Transfer Mispricing As an Argument for Corporate Social Responsibility

This article presents a case for transfer mispricing as an argument for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The argument builds on the position that in order to compensate for potential loss of brand image and reputation, Multinational Companies (MNCs) would be more socially responsible when they are operating in countries where the legislation and laws in place are not effective at identifying and sanctioning transfer mispricing. We first discuss the dark side of transfer pricing (TP), next we present the nexus between TP and poverty and finally we advance arguments for CSR in transfer mispricing. While acknowledging that TP is a legal accounting practice, we argue that in view of its poverty and underdevelopment externalities, the practice per se should be a solid justification for CSR because it is also associated with schemes that deprive developing countries of capital essential for investments in health, education and development programmes. Therefore CSR owing to TP cannot be limited to a strategic management approach, but should also be considered as some kind of social justice because of associated transfer mispricing practices. We further argue that, CSR by multinational corporations could incite domestic companies to comply more willingly with their tax obligations and/or engage in similar activities. Whereas, traditional advocates of CSR have employed concepts such as reputation, licence-to-operate, sustainability, moral obligation and innovation to make the case for CSR, the present inquiry extends this stream of literature by arguing that TP and its externalities are genuine justifications for CSR. We consolidate our arguments with a case study of Glencore and the mining industry in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Rational Asymmetric Development, Piketty and the Spirit of Poverty in Africa

The study extends the implications of Piketty’s celebrated literature from developed countries to the nexus between developed nations and African countries by building on responses from Rogoff (2014) & Stiglitz (2014), post Washington Consensus paradigms and underpinnings from Solow-Swan & Boyce-Fofack-Ndikumana. The central argument presented is that the inequality problem is at the heart of rational asymmetric development between rich and poor countries. Piketty has shown that inequality increases when the return of capital is higher than the growth rate, because the poor cannot catch-up with the rich. We argue that, when the return of political economy (or capitalism-fuelled illicit capital flight) is higher than the growth rate in African countries, inequality in development increases and African may not catch-up with the developed world. As an ideal solution, Piketty has proposed progressive income taxation based on automatic exchange of bank information. The ideal analogy proposed in tackling the spirit of African poverty is a holistic commitment to fighting illicit capital flight based on automatic exchange of bank information. Hence, contrary to theoretical underpinnings of exogenous growth models, catch-up may not be so apparent. Implications for the corresponding upward bias in endogenous development and catch-up literature are discussed

Stabilisation and dewatering of primary sludge using ferrate(VI) pre-treatment followed by freeze-thaw in simulated drainage beds

This study evaluated the ability of potassium ferrate(VI) and freeze-thaw to stabilise and dewater primary sludge. Potassium ferrate(VI) additions of 0.5 and 5.0 g/L were used as a pre-treatment prior to freeze-thaw. Samples were frozen at -10, -20 and -30 °C, and were kept frozen for 1, 8 and 15 days. The samples were subsequently thawed at room temperature in a setup which allowed meltwater to be separated from the sludge cake via gravity drainage. The meltwater was characterised in terms of fecal coliform, soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD), soluble proteins, soluble carbohydrates, pH and turbidity. The sludge cake was characterised in terms of fecal coliform, total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS). Freeze-thaw with gravity meltwater drainage reduced the sludge volume by up to 79%. After being frozen for only 1 day, the concentrations of fecal coliform in many of the primary sludge samples were reduced to 3-log inactivation in some cases. However, pre-treatment of the primary sludge with ≤5.0 g/L potassium ferrate(VI) resulted in significant increases in soluble proteins, soluble carbohydrates, and sCOD, and reduced the effectiveness of stand-alone freeze-thaw. Follow-up experiments using higher doses ranging from 5.1 to 24.9 g/L of potassium ferrate(VI) demonstrated that >5-log inactivation of fecal coliform in raw primary sludge can be achieved within 15 min using 15 g/L of potassium ferrate(VI), and the resulting concentration of fecal coliform in the sludge was 1023 MPN/g DS. Pre-treatment with 22.0 g/L of potassium ferrate(VI), followed by freeze-thaw, with only 3 days frozen, reduced the concentration of fecal coliform to below the detection limit in the meltwater and the sludge cake. This demonstrates that potassium ferrate(VI) and freeze-thaw offers the flexibility to adjust the ferrate(VI) dose to meet treatment requirements for land application, and can be used as a stand-alone sludge treatment technology for primary sludge that achieves both treatment and dewatering

Individual and Combined Effects of Freeze-Thaw and Ferrate(VI) Oxidation for the Treatment and Dewatering of Wastewater Sludges

