7,873 research outputs found

    Corporate Social Responsibility: the institutionalization of ESG

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    Understanding the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on firm performance as it relates to industries reliant on technological innovation is a complex and perpetually evolving challenge. To thoroughly investigate this topic, this dissertation will adopt an economics-based structure to address three primary hypotheses. This structure allows for each hypothesis to essentially be a standalone empirical paper, unified by an overall analysis of the nature of impact that ESG has on firm performance. The first hypothesis explores the evolution of CSR to the modern quantified iteration of ESG has led to the institutionalization and standardization of the CSR concept. The second hypothesis fills gaps in existing literature testing the relationship between firm performance and ESG by finding that the relationship is significantly positive in long-term, strategic metrics (ROA and ROIC) and that there is no correlation in short-term metrics (ROE and ROS). Finally, the third hypothesis states that if a firm has a long-term strategic ESG plan, as proxied by the publication of CSR reports, then it is more resilience to damage from controversies. This is supported by the finding that pro-ESG firms consistently fared better than their counterparts in both financial and ESG performance, even in the event of a controversy. However, firms with consistent reporting are also held to a higher standard than their nonreporting peers, suggesting a higher risk and higher reward dynamic. These findings support the theory of good management, in that long-term strategic planning is both immediately economically beneficial and serves as a means of risk management and social impact mitigation. Overall, this contributes to the literature by fillings gaps in the nature of impact that ESG has on firm performance, particularly from a management perspective

    The Adirondack Chronology

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    The Adirondack Chronology is intended to be a useful resource for researchers and others interested in the Adirondacks and Adirondack history.https://digitalworks.union.edu/arlpublications/1000/thumbnail.jp

    Human Rights practitioners’ approach to refugees and migrants. A therapeutic psychosocial perspective.

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    This thesis advances the argument that the best way to address the needs of involuntarily dislocated populations is to develop a combined framework that includes both psychosocial and therapeutic perspectives as well as human rights principles. Based on my professional experience as a refugee lawyer, I argue that only such a combined framework can adequately respond to the complexity of the refugee realities. Moreover, I demonstrate that, in some circumstances, the application only of human right rules can violate the same rights that they are meant to protect. I suggest that human rights practitioners are more likely to become aware of the real needs of those we help and, thus, provide them with targeted interventions, once we add a psychosocial perspective to our work. It is in this sense that our endeavours become therapeutic, which should be distinguished from offering them psychotherapy. The added therapeutic dimension also benefits refugees by rescuing them from developing victim identities. This empowering and participatory model of interaction also assists them with an awareness of their existing resources as well as of those new strengths they acquire from their exposure to adversity. Finally, they benefit from an improved level of self reflexivity and a deeper consideration of the socio-political and cultural contexts that act as background to the migratory experience. This study examines various possible applications of this proposed combined framework, ranging from the enrichment of the refugee lawyers curricula with tenets of psychosocial perspectives to the addition of a therapeutic dimension to the hearings of migration/asylum courts

    The Digital Continent:Placing Africa in Planetary Networks of Work

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    Only ten years ago, there were more internet users in countries like France or Germany than in all of Africa put together. But much has changed in a decade. The year 2018 marks the first year in human history in which a majority of the world’s population are now connected to the internet. This mass connectivity means that we have an internet that no longer connects only the world’s wealthy. Workers from Lagos to Johannesburg to Nairobi and everywhere in between can now apply for and carry out jobs coming from clients who themselves can be located anywhere in the world. Digital outsourcing firms can now also set up operations in the most unlikely of places in order to tap into hitherto disconnected labour forces. With CEOs in the Global North proclaiming that ‘location is a thing of the past’ (Upwork, 2018), and governments and civil society in Africa promising to create millions of jobs on the continent, the book asks what this ‘new world of digital work’ means to the lives of African workers. It draws from a year-long fieldwork in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda, with over 200 interviews with participants including gig workers, call and contact centre workers, self-employed freelancers, small-business owners, government officials, labour union officials, and industry experts. Focusing on both platform-based remote work and call and contact centre work, the book examines the job quality implications of digital work for the lives and livelihoods of African workers

    Changing ideas about corporate social responsibility CSR and development in Context: The case of Mauritius

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    The idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has risen to prominence with remarkable rapidity in recent years. Although the literature on contemporary CSR has concentrated almost exclusively on advanced capitalist countries, CSR is increasingly being promoted in a developing country context as an important mechanism for furthering economic and social development goals. Yet, there is currently very limited research about whether contemporary CSR can in fact assist in development. This thesis seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge in this area. The first, theoretical, part of the thesis explores changing ideas about the nature of CSR, and argues that contemporary ideas of CSR are ameliorative in nature, marking a fundamental shift from the original, transformative, idea of the `socially responsible corporation', which emerged in the 1920s and 30s. The thesis also argues that with their emphasis on self-regulation and voluntarism, contemporary ideas about CSR are very much part and parcel of contemporary neo-liberal ideas about economic and social organisation. The second, empirical, part of the thesis seeks to investigate whether the model of CSR being deployed in the developing world is indeed a conservative one and, if so, whether this conservatism is likely to render it ineffectual. It explores how CSR is understood by its practitioners - company executives and other key players - in Mauritius, focusing on the impact of the concept on executive opinion by examining their rhetorical commitment to CSR as well as what that entailed in practice. The research suggests that executives in Mauritius tend to equate CSR with corporate philanthropy, which casts doubt on its ability to make a significant contribution to development. In light of the arguments developed in the thesis, one of its main conclusions is that a return to the earlier, more radical, conception of CSR is needed if CSR is really to make an important contribution to development

    The Great War and The People of Wirral, Cheshire, c. 1910-1925

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    This thesis explores the impact of the Great War upon the people of Wirral during the period 1910-1925. It deepens our understanding of the history of a region within the United Kingdom during the early twentieth century and starts to rectify the historiographical imbalance between Wirral and its neighbour, Liverpool, which has so far received far more scholarly attention. A small portion of the British population is here placed under a microscope, so that the impact of the Great War on British society as a whole might better be understood. In order to produce balanced judgements on such topics as reactions to war, recruitment, resilience, patriotism, commemoration and remembrance, the arguments of the national historians are compared with local data and, where possible, comparisons made with other parts of the United Kingdom. An integrated and ’bottom up’ approach has been pursued. Primary sources (such as newspapers, oral interviews, personal papers and service records) have been analysed using the methods of the family, local, regional and military historian and a range of interesting stories and numerical data brought to light. It is argued that the Great War exerted a conservative and reactionary influence on society. The beliefs, structures and attitudes of the pre-war world enabled people to cope with the challenges of total war and were, therefore, still firmly in place by 1925. If twentieth century British history is viewed teleologically as a progression towards a more democratic, equitable, inclusive and peaceful society, the data from Wirral herein expounded does not support the view that the Great War, at least within the decade of its conclusion, was a catalyst within this progression. The labour and women’s movements enjoyed limited political and social success in the immediate post-war years and pacifist views became slightly more acceptable in some circles, but, in general old loyalties and beliefs remained unshaken. In this regard, Wirral was more conservative than districts with stronger Nonconformist traditions (such as South Wales), higher proportions of industrial workers (such as Bolton) or who were represented by pacifist MPs (such as Leicester). It is also shown that the home and fighting fronts were much more strongly linked than has previously been supposed and that, despite their surprisingly detailed knowledge of its horrors, civilians remained committed to the war. The people of Wirral should, therefore, be seen not solely as recipients of the war’s impact, but as prosecutors and moulders of the conflict – active agents instead of passive victims. The thesis contributes to debates about the role of the Great War in British history and about the value of regional studies in advancing historical knowledge. Britain is shown to have been a highly complex and diverse society about which it is difficult accurately to generalise, although certain themes (such as the importance of Christianity, patriotism, commitment to monarchy and empire and Germanophobia) are identifiable in most parts of the country. The work is a provocation for further regional studies which focus on the impact of war on society and for further analysis of Merseyside in wartime

    The Quixotism of a Relationally Constituted Contract Law

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    Relational contract theory is often seen as a rival to classical contract. Despite its inception in the early 1970s, the full theory does not seem to have made much headway into the substantive law of contract within England and Wales outside of doctrinal rhetoric in good faith. Part of this stagnation is due to the convolution that surrounds relational contract theory, both in its descriptive and normative claims. This thesis will attempt to rectify the situation and elucidate relational contract theory as the neutral analytic tool that it was designed to be. It will be shown that relational theory is not inherently opposed to the continuation of the classical law and that a change to a relationally constituted law of contract would be damaging. While the classical law is founded on false premises, the effect is not as dire as academics posit, and in a world that is better off with this flawed doctrine relational theory will encounter the awkward question of its utility. The fact that the theory would not do well in substantive law does not make its norms and narrative any less accurate, and this thesis maintains it still has a place. In determining an adequate place the thesis will reference an obscure jurisprudential theory developed by Niklas Luhmann known as Autopoietic Systems Theory. With reference to this, the thesis determines that relational contract theory is a description of the interplay between psychic and social systems. The theory is both separate and distinct from the legal subsystem of society, which observes the theory's noises and generates its own internal communications. On this abstract theoretical level, the thesis will deduce that further distortion of the theory by the legal system is highly likely, and therefore integration is unlikely to find any real success

    Battling the Dark Arts: Combating Stock Market Manipulation in Australia – From the Early Days of Share Trading to 1990

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    This thesis traces the historical roots of stock market manipulation in the domestic context, from the early days of share trading to 1990—the year of the first successful prosecution for market rigging in Australia. It will consider the role that governments and stock exchanges have played in combating this insidious activity, which has plagued domestic stock markets since share trading began on the streets of gold mining towns across the Australian colonies
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