Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons^™

Social Entrepreneurship In Singapore (German Version), Wee Liang Tan, Teck Meng Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.

Sampling Concepts, Paul Boyd, Ph.D.

MBA Faculty Conference Papers & Journal Articles

The usefulness of any research is dependent upon how well the group studied represents the group about which decisions are to be made or conclusions drawn. That is, it depends upon how well the sample reflects relevant characteristics of the population. When it is possible to study every member of that group there is no problem, for on these occasions we can easily calculate the exact attribute (parameter) of interest for our population.

For example, if we were interested in determining the average number of gallons of gasoline sold to customers at our service station yesterday, we …

Proposal For A Centralized And Integrated Registry For Security Interests In Intellectual Property, William J. Murphy

Law Faculty Scholarship

As the world economy enters the twenty-first century, job and wealth creation is increasingly based on innovation and creativity that, in turn, can give rise to important intellectual property rights. For many companies and individuals these intellectual property rights may represent their most valuable assets, or in some cases, their only valuable assets. As a result, intellectual property rights increasingly play a critical the role in financing.

Unlocking the job and wealth creating potential of intellectual property assets requires putting these assets into use, and that often requires a capital investment. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs and innovators lack the capital necessary …

The Meaning Of Property Rights: Law Versus Economics? , Daniel H. Cole, Peter Z. Grossman

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Property rights are fundamentals to economic analysis. There is, however, no consensus in the economic literature about what property rights are. Economists define them variously and inconsistently, sometimes in ways that deviate from the conventional understandings of legal scholars and judges. This article explores ways in which definitions of property rights in the economic literature diverge from conventional legal understandings, and how those divergences can create interdisciplinary confusion and bias economic analyses. Indeed, some economists' idiosyncratic definitions of property rights, if used to guide policy, could lead to suboptimal economic outcomes.

Adequacy Of The 1995 Antitrust Guidelines For The Licensing Of Intellectual Property In Complex High Tech Markets, Clovia Hamilton

Winthrop Faculty and Staff Publications

In 1995, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission adopted new guidelines for those wishing to license intellectual property rights without violating antitrust laws. Designed to provide clarity, these guidelines instead breed confusion because they misunderstand the nature of intellectual property markets and provide insufficient guidance in the most difficult areas. Section I of this article will discuss the basic provisions of the guidelines, especially their treatment of "innovation markets." It argues that government enforcers should focus primarily on activity that creates entry barriers. Understanding the use and misuse of licensing is the key to analyzing barriers in …

Health Care Organization Managers Beware-Understand Your Ethical Constraints, Ashish Chandra, Andrew Sikula Sr.

Management Faculty Research

Review of the book Business Ethics in Healthcare: Beyond Compliance.(2001). Leonard J. Weber. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 196 pp.

Academic Freedom In Times Of Turmoil, Petr Kolar

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University November 5, 2001.

Audit Committee Effectiveness: A Synthesis Of The Empirical Audit Committee Literature, F. Todd Dezoort, Dana R. Hermanson, Deborah S. Archambeault, Scott A. Reed

Accounting Faculty Publications

The empirical audit committee literature is both diverse and expansive, with rapid growth in recent years based on increased concerns about corporate governance and the quality of financial reporting. Our objective in this paper is to synthesize empirical literature on audit committee effectiveness to guide future thinking and research on audit committees. To organize our review, we focus on four components that we believe contribute to audit committee effectiveness (ACE) - audit committee composition, authority, resources, and diligence.

There Is Nothing More Diverse Than "New", Frederick A. Miller, Roger Gans

Communication Faculty Publications - Archive

In the organizational competition for talent, successful retention of newly recruited workers is at least as important as the initial hire. Still, many organizations fail to establish a sense of inclusion for new people in much the same way they often fail to create a sense of inclusion for people of color, women, people with foreign accents, or anyone with obvious differences from the “traditional group.” In most organizations, even those that have embarked on “diversity initiatives,” newly hired people often do not feel welcomed. Consequently, turnover rates in the first two years of employment are seven times greater than …

Ethnic Entrepreneurship: Do Values Matter?, Mike Morris, Minet Schindehutte, Jack Lesser

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

While considerable attention has been devoted to the personality traits of entrepreneurs, less attention has been given to their values, especially outside of a Western context. Values are instrumental in the decision to pursue entrepreneurship, and have implications for the entrepreneur’s approach to creating and managing the venture. The role of values would seem especially relevant in the context of ethnic subcultures. Values traditionally associated with entrepreneurship, such as risk, individualism, competitiveness, wealth generation, and growth, may be more consistent with Western cultures, and may conflict with closely held values within various ethnic subcultures the world over. This article examines …

Center For Professional Ethics, Volume 3, Issue 2, [2002], Case Western Reserve University

Center for Professional Ethics

Table of Contents:

