Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons^™

Two Papers On "How Perceptions Of Fairness And Influences Of Social Capital And Source Credibility Matter To Compensation Committees And Investors", Anne M. Wilkins

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

This paper uses an experimental research design to examine the influences of social capital, source credibility, and fairness on the decision making process of compensation committee members when making an executive compensation decision as well as whether an expectation gap exists between the committee members and nonprofessional investors regarding the judgment. One hundred and one public company compensation committee members and ninety nine nonprofessional investors completed an executive compensation case indicating their support on a scale of 0 to 100 of revising executive incentive pay financial performance targets mid-compensation cycle.

I find outcome fairness to shareholders and management significant influences …

Auditor Reporting Under Section 404: The Association Between The Internal Control And Going Concern Audit Opinions, Beng Wee Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act introduced integrated audits of internal control over financial reporting and the financial statements. Since the internal control and audit reports are joint products of the audit process, we examine whether the issuance of an internal control material weakness opinion (MWO) influences, other things equal, the issuance of a going concern audit opinion (GCO). Using a sample of financially stressed companies, we find that the issuance of a MWO increases the likelihood of a GCO, suggesting that auditors respond to the uncertainty surrounding a MWO by issuing a GCO. Further, the positive association between MWO …

Guidance Frequency And Guidance Properties: The Effect Of Reputation-Building And Learning-By-Doing, Sanjeev Bhojraj, Robert Libby, Holly I. Yang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Different firms issue earnings guidance at dramatically different rates. We suggest that frequent guiders more likely represent a type of firm that is attempting to develop a reputation for enhanced disclosures through their guidance issuances. Furthermore, the desire to build a reputation and the opportunities to learn provided by issuing more frequent guidance should translate into frequent guiders providing higher quality guidance than occasional guiders. We examine our hypotheses in three stages. First, we find that guidance frequency is positively correlated with variables associated with reputation with capital market participants and reputation in product and labor markets. Second, our cross-sectional …

The Effects Of Sarbanes Oxley On Current Financial Reporting Standards, Kiersten Clark

Senior Honors Theses

Many changes have taken place over the past eight years in almost every sphere of the business world. The first topic discussed within this paper will be the origin and background of Sarbanes-Oxley, why it was necessary, and what the primary causes of such regulation were. There are many new regulations that are required of companies, primarily publicly-traded companies, which will be covered in the next section. Finally, the last discussion will involve the impact of SOX and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board on financial reporting and the changes that have taken place within companies. The impact of this …

The Legalization Of Casino Gambling In Mainland China, Xi Liu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The study of growth in the international casino gaming is currently fascinating. Local residents do not view casino operations negatively anymore. The great success of the regulation of the gaming industry and the resulting highly profitable returns in areas such as Las Vegas has encouraged jurisdictions to introduce gaming into their local economies. Various studies have been done to assess the potential reasons behind the introduction of the gaming industry into regions that have previously banned it; however, only a handful of research has been done regarding the potential gaming industry in mainland China. Given the huge success observed in …

Knowledge, Wisdom, And Service: The Meaning And Teaching Of Professionalism In Medicine, Matthew K. Wynia

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University. Presented September 29, 2011.

Imf: Predatory Lender Or Latin America’S Best Chance?, Paul Thomas Smith

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Recently, there has been heated debate as to whether or not assistance from the International Monetary Fund has proven to be a great humanitarian effort or a scheme by Western governments to keep emerging Latin American countries in debt. The IMF partners with numerous governments in order to create a collective monetary community from which all may benefit in times of need. These partnered countries are also able to apply for assistance if they find themselves in monetary hardships. Some studies have shown that the IMF has been too heavy handed, while other studies have shown that recipient governments may …

The Sustainability Movement And Its Effects On The Trends Of Beauty Product Packaging, Sarah Danley

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this study is to examine industry professionals’ standpoints along with consumer demands and expectations pertaining to sustainable packaging, materials currently used in beauty product packaging, and advances in emerging trends within this sector. Using the information derived from these examinations, this study will predict the industry’s future direction and identify how the industry leaders should change in order to adapt their business practices to remain competitive and profitable within the industry.

