Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons^™

Corporate Governance Reform In A Time Of Crisis, Christopher M. Bruner

Scholarly Works

In this article I argue that crisis-driven corporate governance reform efforts in the United States and the United Kingdom that aim to empower shareholders are misguided, and offer an explanation of why policymakers in each country have reacted to the financial crisis as they have. I first discuss the risk incentives of shareholders and managers in financial firms, and examine how excessive leverage and risk-taking in pursuit of short-term returns for shareholders led to the crisis. I then describe the far greater power and centrality that U.K. shareholders have historically possessed relative to their U.S. counterparts, and explore historical and …

Ethical Orientation Of Future Business Leaders, John Rooney

Senior Honors Projects

Ethics are a set of moral behaviors and beliefs that guide people in everything they do. Ethics play a very important role in the field of business. In recent years, the business world has been plagued by many unethical decisions. Consider Enron, for example. The unethical decisions by company leaders caused huge losses and hardships to thousands of people. In the future, company leaders will continue to face ethical dilemmas and today’s college students need to be prepared to handle them. This project analyzes whether College of Business students at URI are ethically prepared to lead the business world. A …

Celebrity Ceos: Disclosure At The Intersection Of Privacy And Securities Law, Ann M. Olazábal, Patricia Sánchez Abril

Business Law Articles and Papers

An abstract for this item is not available.

Achieving The Vision Through High Ethical Standards, Sarah E. Bertke

Ohio Valley Regional Student Conference

No abstract provided.

Business Ethics Education: How Well Are We Preparing Students To Handle Ethical Issues At Work?, Hector Lopez

Touchstone

Educators at large constantly struggle to overcome curriculum and resources constraints to prepare students for everything within their specific academic program. The logical question to ask is whether the content of an ethics course aligns with the content of the ethical challenges students will face. While a strong case can be made supporting the mastery of classical approaches to ethical analysis, the touchstone for deciding what to include in a business ethics course or curriculum should reflect practicality and applicability as well as critical thinking. To build student awareness of ethics in real-time situations, both a conceptual foundation and ample …

Corporate Governance, Ownership Structure And Intellectual Capital Disclosure : Evidence From Malaysia., Gan Kin

Student Works (2010-2019)

Since the Asian Financial crisis occurred in 1997, Malaysia has implemented important corporate governance reforms to identify and address weaknesses highlighted during the crisis. Malaysia is aggressively highlighting the importance of good corporate governance to maintain its competitive edge as well as a source for sustainable economic growth. Keenan and Aggestam (2001) stressed that the success and failure of organizations in the twenty-first century depends on good governance practices in creating and leveraging intellectual capital (IC). Further, Tayles et al., (2007) view that IC has attracted increasing interest in recent years as management recognizes the contribution it makes in their …

Tax Tarp Needed For Year One And Year Two Returns Of Executive Bonus To Tarp Recipient: A Case Study Of Year One Rescission/Exclusion From Income And Year Two Deduction Under Section 1341, John W. Lee

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Article addresses the tax consequences to AIG Financial employees who repay their controversial retention bonuses in the year of receipt (Year 1) or in a subsequent year (Year 2). At the time the executives received their bonuses, the media and members of Congress raised challenges that might induce such repayment, thus justifying favorable tax treatment for repaying executives. Accordingly, bonuses repaid in year I should be excluded from gross income under the doctrine of Year 1 rescission. Bonuses repaid in Year 2 should result in an adjustment under Section 1341, which reduces the income taxes for Year 2 by …

How Corporate Social Responsibility Influences Employee Job Satisfaction In The Hotel Industry, Chia-Chun Saprina Chiang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether strategic CSR programs in the hotel industry influence individual job satisfaction. Based on Valentine and Fleischman’s study in company ethics programs and employees’ perceived CSR, job satisfaction is related to many significant organizational factors and is usually a major concentration of business research that investigates employee-based phenomena (Valentine & Fleischman, 2008, p. 160). In addition, this paper will seek for the literature supporting the positive correlation between a company’s strategic CSR activities and its employees’ job satisfaction. In other words, this study will identify whether and how employees’ perceptions of their …

‘I Don’T Lend Money; It Causes Amnesia!’ Money, Culture And Ethics., Annetta M. Gibson

Faculty Publications

Christian leaders seek to be ethical people and make ethical decisions, but often the ethical dilemmas a leader must face do not have clear-cut answers. Ethical dilemmas can be even more troubling when they occur in a culturally diverse situation that is coupled with decisions involving financial transactions. Views of money and how to handle money are culturally influenced and may not be the same as the views of the leader, who may come from a different culture. This leads the Christian leader to ponder: When working in a culturally diverse environment, how can one tell the difference between a …

Measures Of Weight Distribution Of Dairy Cows To Detect Lameness And The Presence Of Hoof Lesions, M. Pastell, L. Hänninen, A. M. De Passillé, J. Rushen

