Developing the wider role of business in society: the experience of Microsoft in developing training and supporting employability.

The purpose of this paper is to describe Microsoft's activities in encouraging employability and to show how these activities provide strategic advantage

Why does business support the arts? : philanthropy, marketing or legitimation?

This thesis examines the motivation by UK firms for one aspect for corporate philanthropy – support for the arts. The literature has shown that there is an increase in strategic philanthropy – business giving which is designed to meet the objectives of business and society, yet there is no clarity on what the underlying motives are for business giving. This research develops a framework around the dimensions of relative business-society attention and relative stakeholder attention to identify patterns of motivation. The dominant economic motivations of marketing and legitimation were identified through a content analysis of sixty texts which describe business support for the arts. These motivations were further understood through thirty-nine interviews with business managers and managers in the arts and arts-based consultancies; although a small number of firms was shown to act primarily from an intention to benefit society in some way. In all cases, business support for the arts includes a significant economic component, whether the primary motivation is pro-business or pro-society. The analysis of these interviews shows that business supports the arts across the three areas of business benefits – especially branding and customer relations, employee support and community relations yet the importance of these areas varies according to the underlying principle motivation of marketing or legitimation. Further, the research shows that firms with higher business exposure undertake corporate support for the arts as an exercise in legitimation. This thesis contributes to the corporate philanthropy literature by providing a model to understand motivation for corporate giving and by showing how these motivations can be understood in a continuum of corporate philanthropy in the case of business support for the arts in the UK. This continuum shows basic motivation mapped against degree of business exposure, stakeholder focus and type of art form supported.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

CCGT performance simulation and diagnostics for operations optimisation and risk management

This thesis presents a techno-economic performance simulation and diagnostics computational system for the operations optimisation and risk management of a CCGT power station. The project objective was to provide a technological solution to a business problem originated at the Manx Electricity Authority (MEA). The CCGT performance simulation program was created from the integration of existing and new performance simulation codes of the main components of a CCGT power station using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in Excel ®. The specifications of the real gas turbine (GT) engines at MEA demanded the modification of Turbomatch, a GT performance simulation code developed at Cranfield University. The new capabilities were successfully validated against previous work in the public domain. In the case of the steam cycle, the model for a double pressure once-through steam generator (OTSG) was produced. A novel approach using theoretical thermohydraulic models for heat exchangers and empiric correlations delivered positive results. Steamomatch, another code developed at the university, was used for the steam turbine performance simulation. An economic module based on the practitioners’ definition for spark spread was developed. The economic module makes use of the technical results, which are permanently accessible through the user interface of the system. The assessment of an existing gas turbine engine performance diagnostics system, Pythia, was made. The study tested the capabilities of the program under different ambient and operating conditions, signal noise levels and sensor faults. A set of guidelines aimed to increase the success rate of the diagnostic under the data and sensor restricted scenario presented by at MEA was generated. Once the development phase was concluded, technical and economic studies on the particular generation schedule for a cold day of winter 2007 were conducted. Variable ambient and operating conditions for each of the 48 time block forming the schedule were considered. The results showed error values below the 2% band for key technical parameters such as fuel flow, thermal efficiency and power output. On the economic side, the study quantified the loss making operation strategy of the plant during the offpeak market period of the day. But it also demonstrated the profit made during the peak hours lead to an overall positive cash flow for the day. A number of optimisation strategies to increase the profitability of the plant were proposed highlighting the economic benefit of them. These scenarios were based on the technical performance simulation of the plant under these specific conditions, increasing the reliability of the study. Finally, a number of risk management strategies aimed to protect the operations of a power generator from the main technical and economic risk variables were outlined. It was concluded that the use of techno-economic advanced tools such as eCCGT and Pythia can positively affect the way an operator manages a power generation asset through the implementation of virtually proven optimisation and risk management strategies.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

What do we mean by corporate social responsibility?

There have long been conflicting expectations of the nature of companies’ responsibilities to society. However, for those businesses that do undertake what might be termed “corporate social responsibility”, what is actually socially responsible behaviour as opposed to management of corporate image management or other activity aimed predominantly at business benefits? This article reviews definitions of corporate social responsibility from both practice and the literature and looks at theories to explain why such behaviour takes place. The literature has strong divides between normative or ethical actions and instrumental activities. The article concludes by posing the question of when instrumental activities become business activities rather than largely social responsibility

Communicating Philanthropy: Multiple Representations to Multiple Stakeholders?

Why do firms engage in Corporate Philanthropy? What role does communication play in the giving activity? This paper examines the accounts given by 100 large firms in the UK for their involvement with the Arts. Formal content analysis is undertaken of annual reports, social accounts, websites and press releases. It finds that firms speak most of wanting to be a good corporate citizen and attend to communities. There is little overt marketing in contrast to other studies that find that corporate philanthropy can be aligned to advertising. This research finds support for strategic philanthropy, but that the strategic intent may be more about meeting a form of social contract or securing a licence to operate. This would support the stakeholder and political models of giving rather than neo-classical and altruistic models. This paper adds to the literature by combining the corporate philanthropy and social accounting literatures. The ability to communicate may be an important part of the motivation for corporate giving. Paper presented at the 2003 Academy of Management Conferenc

Financial Instruments.

Company financing, in its simplest form, can be debt or equity. In this article, we explore some of the rich variety of financial instruments that lie on the risk–return continuum between these two extremes, and consider when their use might be appropriate. Various kinds of debt and equity are reviewed, together with hybrid instruments and other types of financing, such as securitisation and leasing

Why do firms give – altruism , advertising or stakeholder management? Development of a framework to understand corporate philanthropy and its application to business involvement with the Arts in the UK.

This paper proposes a framework for analysing corporate philanthropy along the dimensions of business/ society interest and internal/ external stakeholder focus. The utility of the framework is then tested in order to understand business involvement with the Arts in the UK. The framework identifies three broad types of involvement – advertisers, legitimisers and stakeholder management – the last group with the potential to be regarded as corporate citizens

Why does business support the Arts? Philanthropy, marketing or legitimation?

This thesis examines the motivation by UK firms for one aspect for corporate philanthropy – support for the arts. The literature has shown that there is an increase in strategic philanthropy – business giving which is designed to meet the objectives of business and society, yet there is no clarity on what the underlying motives are for business giving. This research develops a framework around the dimensions of relative business-society attention and relative stakeholder attention to identify patterns of motivation. The dominant economic motivations of marketing and legitimation were identified through a content analysis of sixty texts which describe business support for the arts. These motivations were further understood through thirty-nine interviews with business managers and managers in the arts and arts-based consultancies; although a small number of firms was shown to act primarily from an intention to benefit society in some way. In all cases, business support for the arts includes a significant economic component, whether the primary motivation is pro-business or pro-society. The analysis of these interviews shows that business supports the arts across the three areas of business benefits – especially branding and customer relations, employee support and community relations yet the importance of these areas varies according to the underlying principle motivation of marketing or legitimation. Further, the research shows that firms with higher business exposure undertake corporate support for the arts as an exercise in legitimation. This thesis contributes to the corporate philanthropy literature by providing a model to understand motivation for corporate giving and by showing how these motivations can be understood in a continuum of corporate philanthropy in the case of business support for the arts in the UK. This continuum shows basic motivation mapped against degree of business exposure, stakeholder focus and type of art form supported