Corporate Participation Research Articles

COTAS SEM DIREITO DE VOTO NA SOCIEDADE LIMITADA: PANORAMA BRASILEIRO E NORTE-AMERICANO

A sociedade limitada é o tipo societário mais comum no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos vem ganhando espaço. Nela a possibilidade de restrição do direito de voto é tema controverso. O objetivo do presente artigo é analisar a admissibilidade das participações societárias preferenciais, numa análise comparativa entre os sistemas jurídicos brasileiro e norte-americano. A metodologia utilizada consiste no levantamento da base bibliográfica nos dois sistemas jurídicos. Discute-se que, no Brasil, o CC/02, art.1.055, caput, dispõe sobre o tema de forma simples e genérica, contudo, nos quoruns previstos, não permite cotas preferenciais sem direito de voto. Além disso, o DNRC (Departamento Nacional de Registro do Comércio) manifestou-se pelo não cabimento para sociedade limitada da figura da quota preferencial. A doutrina, por sua vez, divide-se a este respeito. Conclui-se que há um equívoco dos órgãos de registro empresarial do país, por outro lado, a proibição é justificável e admissível. Já nos EUA, a existência de cotas preferenciais é um assunto puramente contratual.

Game theory and open source contribution: Rationale behind corporate participation in open source software development

ABSTRACTThe rising participation of for-profit corporations in the development of open source software raises the question of why corporations are motivated toward this engagement. The increased participation is an observable phenomenon; many researchers and practitioners assume that the practice of community sharing does not improve the bottom line, but rather believe the practice is altruistic in nature. Our intuition is that participation offers tangible and intangible benefits to corporate participants. We show this by exploring a variety of models in game theory and use game theory as a methodological lens to explain the rationality of corporate participation in open source software development. Since game theory has evolved to include rational- and emotional-based reasons, we explore such lenses as cooperative games, metagames, coopetition, and Drama Theory. Our research question, “Why do for-profit corporations participate in the development of open source software?” was broad enough to adopt several useful perspectives to understand our data. One useful lens was game theory. In this article, we examine interview responses and field study data from corporate members of open source communities to determine how they justify devoting time and effort to community engagement. Our study makes a contribution to open source software literature by revealing that numerous rational and emotional reasons exist for corporate participation in open source software development.

Disguised Contributions in the Channels of Corporate Political Spending

Widespread dissatisfaction with corporate participation in elections persists despite strict regulations. Exploiting within firm-cycle cross-candidate variation and across firm-cycle variation, we demonstrate that corporate spending on US elections exceeds disclosed campaign contributions. Firms constrained by existing campaign contribution limits spend an additional $549,000 on lobbying per election cycle, an amount more than 100 times the contribution limit. Constrained firms also have chief executives that contribute more to politicians and firm foundations that make larger philanthropic donations. While legally permitted, these expenditures may be interpreted by the public as corrupt disguised contributions according to the Supreme Court’s landmark Buckley v. Valeo decision.

Innovation and alliances in international management programmes; redefining and extending the model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe an innovative international management programme that has been developed across four countries for Master-level students. It first analyses the advantages and disadvantages of two of the most common forms of internationalisation in higher education; the student exchange and full-scale offshore campus model. It then shows how one programme at Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM) has been designed to capture the best parts of both models in the creation of a hybrid, transcontinental programme. This has resulted in the creation of high quality international education for a large number of students whilst further developing a stronger alliance network between faculties and the business community. Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages of two forms of internationalisation. From there, it draws upon a case study of a hybrid programme based on discussions with faculty and students from four internationally accredited business schools in Vancouver, New York, Grenoble and Beijing. It is supplemented with research on the development of international higher education. Findings – International exchange programmes and offshore international campuses can enrich the learning experience for students. However, there are limitations to both models. A hybrid model, though more complex to develop may have a much deeper impact on student learning and faculty development while also offering graduates a greater number of international employment opportunities. The paper outlines some best practices and preliminary learning outcomes. Research limitations/implications – The transcontinental project is relatively new being in its third year. Initial results are very positive, but the full implications will be understood in the coming years. Practical implications – The paper outlines a framework for joint academic programmes overseas. It demonstrates that by assessing the pros and cons of different forms of international development, a third way can be designed to ensure a richer experience for students, faculty and the business community. Originality/value – The programmes are designed to include a greater number of stakeholders and involve teaching, research and corporate participation. This contrasts with many international ventures in higher education institutions that may deal with only one aspect. The paper gives a clear framework for the creation of such programmes. It will be of value to academics, administrators and directors wishing to innovate in their international development for the benefit of their students and faculty.