This study made use of several research methods to gain insight on the impacts that the sustainability movement has had on the beauty and health packaging …

Insider Trading In The United States, James H. Thompson

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Business

Insider trading is the buying or selling of a corporation's stock or other securities by an employee who has the potential to access non-public information about the company. Although most individuals associate insider trading with illegal activity, a majority of the trades are done legally. Illegal insider trading refers generally to buying or selling a security, in breach of a fiduciary duty or other relationship of trust and confidence, while in possession of material, nonpublic information about the security. This paper discusses disclosures, regulatory efforts, impact on investor confidence, relationship to ethics, and history of major court decisions regarding insider …

How Do Corporate Philosophies Of Japanese Companies Influence Their Practice Of The Base Of The Economic Pyramid (Bop) Business And The Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr)?, Akane Matsumoto

Capstone Collection

The Base of the Economic Pyramid (BOP) business aims to alleviate social issues of developing countries, particularly these with low-income population, through business means by including the BOP population in the value chain as customers, producers, sellers, and business partners while private enterprises assure their profit.

How do corporate philosophies of Japanese private enterprises influence its practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and base of economic pyramid (BOP) business? A Japanese scholar that Japanese companies intrinsically possess traits potentially may be strengths upon BOP business implementation. With an emphasis on influence of corporate philosophy on the practice of CSR and …

It’S My Body: The Biomedical Ethics Of Cell And Organ Harvest, Christina Perri

Common Reading Essay Contest Winners

First Place

The Embeddedness Of Responsible Business Practice: National Institutional Environments And Corporate Social Responsibility, Luc Fransen

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Academic literature recognizes that firms in different countries deal with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in different ways. Because of this, analysts presume that variations in national institutional arrangements affect CSR practices. Literature however lacks specificity in determining, first, what parts of national political economic configurations actually affect CSR practices; second, the precise aspects of CSR affected by national-institutional variables; third, how casual mechanisms between national institutional framework variables and aspects of CSR practices work. Because of this the literature is not able to address to what extent CSR practices are affected by either global or national policies, discourses and economic …

Transnational Business Governance And The Management Of Natural Resources, Virginia Haufler

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

In the last two decades, the international community has intervened directly to reduce the conflict and corruption that accompany natural resource development in weakly governed states. These efforts converge on the norm of information disclosure by a number of different transnational business governance initiatives. This article examines how the successive failures of public and private efforts led to patterns of convergence and divergence in the transnational governance of the extractive sector. The timing of the effort, combined with variation in industry structure, differences in the targets of information disclosure, and learning over time influence the outcome in each case. This …

Iso 26000: Bridging The Public/Private Divide In Transnational Business Governance Interactions, Kernaghan Webb

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

This paper explores the proposition that the ISO 26000 social responsibility guidance standard represents an innovative form of global social responsibility (SR) rule instrument that performs five key distinctive bridging functions in addressing public and private transnational business governance interactions: (1) top down transpositions of key concepts from inter-­‐governmental instruments directed at first instance at states into a non-­‐state global SR rule instrument applying directly to transnational corporations (TNCs) and other organizations; (2) bottom up transpositions of key concepts from non-­‐state SR instruments of narrow focus to apply more broadly to all SR activities; (3) innovations in the standards development …

Transnational Business Governance Interactions And Technical Systems In Global Finance, Tony Porter

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Most transnational regulatory problems involve technical systems: extended sets of productive connections between humans, organized knowledge, and material objects. The functioning and relations between transnational business governance (TBG) schemes in any particular issue area are usually shaped by these technical systems. These technical systems and the material world that they interact with are not simply exogenous environments for tBG schemes. Individual TBG schemes can enhance their power and influence by expanding their function in a technical system, by incorporating the material aspects of the system into their activities, or by producing the system's technical knowledge. I hypothesize that where a …

