Seeking legitimacy through CSR: Institutional Pressures and Corporate Responses of Multinationals in Sri Lanka

Arguably, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of multinational enterprises (MNEs) are influenced by a wide range of both internal and external factors. Perhaps most critical among the exogenous forces operating on MNEs are those exerted by state and other key institutional actors in host countries. Crucially, academic research conducted to date offers little data about how MNEs use their CSR activities to strategically manage their relationship with those actors in order to gain legitimisation advantages in host countries. This paper addresses that gap by exploring interactions between external institutional pressures and firm-level CSR activities, which take the form of community initiatives, to examine how MNEs develop their legitimacy-seeking policies and practices. In focusing on a developing country, Sri Lanka, this paper provides valuable insights into how MNEs instrumentally utilise community initiatives in a country where relationship-building with governmental and other powerful non-governmental actors can be vitally important for the long-term viability of the business. Drawing on neo-institutional theory and CSR literature, this paper examines and contributes to the embryonic but emerging debate about the instrumental and political implications of CSR. The evidence presented and discussed here reveals the extent to which, and the reasons why, MNEs engage in complex legitimacy-seeking relationships with Sri Lankan institutions

ERP and four dimensions of absorptive capacity: lessons from a developing country

Enterprise resource planning systems can grant crucial strategic, operational and information-based benefits to adopting firms when implemented successfully. However, a failed implementation can often result in financial losses rather than profits. Until now, the research on the failures and successes were focused on implementations in large manufacturing and service organizations firms located in western countries, particularly in USA. Nevertheless, IT has gained intense diffusion to developing countries through declining hardware costs and increasing benefits that merits attention as much as developed countries. The aim of this study is to examine the implications of knowledge transfer in a developing country, Turkey, as a paradigm in the knowledge society with a focus on the implementation activities that foster successful installations. We suggest that absorptive capacity is an important characteristic of a firm that explains the success level of such a knowledge transfer.Publicad

Italian guidelines for primary headaches: 2012 revised version

The first edition of the Italian diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines for primary headaches in adults was published in J Headache Pain 2(Suppl. 1):105–190 (2001). Ten years later, the guideline committee of the Italian Society for the Study of Headaches (SISC) decided it was time to update therapeutic guidelines. A literature search was carried out on Medline database, and all articles on primary headache treatments in English, German, French and Italian published from February 2001 to December 2011 were taken into account. Only randomized controlled trials (RCT) and meta-analyses were analysed for each drug. If RCT were lacking, open studies and case series were also examined. According to the previous edition, four levels of recommendation were defined on the basis of levels of evidence, scientific strength of evidence and clinical effectiveness. Recommendations for symptomatic and prophylactic treatment of migraine and cluster headache were therefore revised with respect to previous 2001 guidelines and a section was dedicated to non-pharmacological treatment. This article reports a summary of the revised version published in extenso in an Italian version

Hyperhomocysteinemia in female migraineurs of childbearing ages

PMID = 3124126

Comparison of different matching methods in observational studies and sensitivity analysis: The relation between depression and STAI-2 scores

In researches where two or more groups are desired to be compared, observational and randomized experiments are very frequently used. As the subjects are randomly assigned to the groups in randomized experiments, balance is provided in observed/unobserved covariates of subjects in different groups. As the subjects cannot be randomly distributed into groups in observational studies, balance of observed/unobserved covariates between groups is not provided. This situation causes a biased estimate of the treatment effect. In this research, it is focused on different matching methods in observational studies and elimination of observed covariate effects confounding in the group effect, and these methods are examined comparatively. For this purpose, the effect of depression in 300 migraine patients, obtained from an observational study, on State continuous anxiety scale scores is taken and compared with the five different matching methods. Sensitivity of results is examined and it is researched whether the effect of treatment contains any bias. When results are examined, it is seen that matching methods produce similar results due to the overlap of propensity distribution in groups, high and balanced number of subjects in groups and covariates being not so many in number. The effects of unobserved covariates do not change the effect of treatment significantly. In conclusion, it is seen that, in the estimation of group effect in observational studies, it is possible to eliminate the effects of observed covariates using matching methods and matching quality of matching methods based on the propensity score is high. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Gender Difference Chronic Migraine in Elderly

International Headache Congress -- JUN 27-30, 2013 -- Boston, MAWOS: 000321333800048…Int Headache Soc, Amer Headache So