REFASHIONING CHIEFTAINCY IN GHANA: FESTIVAL DRESS, CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP AND NEW LOGICS OF VALUE

ABSTRACTAnnual festivals in Ghana celebrate the agricultural harvest and commemorate the political authority of local chiefs. Today, multinational corporations such as Guinness, MTN and Vodafone sponsor almost all aspects of festival production. Sponsor participation has transformed festivals into sites saturated with images of commodities and corporate brands. While some chiefs support corporate participation, others deplore sponsors, who they perceive as threatening chiefs' control over the festival arena. A critical medium through which chiefs police and participate in discourses about cultural and political legitimacy is dress: chiefs clothe members of their entourages alternatively in T-shirts with corporate logos and T-shirts with images of chiefs. During festivals, chiefs orchestrate embodied practices to assert new claims to their political authority based on the nobility of their lineage or their participation in global economic networks. Through an exploration of contemporary dress practices, I argue that what is at stake in corporate-sponsored festivals is the emergence of new logics of value that challenge people to reassess the social and economic relations that underlie the production of political power in Ghana.

Models for Driving Energy Efficiency Nationally Using Energy Management

Energy management is a proven strategy for achieving clear energy, environmental, and economic benefits across industry—yet diverse barriers, risks, and challenges continue to limit broad adoption around the globe. An energy management system (EMS) integrates energy management into existing business systems, enabling organizations to better manage their energy, sustain achieved savings, and continuously improve energy performance. Governments are implementing various approaches to accelerate industry uptake of these systems, such as promoting compliance with the ISO 50001 energy management standard. This article explores three approaches in use: mandated programs (Japan), incentive programs (Sweden), and market-based certification programs (United States).The authors examine each of these three approaches by taking an in-depth look at one real-world example. For each example, the article identifies the specific program requirements, the larger context for the policy and role of government, existing drivers for corporate participation, key challenges and resources, and the available results (i.e., energy and cost savings and other benefits). Comparisons among these current, government-led models for accelerating the uptake of EMS should provide insight into the effectiveness and benefits of different government approaches and their supporting policies and resources. Governments can learn from the challenges faced, solutions devised, and lessons learned by others during implementation of these programs.

Who participates in de jure standard setting in Japan? The analysis of participation costs and benefits

This research examines who participates in de jure standard setting in Japan, so as to understand the benefits and costs that corporations receive from participation in de jure standard setting in Japan. In particular, the research and development (R&D) expenditure to sales (R/S) ratio is used to examine corporations’ relative R&D position in their industrial sector, in the following four sectors: (1) production machinery, (2) transportation machinery, (3) non-ferrous metals, and (4) information and communications technology. In addition, an analytical framework for the cost and benefit structure of corporate participation in standard development organizations is described. We have found that in R&D-intensive industries, there is less participation from high R/S corporations. This result is in accordance with previous research into EU de jure standardization, but not with the US case.

Strategic Corporate Tax Lobbying

ABSTRACTWe investigate the motivation for and outcome of corporate participation in shaping tax policy via lobbying. We posit that generally tax-sophisticated firms lobby on tax issues and that their motives for doing so are either to obtain a tax benefit or to avoid losing one. We label these motives as strategic and defensive tax lobbying, respectively, and we empirically investigate whether strategic lobbying yields a measurable reduction in future tax rates. Using a proxy measure of strategic tax lobbying, we find a significant and negative relation between our measure and future cash ETRs. Alternative specifications of our primary model produce similar results.

Biologically-Inspired innovation in large companies: a path for corporate participation in biophysical systems?

Biologically-Inspired innovation in large companies: a path for corporate participation in biophysical systems?

Internal and External Factors Affecting the Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts of AGIP in Oil-bearing Communities of South-South Nigeria

The modern thinking in organizational literature is based on corporate participation in the development process of host communities. Therefore, to assess the efforts that Agip has made so far in this direction, a study was initiated in 2013, by the authors. The aim was to interrogate the specific internal and external challenges of Agip in the discharge of its CSR role in some communities where it has its oil installations in the South-South region of Nigeria. To achieve this aim, a survey was conducted in purposively selected communities which host Agip’s oil installations with the employment of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Results revealed that, Agip’s CSR efforts are being impeded by both internal and external factors. Issues relating to Agip’s approach towards project abandonment, job creation and divide and rule tactics, for instance, have dwindled community rating of Agip CSR efforts in the region. This paper therefore concludes by suggesting that, stakeholder’s synergy is needed not only in surmounting these challenges but also in creating a formidable platform for the sustainable community development of the oil bearing communities of this region who most times bear the burden of oil exploration, exploitation and transportation. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n3p459