The Architecture Of Transnational Private Regulation, Fabrizio Cafaggi

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Conflicting interests among private actors constitute an important factor to explain why and how transnational private regulation has grown and the proliferation of standards and standard setting organizations that has followed. This essay provides a map of transnational regulatory space suggesting that the different levels are related to various governance responses to conflicts within the private sphere and between private and public actors.Three levels of the global regulatory space are considered: (1) the single global regulatory body, where interests are integrated into one organization, (2) the regime, in which multiple organizations operate, regulating within the same policy field, (3) multiple …

Process Vs. Performance Standards For Sustainable Meeting And Event Management, Andrew Stephen Walker

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

This paper examines two emerging voluntary industry standards — the process-based ISO 20121 Event sustainability management systems and the performance-based APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Event Standard — and examines whether they can complement, rather than compete with, each other to provide a comprehensive approach to the complex task of managing and measuring sustainability within meetings and events. A framework for analysis was developed through examining the academic literature on competition between process and performance-based sustainability standards within the forestry sector where several internationally-recognized standards have interacted in the marketplace for over a decade. Three criteria — legitimacy, accountability and effectiveness — …

Sense And Sustainability, Ken Hickson

Social Space

Like the proverbial chicken and egg, climate change and sustainability are inextricably linked; it is impossible to decide which comes first, but urgent solutions are needed. Ken Hickson delivers a timely lesson on the four E’s of sustainability—energy, environment, economics and ethics.

Slimplexity: A Glimpse Inside The Hive Mind Of Snohetta, Noel Brady

Articles

Simplexity is an interview with Craig Dykers cofounder of Snohetta. The firm has a unique structure in Architecture circles with a Hive Mind like structure. In addition its parallel interests in Architecture and Landscape Design has meant that both professional strands have equal parity in the firms operation.

Justice In Compensation: A Defense, Jeffrey Moriarty

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Business ethicists have written much about ethical issues in employment. Except for a handful of articles on the very high pay of chief executive officers and the very low pay of workers in overseas sweatshops, however, little has been written about the ethics of compensation. This is prima facie strange. Workers care about their pay, and they think about it in normative terms. This article's purpose is to consider whether business ethicists' neglect of the normative aspects of compensation is justified. I examine several possible justifications for neglecting compensation and show that they fail. What remains is a case for …

Blaming As A Social Process: The Influence Of Character And Moral Emotion On Blame, Janice Nadler

Faculty Working Papers

For the most part, the law eschews the role of moral character in legal blame. But when we observe an actor who causes harm, legal and psychological blame processes are in tension. Procedures for legal blame assume an assessment of the actor's mental state, and ultimately of responsibility, that is independent of the moral character of the actor. In this paper, I present experimental evidence to suggest that perceptions of intent, foreseeability, and possibly causation can be colored by independent reasons for thinking the actor is a bad person, and are mediated by the experience of negative moral emotion. Our …

The Problem Of Unlicensed Puppy Mills, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL REPORTS

Currently the United States Department of Agriculture does not license or inspect large-scale puppy producers who sell puppies over the Internet or directly to the public. Many of these unlicensed facilities sell puppies sight-unseen to unsuspecting buyers who assume they are purchasing from a small family breeder. Hundreds of these “direct” sellers have taken advantage of the pre-Internet language of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) regulations (otherwise known as the “retail pet stores loophole”) to operate without any federal oversight or inspections. As a result, an increasing number of large-scale unlicensed breeders are not monitored for their animals’ overall health …

The American Kennel Club: No Longer “The Dog's Champion?”, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL INFORMATION

The AKC has historically billed itself as “The Dog’s Champion,” the gold standard registry for purebred puppies. The AKC's mission includes advocating for advances in “canine health and well- being” and working “to promote responsible dog ownership.”*1 Yet with all its emphasis on proper dog and puppy care, in recent years the AKC has opposed the majority of initiatives designed to prevent cruelty at large-scale breeding facilities known as puppy mills. In contrast to its vague public statements condemning substandard kennels, over the past 5 years the AKC has opposed more than 80 different bills and ordinances designed to require …

Forensic Disciplines For Objective Global Strategic Analysis, Dale H. Shao, Lawrence P. Shao, Ralph E. Mckinney Jr.

