‘AIRBNB’ in Western Australia: New Issues for Policy Makers Arising From a ‘Disruptive Innovatation\u27

The short terms rental market, colloquially referred to as ‘Airbnb’ accommodation, has proliferated the Australian (and international) accommodation market. The number of rooms being made available per nights in Australia via sort term rental websites runs into the hundreds of thousands. Policy makers have generally been slow to respond to this ‘disruptive innovation’. It is particularly in strata title schemes where the legality of short term rentals is being tested. In this article consideration is given to a recent judgement of the Supreme Court of Appeal in Western Australia to uphold a decision of the State Administrative Tribunal whereby a short term rental arrangement in a strata complex was held to be without approval and hence a breach of the by-laws of the strata scheme. The judgement raises far reaching questions for short term rentals in the strata schemes and highlights the importance for policy guidance and regulatory involvement by state and local authoritie

Harm: The counterfactual comparative account, the omission and pre-emption problems, and well-being

The concept of “harm” is ubiquitous in moral theorising, and yet remains poorly defined. Bradley suggests that the counterfactual comparative account of harm is the most plausible account currently available, but also argues that it is fatally flawed, since it falters on the omission and pre-emption problems. Hanna attempts to defend the counterfactual comparative account of harm against both problems. In this paper, I argue that Hanna’s defence fails. I also show how his defence highlights the fact that both the omission and the pre-emption problems have the same root cause – the inability of the counterfactual comparative account of harm to allow for our implicit considerations regarding well-being when assessing harm. While its purported neutrality with regard to substantive theories of well-being is one of the reasons that this account is considered to be the most plausible on offer, I will argue that this neutrality is illusory

The cost of fiscal subsidies to higher education students in South Africa: A comparison between 2000 and 2006

In this analysis the expenditure (subsidy) on higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa is compared for 2000 and 2006. The analysis was done with headcounts of students as well as with full-time equivalent student numbers. A second method was followed where a distinction was made between the number of students enrolled in the social sciences and those enrolled in the natural sciences. It is found that Subsidies of the African, coloured and Indian students in general deteriorated slightly compared to the subsidy levels of whites. However, with the calculations for contact full-time equivalent students according to field of study it was found that either the other racial groups’ relative situation improved over time or they received higher subsidies than the white group.Government subsidies, National government expenditure, Education

Corporate responsibility reporting in the UK and Japan

There is an increasing concern for the environment and society in today’s world. Stakeholders call for corporations to take responsibility for the impact that their organisational activities have on the environment and society by publicly disclosing such impacts and how they are being managed. Thus, the practice of corporate responsibility reporting (hereafter CRR) has been established. Unlike the provision of financial information in an annual report, CRR tends to be a voluntary reporting practice. As firms have the choice to provide CRR, logical economic thinking says that they will only do so if they derive some benefit from it. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate whether CRR is associated with firms’ market values in order to assess whether CRR provides incremental value relevant information to investors

Oil company annual report disclosure responses to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill

This paper analyses the annual report disclosures of the other six largest oil companies in reaction to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It focusses on changes in disclosures that can be ascribed to the oil spill. The companies all increased their environmental disclosures, with positive disclosures increasing most. It shows the use of an image enhancement disclosure strategy and a (partial) disclaiming of responsibility disclosure strategy, but do not find evidence consistent with a deflection of attention disclosure strategy, probably due to the high profile of the incident. It is found that BP’s strategy of repeating disclosures about remedial activities several times in different parts of the annual report ensures: an emphasis on the positive, that all stakeholders regardless of their area of focus are likely to notice this disclosure, an increase in the volume of environmental disclosure, and that less detail can be disclosed, reducing litigation-related risks

Do companies reduce CSR disclosures during recessions?

Purpose: We investigate trends in prevalence and volume of CSR disclosure by the top 50 New Zealand listed companies from 2005 to 2010, i.e. from before until after the initial impact of the global financial crisis (GFC). Design/methodology/approach: We examine the annual reports of each of the companies between the years 2005 and 2010, as well as company websites for standalone CSR reports. We count the number of pages of any social and environmental disclosures in annual reports and in standalone reports for each year and use this data to assess whether overall trends can be discerned. We compare CSR disclosure trends with changes in business confidence. Findings: Our results reveal a general upward trend in CSR disclosures over the six-year period. The number of companies disclosing in their annual reports and standalone reports increased from 2005 to 2007. However, during the initial drop in business confidence in 2008 (brought on by the GFC), CSR disclosures in annual reports and standalone reports remained consistent overall with 2007. Companies operating within industries more prone to public scrutiny or those industries more sensitive to the social and environmental impacts of corporate operations actually increased their CSR disclosures, whereas other companies decreased their disclosure for an overall constant level. The upward trend resumed in 2009, but when business confidence again suffered in 2010, overall annual report CSR disclosures decreased, whereas overall standalone report disclosure continued the upward trend. In sum, during times of reduced business confidence, companies in non-environmentally-sensitive and non-socially-sensitive industries appear to buck the overall trend towards increased CSR disclosures. Originality: Many studies conclude that there is an upward trend in CSR disclosures over time. Other studies examine the impact of particular events on disclosure. However, we are not aware of any study that examines the impact of the initial phase of the GFC on the overall upward trend in CSR disclosures, i.e. whether companies subjugate CSR in favour of more pressing business priorities during times of reduced business confidence