Business Commons^™

Business Vehicles, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

When one or more individuals decide to start a business, they can select an appropriate business vehicle from a range of options. There are many commercial and legal reasons which may help to determine that choice.Aside from tax considerations, other major issues to consider include:• the limitation of liability if a company or limited liability partnership is used;• the expectations of suppliers and customers;• the ease of administration, including closing down, of an unincorporated business, and• the requirement to publish information such as profits and remuneration in the case of companies

Motives Of Corporate Political Donations: Industry Regulation, Subjective Judgement And The Origins Of Pragmatic And Ideological Corporations, Nicholas M. Harrigan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

What motivates corporate political action? Are corporations motivated by their own narrow economic self-interest; are they committed to pursuing larger class interests; or are corporations instruments for status groups to pursue their own agendas? Sociologists have been divided over this question for much of the last century. This paper introduces a novel case - that of Australia - and an extensive dataset of over 1,500 corporations and 7,500 directors. The paper attempts to understand the motives of corporate political action by examining patterns of corporate political donations. Using statistical modelling, supported by qualitative evidence, the paper argues that, in the …

When Elites Forget Their Duties: The Double-Edged Sword Of Prestigious Directors On Boards, Jana Oehmichen, Daniel Braun, Michael Wolff, Toru Yoshikawa

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School of Business

Previous research indicates that the performance effect of prestigious directors is ambiguous. Our study addresses this issue by integrating the theoretical lens of board capital and the institutional perspective. We argue that prestigious directors can bring benefits as well as costs. We claim that the emergence of these costs depends on the institutional context, specifically the institutional characteristics of the country's corporate elite circle which is characterized by the elite cohesion and the elite exclusiveness. Our empirical results with a 15-country sample covering the period of 2005 to 2014 provide evidence for the overall existence of a positive performance effect …

Does Ethical Orientation Matter? Determinants Of Public Reaction To Csr Communication, Kyujin Shim, Myojung Chung, Young Kim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Employing an experiment study (N = 256), this study examines how individuals ethical orientation (deontology vs. consequentialism) and CSR message frame (normative vs. strategic) influence corporate hypocrisy perception and negative communication intentions toward a given company. Findings demonstrate that deontological ethical orientation and strategic CSR frame induce stronger corporate hypocrisy perception and negative communication intention than do consequential ethical orientation and normative CSR frame. In addition, deontological ethical orientation moderated the effects of CSR frames on negative communication intention toward the company. Implications for both public relations scholarship and practices are discussed.

Male Immorality: An Evolutionary Account Of Sex Differences In Unethical Negotiation Behavior, Margaret Lee, Marko Pitesa, Madan Pillutla, Stefan Thau

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Past research finds that men negotiate more unethically than women, others report comparable rates of unethical negotiation behaviors. Based on evolutionary psychology, we predict conditions under which sex differences in unethical negotiation behavior are more versus less pronounced. We theorize that greater levels of unethical behavior among men occur as a consequence of greater male intrasexual competition for mates. This suggests that more male unethical negotiation behavior should primarily emerge in situations associated with intrasexual competition. Using a two-wave survey design, Study 1 found a positive relationship between mating motivation and unethical negotiation behavior for male, but not female employees. …

When Feeling Good Feels "Wrong": Avoiding Hedonic Consumption When It Reflects Immoral Character, Stephanie C. Lin, Taly Reich, Tamar A. Kreps

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In contrast to traditional mood repair motivations, we find that people desire to experience negative emotions in response to moral violations. Therefore, people avoid hedonic consumption after negatively valenced moral content, and feel uncomfortable when negatively valenced moral content is followed by hedonic frivolous content in social media contexts

A Director’S Duty Of Loyalty And The Relevance Of The Company’S Scope Of Business: Cheng Wai Tao V Poon Ka Man Jason, Pearlie M. C. Koh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal has utilised a ‘scope of business’ inquiry to delineate the boundaries of the no-conflict rule for the company director. Such an inquiry is directed at discerning the realistic ability of the company to exploit any particular business opportunity and a strict capacity approach is eschewed, at least where the no-conflict rule is concerned. The decision is premised on a bifurcation between the no-conflict and no-profit rules, suggesting that the tests to determine breach of these fiduciary rules are not necessarily the same, thus permitting a more nuanced consideration of directorial breaches.

