Voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy: determinants and outcomes. An empirical study into the risks and payoffs of communicating corporate strategy.

Business leaders increasingly face pressure from stakeholders to be transparent. There appears however little consensus on the risks and payoffs of disclosing vital information such as corporate strategy. To fill this gap, this study analyzes firm-specific determinants and organisational outcomes of voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. Stakeholder theory and agency theory help to understand whether companies serve their interest to engage with stakeholders and overcome information asymmetries. I connect these theories and propose a comprehensive approach to measure voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. Hypotheses from the theoretical framework are empirically tested through panel regression of data on identified determinants and outcomes and of disclosed strategy through annual reports, corporate social responsibility reports, corporate websites and corporate press releases by the 70 largest publicly listed companies in the Netherlands from 2003 through 2008. I found that industry, profitability, dual-listing status, national ranking status and listing age have significant effects on voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. No significant effects are found for size, leverage and ownership concentration. On outcomes, I found that liquidity of stock and corporate reputation are significantly influenced by voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. No significant effect is found for volatility of stock. My contributions to theory, methodology and empirics offers a stepping-stone for further research into understanding how companies can use transparency to manage stakeholder relations

European Administration. Normative Fundaments and Systemic Models

Making use of the relevant literature in the area, this paper proposes a systemic approach to the European administration. The difficulty of the research design stems from the inconsistency of the regulations European treaties exhibit, as well as from the sectorial approaches, mostly of legal nature, on the conceptualization of the EU administration. To this we add the complexity of the analyzed process which, under the conditions set by the EU enlargement tends to overcome, both in sphere and content, many of the administrations of the federal states or international organizations. The systemic model we propose is a complex system, of a mixed architecture. It is there that the self-regulatory processes have a unique specificity and make use of both a legal foundation and of complementary processes such are those of Europeanization, convergence and administrative dynami

To Conform or To Perform? Mimetic Behaviour, Legitimacy-Based Groups and Performance Consequences

The study of interorganizational imitation has been an important strand in the recent literature on institutional theory. This paper offers new insights for our understanding of mimetic isomorphism and its reliance on legitimacy: we suggest that legitimacy-based reference groups guide firms in their mimetic behaviour, that firms undertake imitation even against their own "ex ante" information, and that legitimacy-based imitation contributes negatively to firms' profitability. We examine Portuguese bank branching decisions between 1988 and 1996 and find that banks imitate their legitimacy-based groups, and not only towards "ex ante" (firm-specific) attractive locations, but also towards unattractive locations; we also find that mimetic branching produces a negative effect on profitability. We conclude that these results show the importance of legitimacy pressures on organization decisions and the tension between the pressure to conform and the pressure to perform. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.

Fatores determinantes no disclosure em Responsabilidade Social Corporativa (RSC): um estudo qualitativo e quantitativo com empresas listadas na Bovespa Communication level and determinant factors of corporative social responsibility disclosure: a qualitative and quantitative study of companies listed in Bovespa

O presente trabalho constitui-se, enquanto uma pesquisa qualitativa e quantitativa, que a partir do levantamento de literatura acerca do processo de disclosure, em responsabilidade social corporativa (RSC) em companhias brasileiras. Realizou levantamento dos relatórios disponibilizados pelas companhias listadas na BOVESPA (Bolsa de Valores do Estado de São Paulo) para um conjunto de 123 empresas, fundamentado pelo referencial da Teoria da Divulgação Voluntária e da Teoria da Legitimidade, aliado à técnica estatística da análise fatorial, buscou identificar o nível de comunicação das informações relacionadas ao desempenho em RSC e prováveis fatores determinantes ao disclosure em responsabilidade social corporativa (RSC) a partir de variáveis independentes do desempenho econômico-financeiro e social (distribuição de riqueza) dessas companhias. Os resultados obtidos no estudo sugerem que a política de disclosure em RSC para as empresas que formaram a amostra demonstrou ser bastante incipiente e altamente vinculada a aspectos de externalidade positiva (marketing social), sendo possível estabelecer uma determinação significante entre o desempenho econômico-financeiro e social com o disclosure em RSC, para as empresas que atuam em atividade regulamentada.<br>The current article is a qualitative and quantitative study based on the literature regarding the corporative social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in Brazilian companies. This research evaluated reports provided by companies listed in BOVESPA (Stock Exchange of the State of São Paulo, Brazil). Based on the Voluntary Disclosure Theory and Legitimacy Theory, 123 companies were evaluated in combination with factor analysis, a statistical technique, in order to identify the level of communication concerning sharing information related to CSR performance and the probable determinant factors to corporative social responsibility (CSR) disclosure using financial economical, and social performance (wealth distribution) as independent variables. The results obtained in the study suggest that the CSR disclosure policy of those companies proved very incipient and highly related to aspects of positive externality (social marketing), and therefore it is possible to establish a strong relationship between economical, financial, and social performance and CSR disclosure for the companies that carry out regulated activities