• Continuing the Discussion: September 11, 2001
• The "9/11" Forums
• Director's Corner: Looking Outward by Robert P. Lawry
• Drama Discussion: Teaching Ethics Through Theater by Dariene Rebello Rao and Marvin Rosenberg
• Volume 3, Number 2: News, Notes, and Future Events

The New Basel Capital Accord: Making It Effective With Stronger Market Discipline, Harald Benink, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

In January 2001 the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision proposed a new capital adequacy framework to respond to deficiencies in the 1988 Capital Accord on credit risk. The main elements or ‘pillars’ of the proposal are capital requirements based on the internal risk-ratings of individual banks, expanded and active supervision, and information disclosure requirements to enhance market discipline. We discuss the incentive effects of the proposed regulation. In particular, we argue that it provides incentives for banks to develop new ways to evade the intended consequences of the proposed regulation. Supervision alone cannot prevent banks from ‘gaming and manipulation’ of …

Toward A Total-Cost Approach To Environmental Instrument Choice, Daniel H. Cole, Peter Z. Grossman

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Much of the theoretical literature on environmental instrument reflects a normative presumption that only "economic" instruments, such as effluent taxes or tradable quotas, can produce an efficient outcome. Other potential alternatives, such as non-tradable quotas or more general Pigovian taxes are ruled out as inherently inefficient. Moreover, most of the literature relies on an important but unwarranted presumption: that cost and benefit functions, although they may be subject to uncertainty, are identical regardless of the regime that is chosen; that is price and quota systems are assumed to face the same cost and benefit curves with the same expected values. …

The Bite Could Be Out Of Noncompete Clauses, Porcher L. Taylor Iii

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

While Virginia is generally a pro-business state, the courts do not favor employee noncompete agreements because they are restraints of trade.

Government Must Make Consequences Clear, Porcher L. Taylor Iii

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

With false-profits mania reigning supreme on Wall Street, Congress needs to establish an academy of corporate responsibility and integrity under the Securities and Exchange Commission. This executive training center would have as students the chief executives and financial officers and boards of directors of the nation’s publicly held companies. Senior partners at accounting companies need to be included in this back-to-school group, too. The enforcement-savvy teachers for this two-week academy would be lawyers and accountants from the commission and Justice Department.

Taking Your Values Shopping: Conversations About Values And Fulfilment: Dialogue And Engagement With Customer Stakeholders In The Body Shop, Western Australia, Patricia Morrigan, Megan Paull

Research outputs pre 2011

The specific contribution to this field of study is about customer 'engagement', their values and fulfilment. In this research we wanted to have a conversation with customers of The Body Shop Australia (TBS) about taking their values shopping. We found that TBS customers were remarkably clear and passionate about their own personal values and had no trouble expressing them in a conversation with us. Customer stakeholders in this research expressed values that were 'postmaterialist', concerned with the environmentally human choice and self -expression, gave importance to belonging among family and friends and showed a marked lack of trust in global …

Cash Flow Statement : An Empirical Study Of Voluntary Disclosure Practices Of Malaysian Companies, K. Ranchethamalar K.

Student Works (2000-2009)

Cash flow is a critical business solvency measure. The mandatory disclosures on cash flow statements do not provide all the necessary information to evaluate an entity's performance, liquidity and solvency. No prior studies so far, have thoroughly discussed the merits of providing additional information and relating it to firm specific variables. This study has two purposes. The first purpose is to provide empirical evidence on direct and indirect method of presenting operating cash flows. The second part of the study provides empirical evidence on the voluntary disclosure practices of Malaysian companies as encouraged by MASS 5 and relating it to …

Firm Characteristics And Environmental Disclosure Practices : An Empirical Investigation Of Malaysian Public Listed Companies, Harjeet Kaur

Student Works (2000-2009)

Environment information needs to be disclosed if the information is relevant to the decision making process. The majority of the information was reported on voluntary basis, as there were no accounting standard to guide companies in reporting this information. This study investigates the firms characteristics and environmental disclosure practices of the public listed companies. Environmental information in the annual report is measured using content analysis based on quality and quantity and type of environmental information reported. This comprehensive measurement scheme is used in order to get a complete picture of the environmental information as reported in annual reports. The results …

An Empirical Investigation Of The Relationship Between Audit Committee Effectiveness And Internal Auditors' Professional Objectivity : A Focus On Financial Institutions In Malaysia, Panir Selvam Kannan

Student Works (2000-2009)

This study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between audit committee effectiveness and professional objectivity of internal auditors in the Malaysian banking industry. There was no prior study done on this relationship. Although many studies had been done on the audit committee effectiveness in Malaysia and on the internal auditor's objectivity in overseas, no study is yet to be done on the relationship between an effective audit committee and the professional objectivity of internal auditors. Therefore, this study fills such gap. Many official organizations and bodies internationally as well as in Malaysia have proposed an important role for audit committee …

Toward A New Theory Of The Shareholder Role: A Sacred Space In Corporate Transactions, Robert B. Thompson, D. Gordon Smith

Faculty Scholarship

Corporate law expresses a profound ambiguity toward the role of shareholders. Courts announce that shareholders are critical to the theory that legitimates the exercise of power - by directors and officers over vast aggregations of property that they do not own. At the same time shareholders have a very difficult time actually making any corporate decisions. In this Article, we strive to define a new role for shareholders by drawing on economic theories of the firm and the structure of corporate law. More particularly we examine the role of shareholders in hostile corporate takeovers, the area where the interests of …

Teaching Students How To Become In-House Counsel, Christian C. Day

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

When Hope Unblooms: Chance And Moral Luck In The Fiction Of Thomas Hardy, Jil Larson

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Paper presented at the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society at Western Michigan University, September 20, 2001.

