Leveraging Text Mining for Trend Analysis and Comparison of Sustainability Reports: Evidence from Fortune 500 Companies

In the recent upsurge in environmental concerns, business sustainability has become more prominent than ever. Organizations worldwide are expected to function sustainably, causing the least negative impact on the environment and promoting harmony among the firm, environment, and society. Most firms report their actions related to sustainability in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. This research aims to understand and analyze contemporary trends in CSR reports by Fortune 500 companies using text mining. It compares how the focus of sustainability reports varies across countries and industries along key dimensions of sustainability (i.e., environmental, economic, social, and government). Findings from the study suggest variations in the focus of sustainability reports based on various factors, such as country of origin and company size, sector, and tenure, on the Fortune 500 list. Thus, it helps to gain a deeper understanding of the company’s motivations for focusing on various dimensions of corporate sustainability

Analyzing product greening spillovers in multi-product markets

Documented cases of sustainable initiatives of firms show that green efforts in one market often have spillover effects on other markets. The critical question is, how do firms harness and respond to such market spillovers. To answer this, the paper examines two settings where, a firm operates in two different markets with spillovers and secondly, where it faces marketplace competition. Spillovers can be positive or negative. Using an analytical approach, the paper examines pricing and greening strategies of a firm in these scenarios, conducts market comparisons, and examines specific conditions where the firm may not invest in greening. The findings show that under the threat of spillovers from competitor’s green efforts, a focal firm increases its greening efforts and prices. Further, the absence of consumer green sensitivity in the primary market does not deter a firm from greening, if spillovers exist. Under negative spillovers, a firm can still invest in positive green efforts if the negative spillover effect is below a threshold. However, under competitive threat, a firm may lose competitive advantage as its competitor (with positive green spillovers), increases its greening efforts to compete in both the markets

Discovery of benzothiazoles as antimycobacterial agents: Synthesis, structure-activity relationships and binding studies with Mycobacterium tuberculosis decaprenylphosphoryl-beta-D-ribose 2 '-oxidase

We report the discovery of benzothiazoles, a novel anti-mycobacterial series, identified from a whole cell based screening campaign. Benzothiazoles exert their bactericidal activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) through potent inhibition of decaprenylphosphoryl-beta-D-ribose 2'-oxidase (DprE1), the key enzyme involved in arabinogalactan synthesis. Specific target linkage and mode of binding were established using co-crystallization and protein mass spectrometry studies. Most importantly, the current study provides insights on the utilization of systematic medicinal chemistry approaches to mitigate safety liabilities while improving potency during progression from an initial genotoxic hit, the benzothiazole N-oxides (BTOs) to the lead-like AMES negative, crowded benzothiazoles (cBTs). These findings offer opportunities for development of safe clinical candidates against tuberculosis. The design strategy adopted could find potential application in discovery of safe drugs in other therapy areas too. (c) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved