Contemporary Corporation Research Articles

Should business have ‘a sense of morality’?: Company director views on corporate engagement with socio-political issues

Increasingly, companies are expected to engage with, or be responsive to, their publics to achieve social acceptance or to be perceived as legitimate. The expectation manifests, in part, through beliefs that companies should engage with socio-political issues. This important component of public relations practice is examined through a qualitative analysis of interviews undertaken with 23 experienced Australian company directors. The empirical research identifies and explores a tension between the contemporary corporation as an amoral agent while also increasingly responsive to pressures introduced by external expectations, reflected in growing attention to the concept of social licence to operate. When resolving to engage with socio-political issues, directors were predominantly motivated by the company’s best interests and ‘good business’. This necessitated identifying issues relevant to key stakeholders and issues that tied to corporate purpose, identity or knowledge. However, some evidence is apparent of director willingness to engage with issues not directly related to core business or corporate purpose. This may reflect support for an enhanced social licence to operate or even in pursuit of wider societal legitimacy-building, pointing the way to potential future increases in corporate social engagement.

When Corporations Cause Harm: A Critical View of Corporate Social Irresponsibility and Corporate Crimes

Corporations perform actions that can inflict harm with different levels of intensity, from death to material loss, to both companies’ internal and external stakeholders. Research has analysed corporate harm using the notions of corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) and corporate crime. Critical management studies (CMS) have been subjecting management and organizational practices and knowledge to critical analysis, and corporate harm has been one of the main concerns of CMS. However, CMS has rarely been deployed to analyse CSIR and corporate crime. Thus, the aim of this paper is to critically analyse the perspectives of CSIR and corporate crimes on corporate harm via CMS in general and postcolonial studies in particular. The paper contributes by arguing that research on CSIR and corporate crime could be perceived as producing research that does not challenge the essence of contemporary corporation profit-seeking activities that ultimately produces corporate harm. We argue that CSIR and corporate crime are ideologies that assist in disguising the contradiction between producing shareholder value and the social good that is at the heart of the modern corporation system and the current economic system. Furthermore, the postcolonial view of CSIR and corporate crime highlights how they are based on a Western-centric view of corporate harm that ignores the realities and perspectives of the Global South, especially in situations where corporate harm leads to death in the Global South.

INNOVATION AND ITS IMPORTANCE FOR CORPORATIONS

The management of a contemporary corporation requires taking into account the innovativeness in the operation of the enterprise and in his surroundings. Innovation is now recognized as a basic factor leading to the development of enterprises, because it is the source of success of many companies operating on the market. Innovations are now perceived by corporations as an indispensable element of their development and become an important goal of their strategy. This study is a review of the literature, the purpose of which is to provide the reader with knowledge that allows a better understanding of the importance of innovation at every stage of the life cycle of modern corporations as well as answering the question of what the effective implementation of innovation depends on. The article explains the concept of innovation and innovation.

DOES HEADQUARTER STRUCTURE FOLLOW CORPORATE STRATEGY? AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF CHANGES IN THE SIZE OF CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

Despite the importance that scholars and practicing managers attribute to the organizational design of the corporate headquarters (CHQ), research on changes in CHQ size is lacking. In an attempt to empirically explore the antecedents and potential consequences of such changes, I draw on the contingency and organizational-adaptation perspectives to develop a set of hypotheses for the relationships between corporate-level strategic change (CSC) – defined as changes in the firm’s business portfolio –, changes in the size of the CHQ and firm performance. To test the hypotheses, I analyse data from a comprehensive survey of large public firms in Europe and the US, and data from public sources pertaining to the surveyed firms. While the empirical results lend support to the hypothesized role of CSC, they also reveal differences between related CSC and unrelated CSC. However, I find no support for the expected performance implications. The study contributes to research on the CHQ, corporate-level strategic change, and the relationship between strategy and structure in the contemporary corporation. The findings also inform corporate managers and those involved in advising firms, such as strategy consultants.

Ключевые аспекты устойчивого развития современной корпорации и подходы к их определению

Ключевые аспекты устойчивого развития современной корпорации и подходы к их определению

Corporate Taxation, Corporate Power, and Corporate Harm

AbstractGlobalisation has increased corporate tax competition amongst states and facilitated widespread corporate tax avoidance. Some of the largest businesses now pay little or no tax: in some cases with the active assistance of governments. This article examines contemporary corporation tax policies, outlines some of the key methods corporations use to minimise their tax liabilities, explores the interdependencies between the demand for reduced tax liabilities and the professional infrastructure of tax planning and avoidance, and examines how the contemporary political economy of corporate taxation enhances the bargaining power of transnational corporations in the implementation of tax policy.