Communication Or Action? Strategies Fostering Ethical Organizational Conduct And Relational Outcomes, Soojin Kim, Arunima Krishna

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School of Business

This study investigated the relationships between two public relations strategies, bridging and buffering, and their impact on ethical organizational conduct and relational outcomes. Bridging is a relationship-centric, action-based strategy for problem-solving while buffering is an organization-centric, messaging-based strategy for impression management. In explaining the impact of these two strategies on organizational outcomes, this study examined the role of ethical organizational conduct as a mediator between bridging, buffering, and two relational outcomes. Based on a survey of 105 organizations in Korea, a positive association between bridging strategy and ethical organizational conduct was found, along with paths to relational improvement and conflict …

Social Capital Of Directors And Corporate Governance: A Social Network Analysis, Zihan Niu, Christopher C. H. Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This Article examines how a director’s social capital might affect his or her behavior, the board’s performance, and corporate governance, as well as the potential normative implications of the director’s social network. We argue that the quality of board performance could be improved where the social network closure within the board is high and there are many non-redundant contacts beyond the board. Network closure can improve trust and collaboration within a board, while external contacts may benefit a company with more diverse sources of information. Moreover, different network positioning leads to the inequality of social capital for directors. With more …

Organisational Citizenship Behaviors Of Directors: An Integrated Framework Of Director Role-Identity And Boardroom Structure, Toru Yoshikawa, Helen Wei Hu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

While directors’ task boundaries are usually ambiguous, some of their activities or behaviors clearly constitute their formal duties, whereas others are usually perceived as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Applying identity theory, we present a theoretical model that demonstrates one of the key drivers for directors to engage in OCB with a focus on their role identity. We argue that an individual director’s role identity is one of the key factors that motivate directors to engage in OCB. Furthermore, we propose that two board-level contingencies, board capital, and informal board hierarchy order, can moderate the effect of directors’ role-identity salience on …

Chinese Company Shareholders Revolt Against Communist Control, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Shareholders of low-profile Chinese property developer Tianjin Realty Development recently made news by voting to keep party politics out of the Shanghai-listed company's organisational structure. Such action has never been heard of before at any State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) in the history of China's economic modernisation.

The Eu, Free Trade, And Populism, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

“Free and fair” trade is crucial for world prosperity but more must be done to convince those who have lost out in globalisation

On The Foundations Of Corporate Social Responsibility, Hao Liang, Luc Renneboog

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice and its country’s legal origin are strongly correlated. This relation is valid for various CSR ratings coming from several large datasets that comprise more than 23,000 large companies from 114 countries. We find that CSR is more strongly and consistently related to legal origins than to “doing good by doing well”-factors, and most firm and country characteristics such as ownership concentration, political institutions, and degree of globalization. In particular, companies from common law countries have lower level of CSR than companies from civil law countries, and Scandinavian civil law firms assume highest level …

The Board Will Now Vote, Singapore Management University

Research@SMU: Connecting the Dots

Well-structured corporate governance frameworks are necessary to ensure that companies adhere to ethics and best practices, says Professor Toru Yoshikawa.

See the papers:

• Convergence of corporate governance: Critical review and future directions
• The effects of CEO trustworthiness on directors' monitoring and resource provision

The Importance Of Being An Ethical Company, Singapore Management University

Research@SMU: Connecting the Dots

Firms must fine-tune their corporate governance mechanisms to prevent unethical behaviour and take quick action once they are found, says Professor Cheng Qiang.

See the papers:

• Is the decline in the information content of earnings following restatements short-lived?
• CEO contractual protection and managerial short-termism

Guiding Economic Growth Through National Action Plans: Protect, Respect And Remedy, Singapore Management University

Research@SMU: Connecting the Dots

A unique United Nations-commissioned academic research collaboration has issued recommendations on the prevention and mitigation of business-related human rights abuses in the Global South.

See the CALS-SMU reports to UN

See the book: Business and human rights in Southeast Asia: Risk and the regulatory turn

See the paper: A domestic solution for cross border human rights harm: Singapore’s haze pollution law