Corporate Guidance Research Articles

Engagement or divorce: the regulation of multinational corporations operating in crisis states

The role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in states where there are gross human rights violations is much debated. This article will explore the notion of regulating foreign investment in a crisis state. The article will investigate the notion of constructive engagement in crisis states as an alternative to divestment. It will argue that divestment is not necessarily the optimal way to combat gross human rights violations. Constructive engagement can have a positive impact on the people of the crisis state; however, there needs to be better guidance for engagement. The article will propose the introduction of a new set of regulatory norms for MNCs operating in crisis states by considering past and current mechanisms for regulation and assessing their impact on both the corporation and the crisis state. It will use this analysis to suggest a regulatory method and to argue that further guidance for corporations investing in crisis states could be beneficial not just to the corporation, but also as a tool for combating human rights abuse.

Proprietary Costs and Other Determinants of Nonfinancial Disclosures*

Nonfinancial disclosure of product-related information and business expansion occur more frequently than corporate earnings guidance and trigger positive three-day abnormal stock price returns of 30-60 basis points on average. Consistent with Verrecchia (1983), nonfinancial disclosures occur less frequently but with a stronger good news bias when proprietary costs are high. In addition, although I find some commonality in the determinants of corporate guidance and nonfinancial disclosures, I find substantial differences between guidance and nonfinancial disclosures in the relation with institutional ownership, research and development, capital expenditures, and earnings volatility. Overall, my paper provides large sample evidence on the stock price consequences of an important but previously unexamined type of firm communication, on the role of proprietary costs in disclosure, and on the differences in the determinants of nonfinancial disclosure relative to guidance.

Exploring and explaining low participation in physical activity among children and young people with asthma: a review

BackgroundAsthma is the most common chronic illness among children and accounts for 1 in 5 of all child GP consultations. This paper reviews and discusses recent literature outlining the growing problem of physical inactivity among young people with asthma and explores the psychosocial dimensions that may explain inactivity levels and potentially relevant interventions and strategies, and the principles that should underpin them.MethodsA narrative review based on an extensive and documented search of search of CinAHL, Embase, Medline, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Library.Results & DiscussionChildren and young people with asthma are generally less active than their non-asthmatic peers. Reduced participation may be influenced by organisational policies, family illness beliefs and behaviours, health care advice, and inaccurate symptom perception and attribution. Schools can be reluctant to encourage children to take part in physical education or normal play activity due to misunderstanding and a lack of clear corporate guidance. Families may accept a child's low level of activity if it is perceived that breathlessness or the need to take extra inhalers is harmful. Many young people themselves appear to accept sub-optimal control of symptoms and frequently misinterpret healthy shortness of breath on exercising with the symptoms of an impending asthma attack.ConclusionA multi-faceted approach is needed to translate the rhetoric of increasing activity levels in young people to the reality of improved fitness. Physical activity leading to improved fitness should become part of a goal orientated management strategy by schools, families, health care professionals and individuals. Exercise induced asthma should be regarded as a marker of poor control and a need to increase fitness rather as an excuse for inactivity. Individuals' perceptual accuracy deserves further research attention.

わが国の職域における肝炎ウイルス検査の実施方法，結果の保管方法および産業医の考え方

In Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare issued corporate guidance that employers should recommend their employees to have tests for hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus (HV) at least once in their lifetime. However, employers should treat this information as confidential, even though the testing is carried out along with the health examination designated by the Industrial Safety and Health Law. Therefore, the records of HV tests should not be kept by employers, even though records of medical examinations designated by the law must be. This study aimed to clarify the present method for keeping records of HV infection and the rationale in Japanese workplaces. Questionnaires about viral hepatitis were sent to 118 occupational health physicians, and 81 physicians from 100 workplaces responded. The HV test for employees was conducted in 58 workplaces (75.8% of large, 60.4% of bigger medium-sized and 16.7% of smaller medium-sized enterprises). These workplaces were the types of industries where the risk of infecting other persons was low. Subjects of the HV tests were workers who were suspected to have hepatitis virus, and workers who were applicants. Occupational health physicians from most workplaces answered that records of medical examinations designated by law and records of HV tests were not kept separately and shouldn't be. The opinion that the two types of records should not be kept separately appeared to be more from the workplaces where employers or health insurance covered the cost of the HV test. In these cases, the purpose of conducting HV tests at the workplaces was thought to be both promoting welfare of employees and occupational considerations for workers. Occupational health physicians from about 60% of workplaces had misgivings about employees who had hepatitis virus being discriminated against at the workplace if the HV test was included with the required medical examination. Among occupational health physicians from workplaces where occupational health professionals were in charge of the records, there was no standardized rationale for keeping records. However, most workplaces took into consideration the workers' privacy by getting employees' consent before divulging information to their employers. This relied not only on the occupational health professional's or health/safety officer's ethics, but also the necessity of reviewing the purpose and methods of keeping records of HV testing of employees, based on official notices or the Act on the Protection of Personal Information.