The Corporate Headquarters in the Contemporary Corporation: Advancing a Multimarket Firm Perspective

AbstractThe corporate headquarters (CHQ) is the central organizational unit in the contemporary corporation and is critical for value creation in the overall firm. Since the early 1960s, a signific...

The Corporate Headquarters in the Contemporary Corporation: Advancing a Multimarket Firm Perspective

The corporate headquarters (CHQ) is the central organizational unit in the contemporary corporation and is critical for value creation in the overall firm. Since the early 1960s, a significant body of research on the CHQ has evolved along two separate but related streams. The first stream focuses on the CHQ in the multibusiness firm, whereas the second stream concerns the CHQ in the multinational firm. In this article, we promote a consistent multimarket firm perspective that draws on research in both streams. First, we describe the origins and evolution of CHQ research in each stream and articulate the benefits of a multimarket firm perspective. Second, we integrate the conversations found in the two streams into a schematic framework, review the studies' findings, and establish a shared language. We also propose ways in which scholars in each stream might enrich their work by incorporating some of the theories, methods, and findings of the other stream. Third, we discuss four fundamental inquiries for future research that draw upon the cumulative CHQ research in both streams. Overall, this article informs the study of the CHQ and, thereby, contributes to our understanding of the contemporary corporation.

The Corporate Headquarters in the Contemporary Corporation: What do we know and what should we know about it?

The panel symposium turns spotlight on the corporate headquarters (CHQ), which is the contemporary corporation’s central organizational unit. Knowledge about the CHQ is critical to understand the functioning and governance of modern organizations. The starting point of the symposium is a comprehensive review of the existing knowledge about the corporate headquarters, which is published in the 2015 volume of the Academy of Management Annals (cf. Menz, Kunisch, & Collis, 2015). In the article, we draw on the multibusiness firm and multinational firm literatures to advance a multimarket firm perspective on the CHQ. Based on this integrative perspective, we identify several fundamental inquiries for future research. To discuss these inquiries, we invited distinguished scholars to the panel symposium. We hope that the symposium provides scholars across multiple AOM divisions with ideas and guidance for their future research.

Too Much is Too Much! Antecedents and Consequences of Change in the Size of Corporate Headquarters

This study explores structural change at the corporate headquarters (CHQ) of the contemporary corporation. Data from a large-scale survey and public sources reveal a counterintuitive finding: While changes in the related elements of the business portfolio encourage change in the CHQ size, the two corporate-level changes combined result in negative firm performance when the level of the changes in the related business portfolio is high. The finding exposes the disruptive nature of high levels of corporate strategic change. The study contributes to research on the CHQ, and corporate strategic change.

Predicting what you'll do tomorrow: Panspectric surveillance and the contemporary corporation

In an economy of rapidly mutating consumer preferences, new forms of surveillance have been developed within contemporary business. Increasingly, so-called “panspectric” techniques of predicting consumption choices, and tracking the shifting customer desires, are proving crucial for corporations trying to compete on the market place. Using the Deleuzian concepts of “assemblage” and “societies of control” as a point of departure, this paper explores how a new societal “diagram” is currently actualised in the marketing practices of contemporary corporations. This diagram emerges as the result of the concatenation of technological architectures (increased digital logging of everyday behaviours and data mining) and new perspectives on the human constitution; perspectives that dovetail nicely with contemporary social theory. Thus, social scientists are already complicit in the emergence of new modes of marketing-cum-surveillance.

Conjectures on systemic psychopathy: reframing the contemporary corporation

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how and why the emerging literature in clinical psychology on the “successful psychopath” precedes the escalating middle class framing of the contemporary corporation as a monster and points towards an increasingly credible version of systemic psychopathy.Design/methodology/approachDiscourse analysis is used to isolate three distinct but interrelated argument forms in which the basic assertion is that “the corporation is a psychopath”. All three argument forms insist that the corporation lacks a conscience and point to a toxic schism on the boundary between the organization and its stakeholders or publics.FindingsIn Argument Form I, successful psychopaths enter and rise to prominence in the flexible, hypercompetitive context of the contemporary corporation. Once ensconced within the corporation, in Argument Form II, the psychopath creates the conditions for a scam which, when detected, gives rise to a flurry of breathless and very public corporate scandals. Argument Form III follows from II. In it the rogues and scoundrels – those increasingly caught in the high beams of a corporate scandal – once in positions of power and authority seek out allies, stifle those who would oppose them and begin to legitimize their scams as “business as usual.” Systemic psychopathy emerges when the appeal to “business as usual” conceals scams and supports conscienceless behavior.Originality/valueThis paper explains why increasingly, members of the middle class, those who in the past stood behind the corporation, are less than shocked to hear it characterized as a psychopath. The paper concludes with the implications of the intensifying portrayal of the dark side of the corporation for researchers studying the changing relationship between society and business.

