Shortcomings of investior-based ratings of corporate reputation: An exploratory empirical study that shows a variety of stakeholder groups place greater emphasis on corporate ethics than profits.

We examine three assumptions commonly held in the corporate reputation literature: i) reputation ratings of owners and investors are generally representative of all stakeholders; ii) stakeholders will generally provide a higher reputation rating to firms that emphasize corporate social responsibility versus firms that do not; and iii) profitability is the primary criterion of importance to all stakeholders when rating a firm’s reputation. Using an exploratory in-class exercise our findings suggest that: i) there are significant differences among stakeholder groups in their reputation ratings; ii) firms that emphasize corporate social responsibility are not rated more highly across all stakeholder groups, and iii) for all stakeholder groups, the ethicality criterion explained more of the variance in firms’ reputation ratings than the profitability criterion

Organizational ingenuity and the paradox of embedded agency: The case of the embryonic Ontario solar energy industry

We examine organizational ingenuity within the paradox of embedded agency where organizational stakeholders are constrained in their behaviors by institutions, yet also influence and change these institutions. In this study organizational ingenuity represents the agency component and institutional constraints the embedded component. We build theory about ingenuity from a four-year case study of the embryonic Ontario solar industry. There were two major institutional constraints, limited grid access and political uncertainty. These led to four ingenuity strategies that emerged at different times and levels of analysis that challenged, complied with, or escaped the constraints. We combine these findings to develop a process model of the emergence of ingenuity in this embryonic industry. Lastly, we find that extending legitimacy to an ingenuity strategy is necessary for its success

Environmental Security: A DoD Partnership for Peace

International environmental issues can lead to instability and conflict that threaten U.S. security interests and may result in the commitment of U.S. forces. Chronic, unresolved environmental issues threaten stability in such critical regions as the former Soviet Union, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Recognizing this, the Department of Defense (DOD) has committed itself to using DOD assets to mitigate environmental issues that could lead to instability. However, a strategy to implement this proactive policy has not been developed. As part of the effort to create this strategy, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Environment, Safety and Occupation Health), Mr. Lewis D. Walker, convened a panel on Environmental Security as part of the Fifth Senior Environmental Leadership Conference. The panel was sponsored by the Strategic Studies Institute and the Army Environmental Policy Institute. Its members were environmental security experts from within and outside DOD and represented Major Commands and the Joint Community. This report was drafted by members of the panel and edited by the panel chairman. While recognizing that their report was a contribution to the ongoing effort to define DOD\u27s environmental security role and not a comprehensive study, the panel reached consensus, and made recommendations on key policyhttps://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1899/thumbnail.jp

Is the red dragon green? An examination of the antecedents and consequences of environmental proactivity in China

China is the world’s second largest economy and the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, yet we know little about environmental proactivity in the most populated country in the world. We address this gap through a survey of 161 Chinese companies with two respondents per firm (N = 322) where we seek to identify the antecedents and consequences of environmental proactivity. We identify two categorizations of environmental proactivity: Environmental operational improvements and environmental reporting. We find that ecological motivations and regulatory stakeholder pressure are positively related to both types of environmental proactivity, and external stakeholder pressure is negatively related to environmental reporting. Furthermore, we find that (1) if a firm is environmentally proactive (as it relates to either measure) and they are ecologically motivated, there is a positive and significant cost advantage, and (2) if a firm makes use of environmental operational improvement and they are competitively motivated, there is a positive and significant reputation advantage. Implications for researchers, managers, and policy-makers in China are discussed

THE LIVING WAGE AS A MEANS TO ADDRESS SOCIAL INEQUALITY

The living wage is a call to private and public sector employers to pay wages to both direct and contract employees sufficient to provide the basics to individuals. This wage reflects the belief that every individual has the right to enjoy good health, recreation, culture and entertainment, to raise children, and to fully partake in social and civic activities, as opposed to minimally surviving. This movement is growing across Canada and the world. Broadly, the case discusses social inequality, and more narrowly, it examines the Living Wage in Canada, then Ontario, then within one Ontario city, Windsor. The case describes a real world situation where a manager at a local credit union must make a decision on whether to raise the pay of lower level employees to be consistent with a Living Wage. In making their decision, students will need to balance corporate values at the credit union as it seeks to be a social leader in their community with the need for profits, and whether paying a Living Wage will boost revenue to offset the extra cost in wages. Further, while the initial increase in cost is restricted to the 5% of employees earning less than the Living Wage, an increase in pay at the bottom of the scale may necessitate an increase for the other employees as well