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

There is increasing interest in automated methods of detecting lame cows. Hoof lesion data and measures of weight distribution from 61 lactating cows were examined in this study. Lame cows were identified with different numerical rating scores (NRS) used as thresholds (NRS >3 and NRS ≥3.5) for lameness. The ratio of weight applied to a pair of legs (LWR) when the cow was standing was calculated using a special weigh scale, and the cows were gait scored using a 1 to 5 NRS. Hoof lesions were scored and the cows placed into 1 of 4 mutually exclusive categories of hoof …

Assessment Of Lameness Prevalence And Associated Risk Factors In Dairy Herds In England And Wales, Z. E. Barker, K. A. Leach, H. R. Whay, N. J. Bell, D. C. J. Main

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

Visits were made to 205 dairy farms in England and Wales between October 2006 and May 2007 by 1 or more of 4 researchers. At each visit, all milking cows were locomotion scored (lameness scored) using a 4-point scale (0 = sound locomotion, 1 = imperfect locomotion, 2 = lame, 3 = severely lame). The mean prevalence of lameness (scores 2 and 3) across the study farms was 36.8% (range = 0–79.2%). On each farm, the presence within the housing and grazing environments of commonly reported risks for increased lameness was recorded. Each farmer was interviewed to gauge the ability …

Fdi Accounting In India And China: A Need For Harmonization, M. R. Shollapur, Suneel K. Maheshwari, Uday S. Tate

Management Faculty Research

The objective of this paper is to initiate discussions on standardizing the method for measuring Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) across countries. It is important to use consistent method so that there is a faithful representation of a country's investment climate and the information is relevant for the purpose of foreign investors. India and China measures Foreign Direct Investment (FDJ) using two different methods. India measures FDI on the basis of equity investments, whereas China includes certain items which do not strictly fall under the purview of FDI. Inclusion of items other than equity increases the reported FDI in China. It …

The Contested Politics Of Corporate Governance: The Case Of The Global Reporting Initiative, David Levy, Halina Szejnwald Brown, Martin De Jong

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has successfully become institutionalized as the preeminent global framework for voluntary corporate environmental and social reporting. Its success can be attributed to the “institutional entrepreneurs” who analyzed the reporting field and deployed discursive, material, and organizational strategies to change it. GRI has, however, fallen short of the aspirations of its founders to use disclosure to empower nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The authors argue that its trajectory reflects the power relations between members of the field, their strategic choices and compromises, their ability to mobilize alliances and resources, and constraints imposed by the broader institutions of financial …

The Way We Think: Ethics, Health And The Environment In International Business, David N. Smith

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Breaches of ethics and social responsibility in domestic and international business are typically thought to be anchored in such phenomena as greed, dishonesty and conflict of interest. While these forces are frequently at work in international business transactions, there is often another major force at work when failures of ethics and social responsibility occur. This article addresses the question of what is it about the way that transnational company managers and government officials think or don't think that leads to breaches of ethics and social responsibility - breaches that often result in major health, environmental and social tragedies. The article …

Corporate Governance, Investor Protection, And Auditor Choice In Emerging Markets, Mahmud Hossain, Chee Yeow Lim, Patricia Mui Siang Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this study, we examine the effect of firm-level governance on the firm's choice of an external auditor. Further, we test how the relation between corporate governance and auditor choice may be affected by the strength of legal environment. The results show that firm-level governance scores are positively related to the firm's auditor choice. This association is strengthened by country-level legal protection. Specifically, the positive association between auditor choice and the firm-level governance scores is weaker (stronger) in a low (high) legal environment. These findings are robust after controlling for determinants that were found to be significant in earlier research. …

Collaborating With A Financial Therapist: The Why, Who, What And How, Cicily Maton, Michelle Maton, William Martin

College of Business Faculty and Staff Works

Financial planning clients are seeking holistic solutions to their financial opportunities and challenges. Yet, few financial planners and mental health professionals work together to benefit clients. This article showcases a partnership between a financial therapist, trained as a psychologist, and two financial planners who have implemented an evidence-based model of financial planning drawing upon the behavioral finance, neureconomics, evolutionary psychology, and coaching literature.

Trusts Versus Corporations: An Empirical Analysis Of Competing Organizational Forms, A. Joseph Warburton

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

This paper studies the effects of organizational form on managerial behavior and firm performance, from an empirical perspective. Managers of trusts are subject to stricter fiduciary responsibilities than managers of corporations. This paper examines the ramifications empirically, by exploiting data generated by a change in British regulations in the 1990s that allowed mutual funds to organize as either a trust or a corporation. I find evidence that trust law is effective in curtailing opportunistic behavior, as trust managers charge significantly lower fees than their observationally equivalent corporate counterparts. Trust managers also incur lower risk. However, evidence suggests that trust managers …

Corporate Social Innovation, Jared Tham

Social Space

CSR has long been perceived as an afterthought in the corporate world. However, perceptions are shifting, and CSR is becoming part of the innovation paradigm of a corporation, creating what is arguably a turning point in the history of the CSR movement.

Socially Responsible Investment In Asia, Geoffrey Williams

Social Space

Recent worries about product safety, transparent corporate governance and the social and environmental impact of corporate activity have been the drivers of “Socially Responsible Investment” (SRI) in Europe and North America. Geoffrey Williams delves into the rise of SRI in Asia, where opportunities for strong investment returns are wide and growing.