Management Faculty Research

The global nature of investing requires a thorough analysis of the firm to determine the strategic viability of the firm for investment purposes. In addition, businesses are being held more accountable for the statements they make and the actions they take concerning their business. Several forensic disciplines have recently emerged that may supply subjective and objective data that can assist investors in making their final investment decisions and determining if ongoing businesses are truly doing what is in the best interest of their shareholders. Another factor influencing the increase forensic analyses of national and multinational corporations is the increase in …

Paying The Irs Whistleblower: A Critical Analysis Of Collected Proceeds, Karie Davis-Nozemack, Sarah J. Webber

Accounting Faculty Publications

Congressional changes to the IRS Whistleblower Program were intended to induce more participation in the program by allowing larger incentives and greater certainty that whistleblowers would be paid. Since the Program was amended, tax whistleblower tips have increased 76 percent1 and revenue collected due to whistleblowers has increased 79 percent.2 Despite a rise in tips and revenue collected, whistleblower payments have not increased. In fact, the number of tax whistleblower awards paid has decreased 44 percent.3 We hypothesize that this trend is due to the administration of the program but also to the interpretation of “collected proceeds.” Collected proceeds are …

Consuming Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Tests: The Role Of Genetic Literacy And Knowledge Calibration, Yvette E. Pearson, Yuping Liu-Thompkins

Philosophy Faculty Publications

As direct-to-consumer marketing of medical genetic tests grows in popularity, there is an increasing need to better understand the ethical and public policy implications of such products. The complexity of genetic tests raises serious concerns about whether consumers possess the knowledge to make sound decisions about their use. This research examines the effects of educational intervention and feedback on consumers' genetic literacy and calibration -- the gap between consumers' actual knowledge and how much they think they know. The authors find that consumers' genetic knowledge was generally low and that people tended to underestimate their knowledge level. Furthermore, consumers' perceived …

Business Faculty Notes

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Forward: 2013 Revisions To The Tennessee Business Corporations Act, Joan Macleod Heminway

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Determining The Proper Standard For Invalidating Arbitration Agreements Based On High Prohibitive Costs: A Discussion On The Varying Applications Of The Case-By-Case Rule, Richard A. Bales, Mark B. Gerano

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

Arbitration is a common means of resolving commercial disputes. Although arbitration is an attractive alternative to litigation, arbitration can be disadvantageous to a potential plaintiff because of high costs. The United States Supreme Court endorsed a “liberal … policy favoring arbitration agreements” whenever possible. However, a party is often at a disadvantage upon signing an arbitration agreement when little understanding of the agreement’s cost implications exist. Such scenarios can arise when negotiating adhesion contracts or employee handbook agreements, and when they do arise, the question of whether an agreement can be invalidated because of its cost implications must be answered …

In Search Of A Unique Identity: The L3c As A Socially Recognized Brand, Tanya M. Marcum, Eden S. Blair

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

The driving force for the decision to organize a new business venture as a limited liability company (“LLC”) is typically the desire to achieve favorable pass-through income tax treatment, while simultaneously enjoying the protection of limited liability for its owners. As noted by one court, “[t]he allure of the limited liability company is its unique ability to bring together in a single business organization the best features of all other business forms—properly structured, its owners obtain both a corporate-style liability shield and the pass-through tax benefits of a partnership.”

During the twenty-year period between 1977 and 1997, the legal and …