Atlas of Ocean Wealth

The Atlas of Ocean Wealth is the largest collection to date of information about the economic, social and cultural values of coastal and marine habitats from all over the world. It is a synthesis of innovative science, led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), with many partners around the world. Through these efforts, they've gathered vast new datasets from both traditional and less likely sources.The work includes more than 35 novel and critically important maps that show how nature's value to people varies widely from place to place. They also illustrate nature's potential. These maps show that one can accurately quantify the value of marine resources. Further, by enumerating such values, one can encourage their protection or enhancement for the benefit of people all around the world. In summary, it clearly articulates not just that we need nature, but how much we need it, and where

Corporate effective tax rates and tax reform: evidence from Australia

The Ralph Review of Business Taxation, which submitted its recommendations to the Australian Government on 30 July 1999, represented an important event in the corporate tax reform process in Australia (Cooper et al., 2002, p. 20; Gilders et al., 2004, p. 16). Some of its key recommendations were designed to promote equity in the corporate tax system by removing several major tax incentives (Ralph, 1999, p. 15). For example, accelerated depreciation, which favors capital intensive firms, was recommended for removal. The Ralph Review also recommended a phased-in reduction of the corporate tax rate as trade-off to firms for the removal of accelerated depreciation. The Australian Government implemented these key Ralph Review recommendations, and they came into law in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, applying from the 1999/2000 tax year

The impact of tax reform on corporate capital investment: Evidence from Australian panel data

We examine the impact of tax reform on corporate capital investment in Australia spanning the Ralph Review of Business Taxation reform. Based on panel data, our results indicate that corporate capital investment reduced because of the tax reform. The negative effects of the removal of accelerated depreciation exceeded the positive effects of the decrease in the corporate tax rate, hence corporate capital investment declined. Moreover, the decline was broad-based as it occurred across all major industry sectors. These findings remain robust to an alternate measure of corporate capital investment

Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: An Exploratory Study of the Top 10 Media Organisations

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an issue of growing interest in the business world, and many large, multinational companies, including media organisations, are voluntarily disclosing information regarding their CSR activities. While there is criticism of the ethical values of the media , some media organisations are using CSR to promote a positive side of their business. This exploratory study observes what the leading media organisations are doing in terms of CSR activities to propose a CSR disclosure index for the media industry, and discusses some implications for other organisations

An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure by Advertising Agencies

The corporate annual report has become more than a mandatory financial report for public companies, with many companies also using it as an important marketing communication tool. As corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an issue of growing interest in the business world, many publicly listed companies, including advertising agencies, are voluntarily disclosing information regarding their CSR activities in their annual report. This descriptive study analyses the annual reports of the top six holding companies in the global advertising industry, in order to observe which advertising companies disclose their CSR activities and what activities they undertake, and the development of a CSR disclosure index for advertising agencies. The results indicate that some advertising companies do engage in CSR activities and disclose them in the annual report, but the level of these CSR disclosures is different between the organisations

The impact incentive types on organisational performance in anglo cultures: a reply to Drake, Haka and Ravenscroft (1999)

Experimental research suffers from biases introduced by experiment design choices, such as the choice of alternative incentive and reward structures. We propose that framing rewards in a broader typology when researchers make decision about which reward structures to use in an experiment will minimise the potential for a false choice bias. To highlight this problem we replicate Drake, Haka and Ravenscrofts (1999) incentive structure experiment using a simpler, more theory driven design. Drake et al (1999) propose that organisational performance maybe be better if group compensation is given in preference to individualistic compensation, within the context of an information rich environment (using activity based costing). In particular, Drake et al (1999) apply an experimental research design to test that proposition using U.S. MBA students. Their results suggest that, ceteris paribus, given a group in preference to an individualistic incentive scheme, innovation, efficiency and profitability may improve. We argue that this conclusion is inconsistent with the incentive structure choices faced by managers, the societal values of the U.S., culture and agency theories in general. A possible explanation for Drake et als (1999) result is the use of a tournament incentive scheme as the basis for individual compensation. As such, we replicate the Drake et al (1999) experiment using Australian university students and an individual profit incentive scheme as the basis for individual compensation. Our results, in contrast to Drake et al. (1999), indicate that given an individual in preference to group incentive scheme, task performance improves in an information rich environment. This experiment highlights the false choice bias that reduces the generalizability of experimental research in general and highlights the value of propositions couched in a broader reward typology

Sales Force Market Information: Antecedents, Processes and Impact on Sales Performance

The purpose of this study was to conceptualize, measure and analyze a model of relationships of sales force market information processes with sales performance. Further the study examines the relationship of two antecedents to the market information processes, formalization of sales force market information generation and perceived importance of sales force information technologies. Participants in the study were sales managers from a national sample of business to business companies, who completed questionnaires containing established measures for the study constructs. Regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses proposed in the study. The key findings of the study are the positive relationships between formalization of market information generation, market information processes, and sales performance. Further, the study's findings indicate a mediation effect of market information transfer processes. However, a proposed moderating effect of market information use is not found. For researchers, the study's findings on formalization of market information are important. It is the first study to examine formalization of market information, and the findings suggest that the treatment of formalization should be treated as an activity specific phenomena rather than an organization-wide characteristic. For sales managers, the findings suggest that formalization of market information generation may have positive influence on the organizations sales performance.Department of Marketin

The impact of dividend imputation on corporate tax avoidance: The case of shareholder value

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The objective of this paper is to evaluate whether dividend imputation, whereby tax credits may be passed on to shareholders for corporate tax paid, impacts corporate tax avoidance. This is undertaken with a pooled cross-sectional research design evaluating differences in tax avoidance across firms where there are significant differences in corporate tax avoidance incentives. Specifically, potential differences arise between firms paying dividends with tax credits, paying dividends without tax credits, and not paying dividends. Results suggest that firms paying dividends with tax credits attached are less likely to engage in tax avoidance with an average cash effective tax rate up to 16.9 percentage points higher than firms that pay dividends without tax credits, and up to 14.7 percentage points higher than firms that do not pay dividends at all. Accordingly, this provides insights into the effectiveness of dividend imputation in mitigating corporate tax avoidance, as well as providing support for the continuance of dividend imputation in Australia. Additionally, a positive association is found to exist between outside directors and corporate tax avoidance, extending to firms paying dividends with tax credits where dividend imputation is expected to mitigate such a relation. In combination, these results suggest heterogeneity of costs and benefits of tax avoidance and this is a challenge in evaluating corporate tax aggressiveness generally, and the impact of corporate governance on corporate tax avoidance in particular

Demographics of Financial Services Usage: an Exploratory Study on the Relationships Between Age and Behavior

This study explores the relationships between age and individuals 1 usage of various financial services. The data is deve l oped from a mail survey sent to 1,000 bank customers in the Oklahoma City area . Nearly 30% responded to the questionnaire. Data is analyzed using cross tabulation and frequency tables of attitudes, usage behavior of different banking products, and age groupings . A performance score is used to measure and compare the behavior of the different age groups. In both attitudes towards financial institutions and in actual product usage, there are differences between age groups. Consumers in the 25-44 age groups are generally not as positive as are the other age groups. Overa 11, there is greater differences in attitudes of consumers than the actual usage of financial services .Business Administratio