Philosophical difficulties of stakeholder theory

Philosophical difficulties of stakeholder theory—which plays an important role in CSR and business ethics—are mainly connected to the questions of its status and justification. What sense does stakeholder theory have: descriptive, instrumental or normative? And if normative, why then should executives worry about multiple stakeholder demands? It is well known that Freeman, one of the most important authors of stakeholder theory, deliberately disregarded these problems. In philosophical questions, he invoked Rorty’s pragmatism that in his opinion effectively undermined the “positivistic” dichotomy between facts and values, science and ethics, and enabled stakeholder theory to be understood as both descriptive and normative. The article presents some difficulties connected with this view, focusing on its dubious assumptions and unfavourable consequences. These assumptions contain a false dilemma, taken from Rorty, which states that knowledge follows either a rule of representation or a rule of solidarity. One of the unfavourable consequences is the conclusion that stakeholder theory may be true only if its followers are able to force the stakeholders to accept its truthfulness. The main thesis of the article says that, because of pragmatic justification, stakeholder theory became a sort of arbitrary narration, which is unable to deal with its (empirical) misuses. However, a more traditional view on facts and values enables us to appreciate the descriptive advantages of the theory and to identify difficulties connected with its normative layer. From this point of view, the attempt at a pragmatic interpretation of stakeholder theory was a misunderstanding that should be withdrawn from circulation.Publication of English-language versions of the volumes of the "Annales. Ethics in Economic Life" financed through contract no. 501/1/P-DUN/2017 from the funds of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education devoted to the promotion of scholarship

Risk and risk management in management accounting and control

EditorialJournal ArticleNOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Management Accounting Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Management Accounting Research, Volume 24, Issue 2, Pages 81-194 (June 2013) doi:10.1016/j.mar.2013.04.003Recent world events, most notably the global financial crisis, have refocused and intensified interest on risk and the nature of systems that operate to manage risk. One area that has received relatively little attention is the interrelation between risk, risk management and management accounting and control practices. This editorial provides an introduction to the special issue of the journal on "Risk and Risk Management in Management Accounting and Control". It argues that risk and the way it is managed has become a feature of organizational life in both the public and private sectors. By changing organizational practices risk management can facilitate and legitimise certain ways of organizing. It has the potential to change lines of responsibility and accountability in organizations, representing a particular way of governing individuals and activities. The argument is further made that risk management has moved away from being an issue of narrow concern to finance (value at risk, derivatives, etc.) or accountants (financial statement disclosure, etc.) to an issue about management control and therefore a key area in which management accountants need to engage. This editorial also highlights the potential side-effects of risk management, including issues around trust and accountability, but also the focus on secondary or defensive risk management and the rise of reputation risk. © 2013

Resolution of bilateral ptosis after reduction of unilaterally elevated intraocular pressure in a child with Axenfeld-Reiger spectrum disorder.

We report a 9-month-old boy with bilateral pseudoptosis associated with elevated IOP. The patient had previously undergone bilateral trabeculectomies and Ahmed tube placement and right cataract extraction and penetrating keratoplasty. At presentation, the right eye IOP was 24 mm Hg and the left eye IOP was 32 mm Hg. Approximately 2 weeks after dorzolamide was added to the treatment regimen for the left eye, the mother reported that the ptosis had resolved. We suggest several explanations for the resolution of the ptosis

Kajian Mengenai Kebersandaran Pembentukan Keadaan Potong Bawah Penjuru Terhadap Jenis Larutan Pemunar dalam Penghasilan Diafram Beralun Silikon

Kertas kerja ini membentangkan hasil kajian simulasi mengenai kesan jenis larutan pemunar ke atas keadaan potong bawah penjuru yang terhasil pada struktur-struktur penjuru cembung diafram beralun silikon (l00). Diafram yang terlibat dalam kajian ini dihasilkan dengan menggunakan teknik punaran anisotropik dengan larutan kalium hidroksida (KOH) dan larutan tetrametil amonia hidroksida (TMAH) sebagai pemunar. Kerja-keIja simulasi telah dijalankan dengan menggunakan perisian proses punaran anisotropik Intellisuite. Berdasarkan geometri struktur penjuru cembung terpunar dan kemunculan satah-satah baru silikon, diafram beralun silikon yang dipunarkan di dalam larutan TMAH didapati mengalami keadaan potong bawah penjuru yang lebih ketara berbanding diafram yang dipunarkan dalam larutan KOH

Algorithms for the statistical design of electrical circuits

Imperial Users onl

Seeking the Magic in Design: An Inquiry into Defamiliarizing the Everyday

This thesis project explores the application of the artistic and literary genre of magical realism to graphic design. The goal is to use the genre’s ability to defamiliarize everyday Indian cultural objects in order to reveal the magical in the mundane. Apart from a discourse on design and its role in the everyday, the research also focuses on making an audience conscious of their habitual responses to quotidian life through graphic design. Using magical realist graphic design, everyday Indian cultural objects are morphed into objects worthy of notice and appreciation. These transformed objects challenge an audience to recognize the ideologies perpetuated in a culture through everyday objects. The objects are chosen as a result of the author’s nostalgia experienced due to a displaced cultural context from India to Canada. The projects made during this thesis, “Pigment,” “Paper Cones” and “Clay” constitute an away-from-home “survival kit.

Dialectic tensions in the financial markets: a longitudinal study of pre- and post-crisis regulatory technology

This article presents the findings from a longitudinal research study on regulatory technology in the UK financial services industry. The financial crisis with serious corporate and mutual fund scandals raised the profile of compliance as governmental bodies, institutional and private investors introduced a ‘tsunami’ of financial regulations. Adopting a multi-level analysis, this study examines how regulatory technology was used by financial firms to meet their compliance obligations, pre- and post-crisis. Empirical data collected over 12 years examine the deployment of an investment management system in eight financial firms. Interviews with public regulatory bodies, financial institutions and technology providers reveal a culture of compliance with increased transparency, surveillance and accountability. Findings show that dialectic tensions arise as the pursuit of transparency, surveillance and accountability in compliance mandates is simultaneously rationalized, facilitated and obscured by regulatory technology. Responding to these challenges, regulatory bodies continue to impose revised compliance mandates on financial firms to force them to adapt their financial technologies in an ever-changing multi-jurisdictional regulatory landscape

Vertically aligned graphene based non-cryogenic bolometer

We report the photoresponse of vertically aligned graphene upon IR irradiation at room temperature. Four probe measurements have shown electrical switching in I-V characteristics during pulsed IR irradiation. The photoresponse reported here for vertically aligned graphene (VAG) is much higher than carbon nanotube (CNT) samples. Our investigation has shown that such photoresponse arise solely due to bolometric effect, where the conductivity changes with temperature. The magnitude of the resistance of VAGs increases by ~ 2 fold for 6 0C increase in temperature. Also the Thermal Coefficient of Resistance (TCR) in this region is ~11%/K, which is the highest TCR value reported so far for any carbon nanomaterials