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Full-Text Articles in Business

Making Energy Metrics Relevant To Service Firms: From Energy Conservation To Energy Productivity, Randle D. Raggio, Peter Ekman, Steve Thompson May 2020

Making Energy Metrics Relevant To Service Firms: From Energy Conservation To Energy Productivity, Randle D. Raggio, Peter Ekman, Steve Thompson

Marketing Faculty Publications

Although energy conservation and reduction in environmental impact are on the international and most national agendas, service firms rarely include energy consumption metrics in their strategic decision-making. One reason for the omission is that for service industries, firm level energy utilization is most commonly measured in kilowatt hours per square meter of office space where changes often related to the space rather than the firm performance. The measure also presents several problems for firms in service industries. First, energy conservation and reduction may be counterproductive for service firms that are growing and require energy to sustain that growth. Second, it …


Society Or The Environment? Understanding How Consumers Evaluate Brand Messages About Corporate Social Responsibility Activities, Sara Hanson, Lan Jiang, Jun Ye, Nagesh Murthy Jan 2019

Society Or The Environment? Understanding How Consumers Evaluate Brand Messages About Corporate Social Responsibility Activities, Sara Hanson, Lan Jiang, Jun Ye, Nagesh Murthy

Marketing Faculty Publications

This research examines how and why consumers evaluate brand messages about corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities differently. Insights from secondary data suggest that brands may prioritize environmental activities over social activities, and vice versa, depending on the type of company. Using a field experiment and surveys, we explore whether consumers’ attitudes toward these brand decisions follow company priorities. We find that consumers perceive brands that sell goods and communicate messages about environmental sustainability activities more positively than services companies, while consumers perceive brands that provides services and communicate messages about social sustainability activities more positively than goods companies. We show …


Sturm, Ruger & Co And The U.S. Firearms Industry, Eryn Berquist, Julian Cha, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Kelsey Heady, Lindsay Kennedy, Will Macllwiane, Bikram Saini, Natalie Schmidt, Jason Werst Jan 2018

Sturm, Ruger & Co And The U.S. Firearms Industry, Eryn Berquist, Julian Cha, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Kelsey Heady, Lindsay Kennedy, Will Macllwiane, Bikram Saini, Natalie Schmidt, Jason Werst

Robins Case Network

Ruger is one of the largest domestic gun and ammunition manufacturers in the United States, and also one of the most successful. Ruger makes very high quality guns at reasonable prices. The company also emphasizes research and development. With no debt and high gross profit margins, one would expect Ruger to be an outstanding investment. However, the U.S. gun industry is extremely volatile and also very competitive. Due to mass shootings, terrorism, and other highly visible events, there is ever increasing pressure for new regulation and restrictions on gun ownership and use. However, the industry has a very powerful friend …


Corporate Social Performance And Economic Cycles, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Shawn L. Berman Jan 2016

Corporate Social Performance And Economic Cycles, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Shawn L. Berman

Management Faculty Publications

Do firms respond to changes in economic growth by altering their corporate social responsibility programs? If they do respond, are their responses simply neglect of areas associated with corporate social performance (CSP) or do they also cut back on positive programs such as profit sharing, public/private housing programs, or charitable contributions? In this paper we argue that because CSP-related actions and programs tend to be discretionary, they are likely to receive less attention during tough economic times, a result of cost-cutting efforts. However, the various CSP performance areas vary in terms of their resource requirements and their influence on financial …


Upstream Corporate Social Responsibility: The Evolution From Contract Responsibility To Full Producer Responsibility, Judith Schrempf-Stirling, Guido Palazzo Jul 2013

Upstream Corporate Social Responsibility: The Evolution From Contract Responsibility To Full Producer Responsibility, Judith Schrempf-Stirling, Guido Palazzo

Management Faculty Publications

The debate about the appropriate standards for upstream corporate social responsibility (CSR) of multinational corporations (MNCs) has been on the public and academic agenda for some three decades. The debate originally focused narrowly on “contract responsibility” of MNCs for monitoring of upstream contractors for “sweatshop” working conditions violating employee rights. The authors argue that the MNC upstream responsibility debate has shifted qualitatively over time to “full producer responsibility” involving an expansion from “contract responsibility” in three distinct dimensions. First, there is an expansion of scope from working conditions to human rights and social and environmental impacts broadly defined. Second, there …