Empirical Archetypes for Strong Corporate Environmental Performance

We examine 45 existing case studies of firms with strong corporate environmental performance (CEP) to empirically identify four organizational configurations for successful sustainability. These four configurations represent different combinations of variables describing a firm’s external environment, organizational structure, and its strategy-related activities. More specifically, these configurations vary in having a benign or challenging external environment, a mechanistic or organic structure, a low-cost or differentiation strategy, hands-on or hands-off participation by the top-management-team, high or low consideration given to stakeholders, and a short or long-term time orientation. Taken together the four organizational configurations introduce an understanding of equifinality for achieving CEP. In other words, given an adequate variety of ingredients, there are multiple recipes for successful sustainability. Implications for scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers and other stakeholders are discussed

NEW BELGIUM BREWING COMPANY AND B CORPORATION CERTIFICATION

This case discusses the American craft-brewing company New Belgium Brewing (NBB), where the director of sustainability, Katie Wallace, must decide whether to invest significant company resources into becoming a B Corp certified company. More specifically, she must present her recommendation to the board of directors and to employees who are also shareholders. B Corporation is part of a non-profit organization encouraging sustainable business similar to LEED certification for construction or Fair Trade certification for coffee and chocolate. The idea behind B Corp certification is to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. New Belgium Brewing has always operated from a triple-bottom-line perspective, and given NBB’s impressive record Katie must make a recommendation on whether it is worth the commitment and investment in becoming B Corp certified. On the one hand the certification is demanding and includes things such as hundreds of questions around governance and how the company is run including interviews with workers and customers, investigations into their hiring practices, visits from inspectors, changing legal documents, and more. On the other hand, third party verification allows the company to communicate their values to customers and the greater business community, and the assessment process helps to identify, manage, and make progress towards, important goals through the use of B Corp metrics and benchmarks. Lastly, upon certification NBB becomes part of a larger business community with similar values and goals

The angel-halo effect: How increases in corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility relate to firm performance

Purpose – To examine how increases in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) relate to firm performance. Further, we investigate how increases in CSR (CSiR) while CSiR (CSR) is present relate to three measures of firm performance: profitability, management efficiency, and market valuation. Design/methodology/approach - Using over 10,000 observations from 2009-2013 and combined data from Sustainalytics and Compustat we examine how increases in either CSR or CSiR relate to firm performance. Findings - We find that increased CSR significantly relates to increased firm performance in all three measures, and that increased CSiR significantly relates to decreased profitability only. Furthermore, increased CSR when CSiR is present relates to increased efficiency and market valuation. Lastly, increased CSiR when CSR is present relates to increased profitability and efficiency. Our results suggest CSR dominates the relationship to firm performance, as it is positively related to all three measures of firm performance, and when CSR and CSiR exist simultaneously, CSR has a dominant positive effect. Research limitations/implications – Our sample consists of U.S. firms only from 2009-2013, the generalizability of our results to other countries and time periods is unknown. Practical implications – Our results demonstrating differing effects based on the measure of firm performance suggest that managers should be specific with which measures are used to gauge the impact of CSR and CSiR. In addition, managers would be wise to invest in CSR as our results suggest that they can improve profitability, efficiency and market value. Even further, the empirically identified angel-halo effect suggests that investments in CSR may counter any potential negative effects from CSiR. Lastly, the latter results suggest that firms can “get away” with some degree of CSiR when CSR is present. Originality/value - By examining changing levels of CSR and CSiR independently and conjunctly across various measures of firm performance, we found a dominating role for CSR, which we label the angel-halo effect. Keywords - Corporate social responsibility, Corporate social irresponsibility, Financial and firm performance, Angel-halo effect, Devil-horn effect. Paper type - Empirica

A Survey on Big data Analytics in Cloud Environment

The continuous and rapid growth in the volume of data captured by organizations, such as social media, Internet of Things (IoT), machines, multimedia, GPS has produced an overwhelming flow of data. Data creation is occurring at a record rate, referred to as big data, and has emerged as a widely recognized trend. To take advantage of big data, real-time analysis and reporting must be provided in tandem with the massive capacity needed to store and process the data. Big data is affecting organization such as Banking, Education, Government, Health care, Manufacturing, retails and eventually, the society. On the other hand, Cloud computing eliminates the need to maintain expensive computing hardware, dedicated space, and software. Cloud provides larger volume of space for the storage and different set of services for all kind of applications to the cloud customers. Therefore, all the companies are nowadays migrating their applications towards cloud environment, because of the huge reduce in the overall investment and greater flexibility provided by the cloud