Uncovering The Dirty Secrets Of A Food Paradise: Young Journalists Go Undercover, Estelle Low, Miak Aw

Social Space

Singapore is universally known as a food paradise, but far less is known about the enormous amount of waste generated daily by individuals, supermarkets, food outlets and hotels. 20-something investigative journalists Miak Aw and Estelle Low go undercover to shed light on how much we waste as a nation and why this needs to change.

Storytellers As Philanthropic Champions: An Interview With Claire Chiang, Lien Centre For Social Innovation

Social Space

Singapore’s charity sector is undergoing significant changes to enhance management quality, accountability and transparency. But despite these positive changes, Ms Claire Chiang, entrepreneur and philanthropist, argues that Singapore also needs to cultivate a more visionary and global approach to philanthropy. She shares with Social Space her thoughts on storytelling and the need for mentors to champion the most urgent causes of the day.

Contextualising Csr: Multi-Stakeholder Approaches To Development Initiatives In Southeast Asia, Christine Davis, Stephanie Soderborg

Social Space

As the focus on CSR expands throughout Asia, discussion prevails about the form it needs to take to be germane to the needs of each respective country. The authors discuss Kenan Institute Asia’s efforts in developing a responsible management education (or CSR curriculum and training) for future managers and business leaders in Vietnam.

Business Ethics And (Or As) Political Philosophy, Jeffrey Moriarty, Wayne Norman, Joseph Heath

Philosophy Faculty Publications

There is considerable overlap between the interests of business ethicists and those of political philosophers. Questions about the moral justifiability of the capitalist system, the basis of property rights, and the problem of inequality in the distribution of income have been of central importance in both fields. However, political philosophers have developed, especially over the past four decades, a set of tools and concepts for addressing these questions that are in many ways quite distinctive. Most business ethicists, on the other hand, consider their field to be primarily a domain of applied ethics, and so adopt methods and conceptual frameworks …

Participation In The Workplace: Are Employees Special?, Jeffrey Moriarty

Philosophy Faculty Publications

I consider two influential arguments for employee participation in firm decision making: what I call the “interest protection argument” and the “autonomy argument.” I argue that the case for granting participation rights to some other stakeholders, such as suppliers and community members, is at least as strong, according to the reasons given in these arguments, as the case for granting them to certain employees. I then consider how proponents of these arguments might modify their arguments, or views, in response to this conclusion.

Business Solutions To Global Challenges, Richard Welford

Social Space

Despite the prevalence of CSR initiatives in companies, there is a need to leverage on current practices to make them more effective and meaningful. Richard Welford looks at the advantages to such an approach.

Dimensionality Of Business Ethics In China, Marc Sardy, J. Mark Munoz, James Jianmin Sun, Ilan Alon

Faculty Publications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the ethical dimensions in China. It reviews the extant business ethics literature on China, collects data on ethical conduct from a large Chinese university, and analyzes the data to examine emerging trends. Design/methodology/approach – Factor analysis and multidimensional scaling (MDS) are applied to an established survey instrument after reliability is confirmed. Findings – Principal-components factor analysis uncovers six main factors. MDS further reduces the explanatory variables into four ethical dimensions, while increasing the number of useable observations. These four dimensions are then correlated with some demographic and psychographic variables. Results …

Usage Of Public Corporate Communications Of Social Responsibility Within Brazil, Russia, India And China (Bric), Ilan Alon, Christopher Lattemann, Marc Fetscherin, Shaomin Li, Anna-Maria Schneider

Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to analyze the status of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communications in BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). The four countries are among the biggest emerging markets, forecasted to have increasing influence in economic and political spheres. How these countries manage their corporate communication in regards to CSR is, thus, the focus of our investigation. Design/methodology/approach: This paper compares the extent and content of corporate communication with respect to CSR from a sample of over 100 companies from the BRIC nations by investigating the nature of CSR motives, processes, and stakeholder. Findings: The …

Western Kentucky University Annual Report 2010: Bridging The Gap

SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise)

No abstract provided.

Understanding Mortality Rates Of Laying Hens In Cage-Free Egg Production Systems, The Humane Society Of The United States

Agribusiness Collection

In cage-free egg production systems, concerns have been raised over hen mortality rates. High mortality is an obvious indicator of poor welfare, and problems should be addressed without delay. It is important to note, however, that mortality can vary substantially between hen flocks, and that some cage-free systems have healthy flocks that do not suffer substantial death losses. These systems can serve as models for the rest of the industry, since mortality is not inherent to any particular system, but a consequence of how well the system is managed.

Missouri’S Dirty Dozen: A Report On Some Of The Worst Puppy Mills In Missouri, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL INFORMATION

The purpose of the report is to demonstrate current problems that could be addressed by the passage of Proposition B, which Missouri citizens will vote on in November. Under Proposition B, the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, many of these dealers’ horrific violations would be backed by stronger enforcement opportunities.

All of the puppy mills on the Dirty Dozen list are licensed by the USDA, the state, or both, according to the most recently available records reviewed by HSUS researchers. Some sell puppies to pet stores and others over the Internet. One thing they have in common is atrocious violations …