Corporate Social Responsibilities, an Overview of Principles and Practices

[Excerpt] In this paper Dr. Murray, of the University of Melbourne, argues that the public discourse on Corporate Social Responsibility has evolved into a quite stylized debate which tends to focus on one particular facet of multinational economic behaviour. Namely the treatment of workers in manufacturing factories in the developing world producing goods for multinational enterprises with particular attention the manufacture of textiles, clothing and footwear. This has also brought with it renewed interest in the idea of the “sweatshop”, the concept of extreme exploitation of vulnerable workers in terms of living wages and dangerous working conditions. As a consequence more is known about this sector than just about any other, and theoretical work tends to deal with the subject of corporate selfregulation through the lens of the production and consumption of these arguably idiosyncratic goods. She argues that it is important to identify the potential distorting power of this emerging discourse and to broaden the attention to labour markets conditions in general

Differentiating beliefs of insured and uninsured, insurance-eligible state employees: a new application of the Health Belief Model

The increasing number of uninsured Americans is a crucial policy issue for the United States; however, there is a paucity of empirical social science research on the uninsured with which to guide the development of policy. Previous research indicates that when insurance is voluntary, whether offered through a state-initiated reform to reduce uninsurance or offered through an employer as a benefit, some people choose to remain uninsured. The literature calls for research to increase understanding of the factors that affect whether people offered insurance accept or decline that insurance. Research on the uninsured is lacking a theoretical framework to help researchers and policymakers understand, predict, and explain why some people decline insurance and remain uninsured. Previous research suggests that while cost is a primary factor, there are other, unknown factors that contribute to uninsurance. The current research seeks to fill the gaps in the literature by using the Health Belief Model as a framework to explore relationships between insurance status and beliefs about insurance. Five constructs are of focus in the Health Belief Model: susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and cues to action. This study, employing cross-sectional survey methods, is an observational, descriptive, and exploratory study seeking to establish relationships between demographic characteristics, health beliefs, and insurance status. The population under study is insurance-eligible, insured and uninsured employees of a large, state university, where 24% of insurance-eligible employees decline to participate in employer-offered voluntary health insurance benefits. Data were collected through a telephone survey of employees (n=140) selected through a stratified random sample. A Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated to examine the relationship between insurance status and various dimensions of beliefs as framed by the health belief model. Findings show a significant positive correlation between insurance status and cues to action and significant negative relationships between insurance status and barriers and insurance status and benefits. This study provides insights into the social barriers to health insurance participation. The results of this study suggest that the Health Belief Model is a useful framework with which to study the uninsured

Effects of deinsurance on Alberta optometrists

In January of 1995, basic vision examinations for patients aged 19 to 64 became deinsured in the province of Alberta. This deinsurance was the result of an effort by the Alberta Health Care Plan to cut back on escalating health care costs. The purpose of this thesis is to study the effects of deinsurance on Alberta optometrists. A survey (Appendix A) was mailed to all practicing optometrists in the province of Alberta one year post deinsurance. The effects of deinsurance were based on income and patient numbers, as well as opinions of whether optometrists would choose to he reinsured under Alberta Health Care. Results indicate that both income and patient numbers decreased one year after deinsurance but despite this, the majority of optometrists stated that they would not choose to return to being insured under Alberta Health Care

Successful Implementation of Pharmacy Retail Store Loyalty Reward Programs

Loyalty reward programs are utilized within various industries as a key marketing strategy. A successfully implemented loyalty reward program benefits both the consumer and the company. The purpose of this multicase study was to explore strategies that pharmacy retail managers use to deliver loyalty reward programs. The theory of planned behavior was used as the conceptual framework to guide the study. Mobile technology, customer involvement, brand management, and tier-based rewards were the themes that emerged during data analysis. The findings are of interest to pharmacy retail managers and marketers because they are instrumental in implementing a successful loyalty reward program

