Business and Corporate Communications Commons^™

Navigating Corporate Social Responsibility, Benjamin Bates

Marriott Student Review

In this article, Ben Bates provides future business leaders with an introduction to the tools necessary to navigate difficult issues surrounding corporate social responsibility. HIs article outlines the two main theories on corporate social responsibility and discusses how business leaders can decide which theory to apply in a given situation.

The Impact Of Responsible Leadership (Rl) On Responsible Employee (Re): The Mediating Role Of Sustainable Leadership (Sl), Safaa Shaaban

Business Administration

Business leaders are facing an uncertain issue regarding what extent their actions and decisions are responsible for the sustainable development supported by Responsible Employees. Although, several papers are discussing the concept of Responsible Leadership (RL) and Sustainable Leadership (SL). However, there is still an important missing element connected to these two leadership approaches which are Responsible Employee/s (RE). The purpose of this paper is to explore how Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Leadership affect Responsible Employees (RE). The study will examine the impact of two leadership approaches on RE. A sample of 250 employees and future leaders’ positions working in the …

Ethical Branding, Lane Gibbons

Marriott Student Review

In this article, BYU senior Lane Gibbons outlines the details of ethical branding and emphasizes the importance of corporate social responsibility in the modern era.

Walmart's Opioid Stewardship Initiative Rhetorically Constructed As An Act Of Corporate Social Responsibility, Rachel Kaplan

Speaker & Gavel

Walmart is the largest publicly owned retailer in the world (Fishman, 2008). Walmart operates in a contested rhetorical environment because of an aggressive pricing strategy, low-paying wages, and discrimination claims made by women. This paper argues Walmart created several Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs to help improve corporate image and reputation. CSR encourages companies to consider a triple bottom line: people, the environment and profit. Consumers who practice socially responsible consumption choose to support companies they perceive give back to the community, participate in CSR initiatives to help people, and incorporate sustainable practices into the lifecycle of their products. This …

College Of Business Dean's Report: 2019-2020, Ryan Butt

College of Business Dean’s Reports

No abstract provided.

Thomas Kent's Paralogic Rhetoric As A Framework For Analyzing Corporate Social Responsibility Discourse, Donald E. Penner

English Department Theses

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) scholarship increasingly uses rhetorical theory as a method for analyzing contested meaning between communicants. However, the classical and social constructivist rhetorical theories typically used for analysis do not address the primary cause of contested meaning – relativism. Conversely, such theories often contribute to a dualistic worldview by utilizing internally imagined conceptual schemes for analyzing texts. This thesis proposes Thomas Kent’s paralogic rhetorical theory as an alternative method of analyzing CSR texts, and focuses on three common areas typically utilized in rhetorical analyses of CSR texts: text reception, the rhetorical situation, and genre. Where paradigmatic rhetorical theories …

What Consumers Don’T Know They’Re Giving Away (Data And Privacy Concerns), Bayleigh Reeves

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

The modern world leverages technology and information captured by it in ways the inventors of these technologies likely never imagined. Phones and other devices are gathering information about consumers in the background when they do not even realize it. Pew Research Center found that about 77% of Americans own a smartphone and 88% use the internet. This mass access to technology and information tracking raises many privacy concerns. Basic demographic information is being tracked as well as more in-depth information like shopping tendencies, financial information, and information about known associates. While most of this data is being used for marketing …

Cambridge Analytica: The Scandal On Data Privacy, Carissa Boerboom

Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest

Consumers need to understand the risks and consequences of sharing their lives with the world. For data analysts, even if you can create and implement a model, should you? This research paper discusses Cambridge Analytica’s methods using predictive analytics and Facebook to influence the 2016 US Presidential Election. Through examining the firm as a whole, key people involved in the scandal, methods of data collection, and Facebook’s role, the ethical boundaries of big data, predictive analytics, and data privacy are analyzed. Three perspectives were discussed in regards to ethical disparity: Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, and the consumers. Overall, this research exposes …

A Business Plan For The Fitzgerald Institute, Elaine M. King, Matthew G. Deibel, Matthew J. Bulgrin, Alex Skeen, Stephanie N. Kieke

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This piece seeks to develop a business strategy for the University of Akron's Fitzgerald Institute for Entrepreneurship. The recommendations given were developed utilizing research on entrepreneurial education and the desires of students at the university.