Organizational Forms and Methods of the Corporative Education

Resources invested by successful companies all over the world rise year after year. According to statistics, costs for corporative education in USA raised 5% per year. All employed persons are obliged to spend some time in professional improvement. Somewhere it lasts a week, and elsewhere several weeks. Looking for educational perspectives requests thoughtful changes that have been occurring during the work as well as proper choice of the most convenient forms and methods of education. There are more and more analysts considering science and education to become crucial for contemporary corporation articulation. Having in mind some evaluations, even 60% of present jobs will disappear in a few years, and about 50% of employed personnel will be engaged in information. Accepting education as an activity shows very serious problem of making choices relating the correct form and method as well as optimal time for their implementation. Commonly, many resources offer positive opinion on all methods: oral teaching, presentation, role models, laboratory and practical work, texts, graphics, case studies, etc. Formulation of educational goals is what is relevant. A specific method, showing itself as the best for some case could be completely inadequate in others. Method should be determined by specific goals. All methods have some merits and dismerits and the way they could be applied depends on concrete circumstances and purposes.

The Responsibility Paradox: Multinational Firms and Global Corporate Social Responsibility

This paper examines the impact of multinational firms’ increasingly blurred geographical and institutional boundaries on the nature and definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It begins with a brief history of CSR, describes changes in the global corporation and the pressures impinging on it over the past 25 years, and analyzes the resulting mismatch between the contemporary corporation and traditional concepts of CSR. It then dissects some of the issues raised by this new concept of CSR, and speculates on future trajectories for CSR in multinational corporations as globalization continues to exert pressure for convergence of national standards into a more universal definition of Global CSR.

Normative Management as a Comprehensive Framework of Contemporary Corporation

Normative Management as a Comprehensive Framework of Contemporary Corporation

Investor Rights in Central Security Depository Systems - Comments on the Triangle Issuer - Intermediary - Shareholder

This paper shows that current corporate and securities law requires issuers, depository banks and shareholders to interact in order to enable the exercise of shareholder rights. Modern corporate law must be interpreted as three-party, rather than two-party relationship. Accepting the triangle of issuer, intermediary/ies and shareholder is indispensable for the adequate understanding of issues and problems related to shareholder rights in the contemporary public corporation. The paper describes the situation under the current German law and addresses recent reform steps. The paper concludes with an outlook on the harmonization in Europe through the forthcoming European shareholder rights directive.

Shareholders as Principals

Academic writing about corporate law often characterizes directors as the of shareholders. This characterization carries substantive consequences for the relative and residual powers of shareholders and directors. In particular, a principal in a relationship of common-law agency has power to give binding instructions to the agent, even when the principal has previously agreed not to do so. This paper examines the shareholder-director relationship in the context of contemporary corporation statutes, focusing on the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In all three countries - and most strongly so in the United States - it is not accurate to characterize directors in most instances as the agents of shareholders. The paper explores the implications of this point for the current and controversial question whether shareholders have power to instruct directors to redeem a poison pill by adopting a bylaw. The paper examines this question from a comparative perspective by contrasting Delaware cases dealing with defenses to hostile take-overs with regulation in the United Kingdom.

Challenges in collaborative writing in the contemporary corporation

Collaborative writing is pervasive in the contemporary corporate workplace. North American research reports that nine out of ten business professionals produce some of their documents as part of a team. As workplace writers seek to meet the business goals of their employers, and further their own careers, they require sophisticated skills in joining with other writers to collaboratively produce documents. Taking advantage of the benefits, and meeting the challenges of this demand, requires corporate and academic communities to collaborate: to address gaps in the knowledge about collaborative writing and to train and develop competent collaborative writers.

Refining Our Understanding of Hypercompetition and Hyperturbulence

The lead “Crossroads” essay by Kenneth Aupperle presents a strong case for the relevance of an ancient Greek story for the “new realities” faced by present-day organizations. Aupperle's story of the story of the “March Up Country” is intended to highlight the historical parallels of this remarkable event with current “hypercompetitive” conditions. He identifies some of the critical factors that contributed to the Greek army's successful organizational “reconfiguration” under the “hypercompetitive conditions” of war. Basically, his argument is that, by analogy, Hellenian culture, “was to individual city-states as a contemporary corporation is to its separate departments and strategic business units,” and that the episode offers useful insights into some of the critical ingredients necessary for meeting the challenges of current organizational conditions and circumstances.

OWNERSHIP, CONTROL, AND THE CONTEMPORARY CORPORATION: A REPLY

OWNERSHIP, CONTROL, AND THE CONTEMPORARY CORPORATION: A REPLY