Ever Expanding Responsibilities: Upstream And Downstream Corporate Social Responsibility, Judith Schrempf-Stirling, Guido Palazzo, Robert A. Phillips Jan 2013

Ever Expanding Responsibilities: Upstream And Downstream Corporate Social Responsibility, Judith Schrempf-Stirling, Guido Palazzo, Robert A. Phillips

Management Faculty Publications

The debate on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been on the public and academic agenda for several decades. In general, CSR issues can be divided into production-related issues (along the supply chain - or how things are made) and consumption-related issues (towards the consumer and society at large - or how things are used). Following the terminology of Phillips and Caldwell, upstream CSR refers to the CSR debate along the supply chain, and downstream CSR refers to corporate responsibility towards consumers and society at large. The chapter examines current CSR issues, and proposes a social connection model to …


The Delimitation Of Corporate Social Responsibility: Upstream, Downstream, And Historic Csr, Judith Schrempf-Stirling Nov 2012

The Delimitation Of Corporate Social Responsibility: Upstream, Downstream, And Historic Csr, Judith Schrempf-Stirling

Management Faculty Publications

The dissertation abstract and the reflection commentary present the work of Judith Schrempf. The dissertation examines the latest trends in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and advances a social connection approach to CSR to understand and explain those recent trends. The dissertation abstract provides an overview of the research questions and conclusions of the three-article dissertation. The reflection commentary discusses the author’s views of research process as a junior scholar (see Appendix).


Ever Expanding Responsibilities: Upstream And Downstream Corporate Social Responsibility, Judith Schrempf-Stirling, Guido Palazzo, Robert A. Phillips Jan 2012

Ever Expanding Responsibilities: Upstream And Downstream Corporate Social Responsibility, Judith Schrempf-Stirling, Guido Palazzo, Robert A. Phillips

Management Faculty Publications

The debate on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been on the public and academic agenda for several decades. In general, CSR issues can be divided into production-related issues (along the supply chain - or how things are made) and consumption-related issues (towards the consumer and society at large - or how things are used). Following the terminology of Phillips and Caldweli, Z upstream CSR refers to the CSR debate along the supply chain, and downstream CSR refers to corporate responsibility towards consumers and society at large. The chapter examines current CSR issues, and proposes a social connection model to understand …


Worthy Work And Bowie's Kantian Theory Of Meaningful Work, Joanne B. Ciulla Jan 2012

Worthy Work And Bowie's Kantian Theory Of Meaningful Work, Joanne B. Ciulla

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Over the years, Norman E. Bowie has applied Kant’s ethics to several aspects of business ethics, but the one that I find the most compelling is his Kantian theory of meaningful work. He writes about it in his book Business Ethics: A Kantian Perspective (1999) and in an article ‘A Kantian theory of meaningful work’ (1998a). Bowie’s writing in this area demonstrates how Kant, perhaps more than any other philosopher, offers the most stringent and lucid account of what a moral employer/employee relationship should look like. Kantian ethics also provide Bowie with a foundation for explaining his idea of meaningful …


Nokia Siemens Networks: Just Doing Business – Or Supporting An Oppressive Regime?, Judith Schrempf-Stirling Sep 2011

Nokia Siemens Networks: Just Doing Business – Or Supporting An Oppressive Regime?, Judith Schrempf-Stirling

Management Faculty Publications

This case study examines the relevance of taking social and political factors into consideration when a corporation is making a key business decision. In September 2009, Simon Beresford-Wylie, the outgoing CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), was reviewing the company’s achievements — while acknowledging the latest public criticism regarding NSN’s business relationship with the Iranian government. In the summer of 2009, NSN was accused of complicity in human rights violations linked to Iran’s presidential election. The company sold network infrastructure and software solutions to the Iranian government, which then used this technology to observe, block, and control domestic communications. Should …