Not Just Yet: Despite Grinding It Out In Silicon Valley, Asians Are Least Likely To Lead Big Tech Companies, Karishma Vanjani

Capstones

Silicon Valley has long been known for the paucity of African-Americans and Hispanics in its ranks, but equally telling is the fact that the vast majority of Asians hired for non-managerial jobs are not moving up to management. The lack of diversity in the upper echelons of the companies is due in part to the maddening stereotype that Asians are too passive. White managers mentoring and supervising Asian employees face a wide gap in understanding cultural disparities. For the companies, though, tightening immigration policies can become barriers when they consider promoting Asians in the country on work visas.

https://karishmavanjani.com/writing/not-just-yet-despite-grinding-it-out-in-silicon-valley-asians-are-least-likely-to-lead-big-tech-companies/?_thumbnail_id=610

Contextual Influences On Human Resources Development: Considerations And Evaluations On The Various External And Internal Factors That Shape And Influence Hrd In Organisations, Charles Alves De Castro

Articles

This article aims to briefly understand and evaluate the main external and internal factors that impact directly on human resources development area within the organisations, mainly related to multinational companies. Also, it discusses the various aspects and influences on HRD-(Human Resources Development) such as societal, organisational/local, global, that impacts on costs, environment, regulations, policies, culture, beliefs, technology and values. This research was carried out by way of a literature review. This is important to demonstrate, explain and evaluate the current existent literature about this specific theme covered in this article. Furthermore, through this review we compared previous research on HRD. …

Relationship Between Self-Development, Mentorship, And Senior Military Officer Moral Judgment, Garry Thompson

Dissertations

Despite a renewed emphasis on ethics programs across the Department of Defense (DOD) since 2007, the number of senior officer ethical failures increased by 13% from 2015 to 2017 (Copp, 2017). If the trend of ethical failures and misconduct continue, the military faces a further decline in public confidence (DoDOIG, 2017). The 2017 DOD Inspector General report noted the trend of senior leader ethical failures might foster negative public perceptions regarding military leader’s overall dedication, sacrifice, ethics, and character (DoDOIG, 2017).

A review of military literature revealed the importance of mentorship and self-development in professional development; however, gaps between …

Csr-Contingent Executive Compensation Contracts, Atif Ikram, Zhichuan Li, Dylan Minor

Business Publications

Firms have increasingly started tying their executives’ compensation to CSR-related objectives. In this paper, we attempt to understand why firms offer CSR-contingent compensation and the conditions under which such compensation improves corporate social performance. Using hand-collected data from proxy statements, we find that this emerging compensation practice varies significantly across industries and across different CSR categories. Further, well-governed firms are more likely to offer CSR-contingent compensation, and such compensation does lead to higher corporate social standing. Such firms are more likely to offer formula-based, Objective CSR-contingent compensation. However, our results suggest that non-formulaic, Subjective CSR-contingent compensation also helps improve companies’ …

Public Relations Litigation, Kishanthi Parella

Scholarly Articles

Conventional wisdom holds that lawsuits harm a corporation’s reputation. So why do corporations and other businesses litigate even when they will likely lose in the court of law and the court of public opinion? One explanation is settlement: some parties file lawsuits not to win but to force the defendant to pay out. But some business litigants defy even this explanation; they do not expect to win the lawsuit or to benefit financially from settlement. What explains their behavior?

The answer is reputation. This Article explains that certain types of litigation can improve a business litigant’s reputation in the eyes …

College Of Business Dean's Report: 2018-2019, Ryan Butt

College of Business Dean’s Reports

No abstract provided.