Why Can't We Wait (To Spend) And The Law Of Unintended Consequences: Potential Negative Impact On Minority Employees From Well-Intentioned Organizational Compensation Practices, James R. Jones

Marketing and Management Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

In this time of increasing uncertainty about business viability and stability, many organizations are looking to gain control of their "bottom line" by strengthening the link between organizational outcomes and employee rewards. Long gone are the days of steadily and automatically increasing worker salaries as a hoped-for method of expanding productivity. Indeed, there is a school of thought that suggests that automatic pay increases act as a "demotivator" for many individuals. The more common approach currently is to utilize incentives (i.e., additional compensation/rewards given for performance beyond normal expectations) as a way of enhancing employee work motivation, thereby leading to …

Center For Professional Ethics, Volume 3, Issue 1, [2001], Case Western Reserve University

Center for Professional Ethics

Table of Contents:

• Helping Others to Help Yourself: The Value of Community Service
• Director's Corner: One Tough Guy by Robert P. Lawry
• We Do! We Can't? A Discussion of Same Sex Marriage
• Tom Anderson, Ethics Fellow: Teacher for All Seasons
• Volume 3, Number 1: News, Notes, and Future Events

Lies, Damn Lies, And Misleading Advertising: The Role Of Consumer Surveys In The Wake Of Mead Johnson V. Abbott Labs, Thomas W. Edman

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Alternative Corporate Governance Systems In Japanese Firms: Implications For A Shift To Stockholder-Centered Corporate Governance, Toru Yoshikawa, Phillip H. Phan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In Asia, the recent catastrophic decline in regional stock markets, continuing currency crisis and failures of major financial institutions and industrial corporations have increased domestic and international interest in corporate governance. Nowhere is this greater than in Japan where financial institution reform has catapulted this to the fore. Agency theory and institutional theory, together with comparative case examples, are used in a study to derive some propositions on the dynamics of changing corporate governance systems in Japanese firms. The study argues for the co-existence of stakeholder and shareholder-centered corporate governance systems in Japan. This argument has an important implication for …

The Search For Middle Ground: Towards A Harmonized Interpretation Of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act's New Pleading Standard, Ann Morales Olazábal

Business Law Articles and Papers

Amid much hue and cry, in 1995, Congress passed the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act ("PSLRA," "Reform Act," or "the Act"). The battle over reform had been waged for years. Proponents of the Act promised to put an end to vexatious strike suits and thus reduce the cost of capital formation; critics countered that the proposed law would eliminate all but the most egregious securities fraud suits, thereby shielding corporate wrongdoers and depriving deserving plaintiffs of their day in court. The bill had its checkered history in legislative committee, and, ultimately, the PSLRA was enacted over President Clinton's veto on …

The Ethics Of Making The Body Beautiful: Lessons From Cosmetic Surgery For A Future Of Cosmetic Genetics, Sara Goering

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

This piece was originally published in the Philosophy and Public Policy Quarterly, Spring 2001 issue (from the Maryland Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy).

Top 10 Audit Deficiencies, Mark S. Beasley, Joseph V. Carcello, Dana R. Hermanson

Faculty Articles

The article focuses on financial statement fraud based on cases wherein the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sanctioned auditors for their association with fraudulent financial statements. All of the cases involved public companies, most of which engaged ill fraudulent financial reporting. Only a few engaged in misappropriation of assets or defalcation. The most common problem, alleged in 90% of the cases, was the auditor's failure to gather sufficient evidence. In some instances, this failure was pervasive throughout the engagement while in other instances the allegations were more specific. For example, many of the cases involved inadequate evidence in the areas …

Local Television Journalism: Developing Ethics Through Discussion, Chris W. Allen, Jeremy Harris Lipschultz, Michael L. Hilt

Communication Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to examine the views of local television news producers about ethical policies and situations they face. A majority of respondents agreed that it was important for a television newsroom to have a code of ethics or discussion of ethics in the newsroom. Most often producers perceived that their newsrooms were involved in discussions of fairness, balance, and objectivity; allocating air-time to opposing interest groups or political candidates; and, providing right of reply to criticism. Producers support a written code of ethics, or occasional discussion of ethics in the television newsroom, but see the competitive …