advertising is one of the most powerful strategies to reach various marketing goals: brand awareness and high brand value, positive reputation and word of mouth, growing customer base, high ROAS (return on ad spend) in short-term and CLV (customer lifetime value) in the long run. Therefore, it is necessary to research social media advertising in terms of achieving long-term marketing goals. The paper deals with various issues, including advertising opportunities of social media, ways of attracting and retaining customers, raising brand awareness and elaborating strategies focused on long-term results. Discussion provided in the paper is a result of literature review and the author’s observations. Each part of the paper contains recommendatory remarks for achieving long-term marketing goals by using social media advertising strategies. The paper is summarized by a brief conclusion

Social Media Advertising for Achieving Long-term Marketing Objectives

Increasing competition on consumer markets forces businesses to elaborate marketing plans focused on long-term perspectives. This is important in today’s fluctuating and unpredictable business environments, where high level of competitiveness and positive reputation is a premise of survival for a business. Otherwise, it will be unable to retain its share on consumer markets and make plans focused on long-term periods. In this regard, social media advertising is one of the most powerful strategies to reach various marketing goals: brand awareness and high brand value, positive reputation and word of mouth, growing customer base, high ROAS (return on ad spend) in short-term and CLV (customer lifetime value) in the long run. Therefore, it is necessary to research social media advertising in terms of achieving long-term marketing goals. The paper deals with various issues, including advertising opportunities of social media, ways of attracting and retaining customers, raising brand awareness and elaborating strategies focused on long-term results. Discussion provided in the paper is a result of literature review and the author’s observations. Each part of the paper contains recommendatory remarks for achieving long-term marketing goals by using social media advertising strategies. The paper is summarized by a brief conclusion

Environmental modelling of the Chief Information Officer

Since the introduction of the term in the 1980’s, the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has been widely researched. Various perceptions and dimensions of the role have been explored and debated. However, the explosion in data proliferation (and the inevitable resulting information fuelled change) further complicates organisational expectations of the CIOs role. If organisations are to competitively exploit the digital trend, then those charged with recruiting and developing CIOs now need to be more effective in determining (and shaping) CIO traits and attributes, within the context of their own organisational circumstances and in line with stakeholder expectations. CIOs also need to determine their own suitability and progression within their chosen organisation if they are to remain motivated and effective. Before modelling the role of the future CIO, it is necessary to synthesise our current knowledge (and the lessons learnt) about the CIO. This paper, therefore, aims to identify and summate the spectrum of key researched ‘themes’ pertaining to the role of the CIO. Summating previous research, themes are modelled around four key CIO ‘dimensions’, namely (1) Impacting factors, (2) Controlling factors (3) Responses and (4) CIO ‘attributes’. Having modelled the CIOs current environment, and recognising the evolving IT enabled information landscape, the authors call for further research to inform the recruitment and development of the future CIO in terms of personal attributes and the measurable impact such attributes will have on their respective organisation

Understanding issue complexity when building a socially responsible brand

Purpose of the Manuscript- To discusses the importance of understanding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by analysing the issues that comprise CSR. Without this understanding it will not be possible for organisations to develop responsible brands.Approach &ndash; The paper draws on the existing business and marketing literature to define four aspects of issue complexity. It also draws on a range of real and hypothetical examples affecting local and global organisations to explain the four components.Limitations &ndash; The work is conceptual in nature and additional research needs to be undertaken to better understand how organisations define the CSR issues that they will integrate into activities and how the management of these issues can be undertaken to ensure system wide implementation.Practical Implications &ndash; The work suggests that by understanding the four components of issues complexity organisations will be in a better position to integrate CSR related branding. Without understanding these issues, organisations may potentially unintentionally exaggerate claims or set themselves up to be criticised that they are unfairly exploiting consumers&rsquo; interest in CSR issues.Value- Previous research has documented the value of CSR, but to date there have been only limited attempts to systematically examine how managers could know whether they have considered the issue completely and realistically.<br /

Trust is the new black

Trust is at the heart of ongoing relationships amongst people, but also with brands and companies. It has become a hot topic (Connelly, 2017, Huffington, 2015), particularly given the increasing media coverage of breakdowns in customer trust in well-known companies such as VW, Tesco, BP and Google. But away from these headlines is a stronger, more underlying trend. A move from transactions to longer term customer relationships. The risk of undermining that relationship through not being transparent, not being fair, not having reliable products and services is exacerbated as our world becomes increasingly technology focused. Relationships with suppliers we don’t know are built through trusted on-line third parties. Information about products and services we are unfamiliar with is increasingly sought from others, on-line, and subsequent feedback on customer experiences shared quickly and widely. Where companies are not transparent, the exponential growth in speed and breadth of news spreading makes them vulnerable. It is impossible to hide. However, to assess our own approach to corporate and brand trust, it helps to go back to the key academic theories to discover the concepts that underpin our understanding of trust, the factors that build trust and the outputs that emerge. In addition, we need to understand our performance on trust in the light of data from an industry and global context but also to support the business case for ensuring it remains a business priority. Examining a few of the high-profile failures in trust also helps us identify the range of areas where trust can be undermined. They provide pieces of a jigsaw that, when seen together, help us understand a broader picture of trust to inform our approach with our businesses and our customers now and in the future

An Assessment of Health-Economic Burden of Obesity Trends with Population-Based Preventive Strategies in a Developed Economy

The burden of obesity varies with age, ethnicity, socio-economic status and state economies. All new projections should hence accommodate population ageing, and other population changes such as immigration, health-care system reform, or technological advances for disease treatment for a comprehensible assessment of global burden. The unfordable and expensive nature for reversing the obesity tide arises from policies developed to combat obesity. Most of these approaches aim at bringing the problem under control, rather than affecting a cure, and obviously require a multi-disciplinary and intensive regimen. Prevention is the only feasible option and is essential for all affected countries. Yet it is not simple to have population based UK-wide strategic framework for tackling obesity. Besides existence of multiple layers of governance, there are clear demarcations between targets in diet; nutrition and physical activity level between regions some of which are not realistic. Population based approaches target policies and process, aiming for a transition towards healthy population diets, activity levels and weight status. It is essential to understand these aspects differ culturally and between and within countries. There are still no clear and appropriate answers about answer when, where, why, and, how costs accrue in obese populations, further long term commitments are required for the same. Most population-based prevention policies are cost effective, largely paying for themselves through future health gains and resulting reductions in health expenditures. Therefore these prevention programs should be high on the scientific and political agendas

Performance measurement : challenges for tomorrow

This paper demonstrates that the context within which performance measurement is used is changing. The key questions posed are: Is performance measurement ready for the emerging context? What are the gaps in our knowledge? and Which lines of enquiry do we need to pursue? A literature synthesis conducted by a team of multidisciplinary researchers charts the evolution of the performance-measurement literature and identifies that the literature largely follows the emerging business and global trends. The ensuing discussion introduces the currently emerging and predicted future trends and explores how current knowledge on performance measurement may deal with the emerging context. This results in identification of specific challenges for performance measurement within a holistic systems-based framework. The principle limitation of the paper is that it covers a broad literature base without in-depth analysis of a particular aspect of performance measurement. However, this weakness is also the strength of the paper. What is perhaps most significant is that there is a need for rethinking how we research the field of performance measurement by taking a holistic systems-based approach, recognizing the integrated and concurrent nature of challenges that the practitioners, and consequently the field, face