Illness And The American Workplace: Issues And Implications For Employers And Employees, Victoria R. Dolan

Student Theses and Dissertations

This project aims to identify American employee experiences and existing workplace policies and cultures surrounding illness, disability, and sick leave. This approach was taken in order to closely examine what looks to be working well for companies and workers, and what could benefit from a more human centric approach in regards to workplace policy and employee support programs. The study of employee experiences in particular represents a gap in the current scholarly literature regarding illness and illness policy in the American workplace, and more accurately represents the experiences for both employees and employers. Furthermore, it assists with distinguishing the types …

The Performance Of Military Defense Contracted Companies After September 11th, 2001: The Case Of Politically Connected Companies, Derek J. Larsen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper examines the effect that the terrorist attacks on September 11^th, 2001 had on the stock prices of companies within the military defense industry. In addition, this paper studies the effect of the defense firms’ political engagement (through lobbying activities) and how this affected the stock price response to the terrorist attacks. Our study finds that the cumulative abnormal returns of these companies are positively significant and that companies who lobbied experienced higher returns relative to those who did not lobby.

Consumers’ Reactions To Multiple Instances Of Negative Publicity: The Role Of Publicity Domain Similarity, Berna Basar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although it is very typical for consumers to be exposed to multiple instances of negative publicity about a brand, existing research has focused on consumers’ reactions to one-time negative publicity instances. Given the important role of self-brand connection in consumers’ reactions to negative brand-related information, the current study investigates how consumers with different self-brand connection levels react to multiple instances of negative publicity in a single domain versus across different domains. Specifically, I suggest that consumers with high self-brand connection might be defense motivated, which in return, might result in justification of one-time instances unless consistency in behavior is signaled. …

Retention, Matthew Molinaro

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

Employee retention in the 21th century reflects how companies keep their employees motivated and well prepared for the challenges in the workplace. In this paper, I apply the concepts of motivation and how employers keep their employees. I also emphasize the costly effects of a employee leaving the organization, both as a dollar and emotional standpoint.

Navigating Sino-American Business Relationships, Ryan Stenquist

Marriott Student Review

Relationships between American and Chinese companies have never been more important or profitable as they are now. With linguistic, moral, governmental, and legal systems developed entirely independent of each other for thousands of years, these relationships also prove the most difficult and complex to navigate. This article explores mistakes foreigners often make while doing business in China, the current environment and culture of joint ventures with native Chinese, and how to succeed in the challenging yet rewarding economy now opening up to the world.

Business Education Of Ceo-Cfo And Annual Report Readability, Ling Tuo, Yu (Tony) Zhang, Zhenfeng Liu, Ruixue Du

Accounting Faculty Publications

Financial report readability captures the transparency and effectiveness of information communicated by firms’ executives. It’s interesting to investigate whether business knowledge, cognitive preferences, and professional ethics taught by a business education will shape the CEO/ CFO’s thinking in determining words, languages, paragraphs, and contents presented in financial reports when the self-interested CEO/CFO tends to influence the interpretation of financial information users. Using a sample of S&P 1500 CEOs and CFOs, we find that the CEO (CFO) with a business degree is associated with better (worse) readability of annual reports and the positive (negative) relation is strengthened (moderated) by internal corporate …

Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Rise Of Hedge Fund Activist Shareholders And The Duty Of Loyalty, Soo Young Hong

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Shareholder activism has been a growing problem in the corporate world, creating numerous dilemmas for the board of directors of companies. Activist shareholders can unsettle a company, pressuring the directors to make decisions according to the course of business the activists would prefer, and thus interfering with the traditional role of directors as the decision-makers of a company. With this new development in the business world, legal scholars have been debating if this activism needs to be controlled and, if so, what measures can be taken to reach a balance. This Note examines the traditional corporate principles such as the …

List Voting’S Travels: The Importance Of Being Independent In The Boardroom, Maria Lucia Passador

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

The life of the law, especially with regard to corporations, is strongly influenced by experience and practice. The board, a living element of corporate law, is therefore one of the most noteworthy aspects to be studied, given its relevant implications and role as the lifeblood of scholarly debates.