The role of perceived risk in pricing strategy for industrial products: a point‐of‐view perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this research paper is to examine the role corporate and individual risk (from the point of view of the pricing manager) plays in developing pricing strategies.Design/methodology/approachManagerial professionals in two graduate business programs were used to assess riskiness associated with pricing strategies. Grounded in attribution theory, t‐tests were used to compare the different types of risk associated with the various pricing strategies.FindingsThe findings suggest that pricing managers will view risk from different perspectives (i.e. corporate and individual) and that this “point of view” should have an impact on the pricing strategies selected.Research limitations/implicationsResearch limitations include the use of graduate students in lieu of actual pricing managers. However, this research is a first step in examining the different perspectives of risk that may be taken by managers.Practical implicationsPricing managers and organizations alike should be made aware of how a point‐of‐view perspective regarding risk can have a significant impact on selecting pricing strategies. The results of the study could provide guidance for corporations so that they can make sure pricing managers have the “correct” point of view regarding the riskiness of pricing strategies.Originality/valueThe research is the first to identify and examine the different risk perspectives. This provides value for academic research because it is the first in the area of risk regarding the different perspectives.

Change Management Controls Compliance With The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Of 2002: An Example From Practice

Publicly held firms and the assurance services industry are currently struggling with the implementation of standards set forth in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). How to meet and assess SOX standards is considered by professionals to be uncharted territory. This study reports the details of an actual SOX audit. An international computer component manufacturing corporation engaged information system auditors from a Big 4 firm to determine whether change management procedures in two areas in their Finance Department were compliant with SOX. Audit results indicated internal control deficiencies in the two areas audited. SOX compliance was thus determined to be weak and unreliable. In addition to reporting audit procedures actually used in practice to test SOX compliance, this case study presents key change management control procedures firms must have in place to be SOX compliant. We provide helpful practical guidance for corporations and audit firms involved with SOX compliance audits. In addition, this study has value for corporate internal control training sessions as well as general applicability for accounting information systems (AIS) and management information systems (MIS) courses.

Excellence in Canada: Healthy Organizations ? Achieve Results by Acting Responsibly

There is much public focus in North America today on issues of corporate governance and ethics due mainly to the malpractice of several high profile corporate leaders and the negative impact of this on their corporation's stakeholders, employees and communities. This has caused a crisis of trust in the public and lead to much discussion on ways to prevent such unethical behavior by adopting new approaches through legislation and the structure of corporations. This article is not about introducing a new approach to corporate ethics and governance as there is much change already taking place. The National Quality Institute (NQI) in Canada offers a demonstrated and proven way, through the application of the Excellence Frameworks, of providing for good corporate guidance and ethical leadership practices. Organizations, which adopt a strategic focus on Excellence, attain great results and become healthy organizations, as their leaders understand the dynamic relationship and the balance that exists between “employees, customers, and stakeholders”. These organizations build trust by acting responsibly. NQI works with many organizations in Canada that have a strategic leadership focus on organizational excellence utilizing the criteria in the NQI Canadian Excellence Frameworks for Quality and for Healthy Workplace. Organizations that take an integrated approach to Excellence also perform well in such areas as corporate social responsibility, employee health and customer satisfaction. This article has specific references to three organizations that have achieved Canada's prime recognition the Canada Awards for Excellence (CAE).