Exploring the generative mechanisms in a retail manager’s learning

This thesis explores the generative mechanisms in a retail manager’s learning, when studying for a Foundation Degree Award in Retailing (FdA in Retailing) within a large multi-channel retail organisation. The researcher, a senior lecturer with the university responsible for piloting the programme was the lead tutor on one of the core first-year units. The low student completion rates during the pilot stages of the programme raised profound questions about the effectiveness of company-based foundation degrees across the interrelated macro politico-economic, meso organisational and micro individual learner levels. In order to identify generative mechanisms present in junior management learning, a critical realist, longitudinal case study spanning four years was undertaken. The principal participants were the junior managers, studying for the award and those with responsibility for managing, administering and teaching the degree programme. The methods used for data collection were semi-structured interviews, participant observation and documentary evidence, including student learning logs and portfolios. Data was analysed using template analysis. The findings reveal that the experiences of managers studying for the FdA in Retailing were extremely variable. For some, the programme provided expansive learning opportunities that proved valuable to the organisation and the individual. Although, the lack of demand for higher level skills and qualifications for those in junior management roles resulted in the FdA being undervalued and misunderstood in the organisational setting. This had serious consequences for the majority of managers studying for the award, as the necessary senior and store management support and required infrastructure to maintain and expand the programme were lacking, thereby restricting learning opportunities. This research underpins the development of a more complex and nuanced understanding of management learning in the retail sector, which builds on previous research (Fuller and Unwin, 2003; 2004; Felstead et al, 2009) that sought to promote management learning, which is economically viable yet rewarding for the learner and beneficial to the organisation

Understanding Laboratory Methods and Their Impact on Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance, at Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The study sought to describe laboratory methods and blood culture procedures and their impact on antimicro-bial resistance surveillance among nosocomial bacteria. We conducted a systematic audit of blood culture pro-cedures and practices in the Department of Microbiology, Central Pathology Laboratory at Muhimbili National Hospital, between 19th and 23rd March 2012. A total of 25 - 30 blood culture specimens were received each day as an indication of low volumes of blood culturing at this site. More blood culture requests came from the neonatal unit of the hospital, and were performed manually with high culture negative specimens. The laboratory per-formed antibiotic susceptibility testing as per the CLSI guidelines. No vancomycin resistance was ever reported at this site. All blood culture results were entered into the JEEVA laboratory information system, where results could be accessed by clinicians in the wards and data could be retrieved to assess patterns of antimicrobial resis-tance. Blood culture data entry system lacked quality control checks hence numerous errors and missing data were observed. Our results support the relevance of having improved laboratory procedures and good quality blood culture since surveillance of antimicrobial resistance primarily depends on good laboratory procedures, good quality and reliable blood culture data. This would essentially minimise imprecise estimates of rates of an-timicrobial resistance at this hospital.\u

Emotion recognition and processing style in children with an intellectual disability

Research aims: People with an intellectual disability generally have poorer emotion recognition than their typically developing peers, but there is limited research on how processing style might influence this. Our study aimed to explore this. Methods: Children with (n = 45) and without (n = 57) an intellectual disability completed an emotion recognition naming task and a processing style task. A path mediation model was used to evaluate whether having an intellectual disability predicted poorer emotion recognition and whether this was mediated by a more local processing style. Results: We found that, while children with an intellectual disability were significantly less accurate at emotion recognition, having a local processing preference was not a significant factor in this. Conclusion: The results of the present study may be helpful for nurses who are involved in developing, delivering and evaluating interventions to improve the emotion recognition of people with an intellectual disability

High school EFL students’ beliefs about oral corrective feedback: The role of gender, motivation and extraversion

This study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods research design to examine the beliefs of Vietnamese EFL students concerning oral corrective feedback (CF) and the role of some individual differences in these beliefs. The data consisted of questionnaires completed by 250 Vietnamese high school students and follow-up interviews with 15 of them. Exploratory factor analysis revealed six latent factors underlying students’ beliefs about CF, namely, (1) output-prompting CF and eliciting recasts, (2) desire for CF, (3) non-verbal cues, (4) important errors, (5) input-providing CF, and (6) less important errors. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis of the interviews showed that students were positive about CF. They liked both input-providing CF and output-prompting CF for all error types. Metalinguistic feedback was the most strongly preferred, while clarification request was the least preferred. Further statistical analyses revealed some interesting relationships between students’ beliefs about CF and their gender, English learning motivation, and self-rated introversion/extraversion. Females were more positive about CF than males, and extraverted females were more positive about input-providing CF than introverted females. Also, students learning English for exams were more positive about CF than those learning English for communication. Pedagogical implications for effective feedback provision in EFL contexts are discussed

When is the Standard Analysis of Common Property Extraction Under Free Access Correct?--A Game-Theoretic Justification for Non Game-Theoretic Analyses

Analyses of common property extraction under "free access" used to assume period-by-period rent dissipation thus avoiding the use of game theory; more modern analyses instead deduce the subgame perfect Nash equilibrium of the common property game and then investigate its free-access limit. Salant and Negri (1987) providing a troubling example where these two methodologies yield radically different predictions: while the older analysis predicts eventual extinction of the resource, the game-theoretic analysis predicgts unlimited growth. We review and simplify their example and then provide weak conditions insuring that the two methodologies yield the same predictions.Center for Research on Economic and Social Theory, Department of Economics, University of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100645/1/ECON120.pd