This Article offers a novel contribution to the assessment of list voting, a fairly unique Italian system that has been increasingly appreciated by institutional investors. A hand-picked dataset that stretches from 2005 to 2015 shows a positive correlation between minority-appointed directors in the boardroom and dividend payouts. Furthermore, the findings shed light …

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: A Novel Agency Design With Familiar Issues, Thomas Arning

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

This Note examines the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with a specific focus on its single-director structure. The balance of authority between agencies and the three branches of government has been a point of contention for generations, especially since the early twentieth century. This area of the law became even more contested following the financial crisis in 2008. As part of the response to the perceived abuses that led to the global recession, Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ultimately opting to give it a single director as opposed to a board structure. Proponents of this regime …

Do Not Bank On Us! Taking Stock Of Transparency And Accountability During Crises In Uganda: The Case Of Crane Bank Collapse, Angella Napakol, Ann Mugunga

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

This study examined transparency and accountability as bridges to the interpretative and sense making capabilities of the public following the collapse of Crane Bank, Uganda. Content and critical discourse analysis methods were used to: investigate the nature of communication, the information shared; review honesty and responsibility in communication, and also analyze how accountability and transparency are constructed during crisis situations in the South. Assessment of 120 newspaper articles showed that both Crane Bank and Bank of Uganda mainly left it to the media to create and give meaning to stakeholders. Initial communication from both institutions was delayed and subsequent communication …

The Eighteenth Annual Albert A. Destefano Lecture On Corporate, Securities, & Financial Law At The Fordham Corporate Law Center: Corwin V. Kkr Financial Holdings Llc— An “After-Action Report”, The Honorable Joseph R. Slights Iii, Matthew Diller

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Globalization: Educational Reforms Shifts The Public Into A Recurrent Devalued Socioeconomic Era For Minorities, Jacqulyn Washington

Master's Theses

This article delves into the breakdown of the impact globalization have on the success of minorities in urban centers. While expanding on the many factors that contribute to the success of minorities, it informs the reader how education, being a huge indicator of success, has been underserved to the poor and minorities. Lacking many resources, this blockage has been further strained through the local government, multinational corporations, educational reforms, and Translocal politics.

Did Hollywood Take Theatre "By Hook Or By Crook?", Catherine S. Wright

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Hollywood and Theatre have been partners in producing entertainment for over 100 years. The relationship was fruitful for both parties, but Hollywood moguls and playwrights battled over ownership of the work and crafting of its creative nucleus, story and character. Theatre was the dominant entertainment right before the rise of motion pictures. Once Hollywood’s talkies closed the curtain on silent films, playwrights had a high creative worth to movie makers. In the cinema, story and dialogue were essential for its survival and growth. Playwrights were courted by the Hollywood studio heads but were not offered equal partnership as they were …

Communication Technologies And Interpersonal Relationships: Some Considerations From Theology, Randy Beavers, Denise Daniels, Al Erisman, Don Lee

SPU Works

While the unintended consequences and high pace of change associated with technology will change the nature and types of our interpersonal relationships, Christian theology provides a lens through which we can evaluate these changes. In this paper we outline some theological principles that undergird our understanding of what God intends for relationships, as well as ways that our relationships are either consistent or inconsistent with God's intentions in terms of healthy and unhealthy relationships. We then discuss ways in which communication technology can amplify both positive and negative aspects of relationships, providing examples from the workplace. We classify the impact …

Reflective Practice Series: Selected Instructional Models Using Synchronous Video Conferencing Software, Martin W. Sivula

MBA Faculty Conference Papers & Journal Articles

With the vast array of resources available to instructors, one would think that instruction and teaching would yield success for all learners. Now, well into the 21^st century has much changed in the classroom? Certainly, movable desks and chairs, advanced audio and visual equipment, and a plethora of all types of technologies which might be able to enhance training and education. Over the last several decades research on individualized instruction, cognitive science, educational psychology, and multimedia instruction (to name a few) have permeated the literature on instruction. With all the research and the vast array of studies on improving …