The study examined the individual and combined effects of potassium ferrate(VI) additions and freeze-thaw conditioning for the treatment and dewatering of sludge samples. The first part of the experiments, using primary sludge, compared potassium ferrate(VI) additions prior to freeze-thaw treatment (pretreatment) versus potassium ferrate(VI) additions following freeze-thaw treatment (posttreatment). A low dose (LD) of 1.0 g/L and a high dose (HD) of 10.0 g/L of potassium ferrate(VI) were evaluated along with a freezing temperature of −20 °C and freezing periods of 1, 8 and 15 days. Following the designated freezing period, the samples were removed from the freezer and thawed at room temperature for 12 h. The second part of the study, using anaerobically digested sludge, evaluated the effects of potassium ferrate(VI) pretreatment, using LD = 0.5 g/L and HD = 5.0 g/L, and used simulated drainage beds to separate meltwater from the sludge cake during the thawing period. The study demonstrated that stand-alone freeze-thaw can reduce faecal coliform by >3-log after being frozen for only 1 day, and pretreatment with potassium ferrate(VI) can be used to improve the effects of freeze-thaw on faecal coliform inactivation in sludge. Furthermore, the drainability of the sludge following freeze-thaw was not significantly deteriorated when potassium ferrate(VI) was added to the sludge prior to freezing, despite greater than fourfold increases in the concentrations of soluble proteins and soluble carbohydrates. The meltwater collected during the sludge thawing was approximately 85 % of the initial sludge volume. When 5 g/L of potassium ferrate(VI) was added to the sludge prior to freezing, the meltwater collected had <0.28 MPN/mL faecal coliform, the turbidity was <10 NTU and the pH was 9.1. Pretreatment with potassium ferrate(VI) also reduced the concentration of faecal coliform in the sludge cake, suggesting that freeze-thaw coupled with potassium ferrate(VI) additions can be used to stabilise sludge and reduce sludge volume

Effect of combined freeze-thaw and ferrate(VI) treatments on Escherichia coli in phosphate-buffered saline

The study examined the individual and combined effects of potassium ferrate(VI) and freeze-thaw treatment for the inactivation of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in a phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution. A low dose (LD) of 0.5 mg/L and a high dose (HD) of 1.0 mg/L of potassium ferrate(VI) were used as a pretreatment and posttreatment to freeze-thaw, at temperatures of -10, -20, and -30°C, for 1, 8, and 15 days completely frozen. The LD did not have a significant effect on E. coli concentrations following a 15-min contact time. However, when the LD was used as a pretreatment to freeze-thaw, E. coli concentrations were reduced to 6-log inactivation, regardless of the freezing temperature or the duration of the freezing conditions. When used as a posttreatment to freeze-thaw, LD improved E. coli inactivation compared to stand-alone freeze-thaw treatments; however, LD was much more effective when used as a pretreatment to freeze-thaw. The HD resulted in up to 6.4-log inactivation of E. coli following a 15-min contact time. When used as a pretreatment to freeze-thaw, E. coli concentrations were reduced by more than 6-log regardless of the freezing temperature or the duration of the freezing conditions, similar to the pretreatment tests with LD. Stand-alone freeze-thaw treatments at temperatures of -10, -20, and -30°C, for 1, 8, and 15 days resulted in 1.4 to 3-log inactivation of E. coli, with no significant difference among the various freezing temperatures and freezing times. The study confirmed the effectiveness of potassium ferrate(VI) and freeze-thaw treatments for the inactivation of E. coli and also demonstrated that relatively low doses of potassium ferrate(VI) are extremely effective when used as a pretreatment, prior to freeze-thaw

Strain localisation and failure of dissimilar magnesium-based alloy friction stir welds

<p>Dissimilar butted combinations of magnesium alloys AZ31, AZ61 and AZ80 were friction stir welded and transverse tensile tested until failure. Strain mapping across the deforming weld nugget and interfaces was carried out to correlate the deformation to the local microstructures. Mechanical performance was found to be highly dependent on the spatial distribution of alloys within the nugget and thus highly sensitive to changes in the tooling geometry. Process control requirements for repeatable, high-quality dissimilar friction stir welds will therefore be far more rigorous and challenging than those of similar welds of these alloys. In addition, proximity to the tool insertion point was found to decrease tensile performance, likely due to changes in tooling temperature.</p

Asymmetry of strain rate sensitivity between up-and down-changes in 6000 series Aluminium alloys of varying Si content

International audienceIncreasing demand for a reduction in fuel emissions in passenger vehicles has generated the need for lighter weight materials to be used in automobile manufacture for body-in-white applications. Aluminium alloys in the 6000-series, containing Mg and Si are ideal candidates for these applications but lack the formability found in commonly used steels, providing a need to more fully understand the factors influencing the formability of these alloys at high strains. Conventionally, a high strain rate sensitivity (SRS) is tied to increased formability because it retards the increase in the local strain rate found in the diffuse neck interior. However, most experimental work neglects that the regions exterior to the neck will undergo a local decrease in the strain rate which causes a corresponding material softening. Observations of an asymmetry between up-change and down-change SRS of these alloys in the natural aged condition show that different mechanisms are controlling the SRS depending on the direction of rate change. Following a characterization of the state of clustering by differential scanning calorimetry, continuous tensile and precision strain rate sensitivity testing results are presented, elucidating the differences between the up-change and down-change SRS tests. It is shown that these differences are due to the activation of different thermal obstacles during the two directions of rate changes. The role of a change in Si content on the mechanical properties is explored and its suspected role on the asymmetric SRS is discussed