Determinants of Corporate Participation in the IFRS 4 (Insurance Contracts) Replacement Process

This study examines the determinants of financial firms’ lobbying behaviour in the replacement process of IFRS 4 Insurance Contracts. Based on comment letters to International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) Exposure Draft 2010/8 we investigate firms’ lobbying decisions and their long-term lobbying intensity. Using an international sample of publicly listed financial firms, we show that insurance companies and financially constrained IFRS firms are more likely to lobby the IASB. We also examine the long-term lobbying activity in the IFRS 4 replacement process during the years 2007-2010. We find that insurance companies and firms with dispersed ownership lobby more. Our results are stronger for IFRS firms compared to US-GAAP users. Overall, we document intense lobbying by financial firms, and present results that are largely consistent with economic consequences of anticipated accounting changes being the main driver of firms’ lobbying behaviour. These results are in line with prior findings for non-financial firms.

Corporate Sector Participation: Much Needed Elixir of Life to Indian Higher Education System

Higher education sector is one of the major drivers in uplifting the Indian economy, but with striking challenges. Traditional ways of imparting education, poor governance and lack of finance are all responsible for the dismal scene showcasing low GER, absence of India from the list of countries having world’s best institutions and sufferings of Indian students searching for quality education abroad. The three needs -Competitive, Protective and Protractile- calls for professional governance of educational institutions and investment there in by corporate sector. New Companies Bill 2012 also proposes compulsory contribution by corporate sector for CSR activities. If companies contribute to the area of education by Five-way corporate participation model suggested in this paper, higher education of India can be elevated.

Determinants of Corporate Participation in the IFRS 4 (Insurance Contracts) Replacement Process

This study examines the determinants of financial firms' lobbying behaviour in the replacement process of International Financial Reporting Standard 4 (IFRS 4) Insurance Contracts. Based on comment letters in response to International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB) Exposure Draft 2010/8, we investigate firms' lobbying decisions and their long-term lobbying intensity. Using an international sample of publicly listed financial firms, we show that insurance companies and financially constrained IFRS firms are more likely to lobby the IASB. We also examine the long-term lobbying activity in the IFRS 4 replacement process during the years 2007–2010. We find that insurance companies and firms with dispersed ownership lobby more. Our results are stronger for IFRS firms compared to US generally accepted accounting principles users. Overall, we document intense lobbying by financial firms and present results that are largely consistent with economic consequences of anticipated accounting changes being the main driver of firms' lobbying behaviour. These results are in line with prior findings for non-financial firms.

The Choice of Foreign Market Entry Modes: The Role of Resources and Industrial Driving Forces

A B S T R A C T Objective : The objective of the paper is to analyse the effects of corporate resources, attitudes of owner/entrepreneur/manager to internationalisation and the characteristics of the business industry on the entry mode choice. Research Design & Methods : Based on factor and cluster analyses the authors highlight the latent structure lying behind different variables and find typical groups of companies matching the identified factors. Findings: Providing physical resources and access to appropriate information is necessary, but not sufficient. The attitude of the owner/entrepreneur/manager to internationalisation should be improved as well so that they will be able to appear and operate successfully in international markets. Implications & Recommendations: Giving the right place to subjective matters in promoting internationalisation may contribute to the increase in corporate participation in different support programs. Contribution & Value Added: On the basis of the obtained findings, different ways of how support programs can promote the companies’ international activities and strengthen their commitments to achieving higher added values can be defined.

Corporate Sustainability and Economic Performance: an Empirical Analysis of a Voluntary Environmental Program in the USA

ABSTRACTVoluntary environmental programs (VEPs) are designed based on a win–win approach to environmental protection that reconciles environmental protection and economic performance. Despite the claims about VEPs, there has been an ongoing debate over their efficacy with regard to whether environmental goals are balanced by economic interests on both theoretical and empirical grounds. To resolve this controversy, this paper empirically investigates a public VEP by the US Environmental Protection Agency: Green Lights (GL). For this, the paper constructs a treatment effects regression model to account for the effects of non‐random assignment for GL participants and non‐participants. The proposed model can simultaneously estimate probit models that predict corporate participation in the GL program and linear models that test the extent to which this participation contributes to economic performance. The results indicate significant positive effects of corporate participation in the GL program on economic performance, providing support for the win–win perspective. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Constitutionalizing Property-Owning Democracy

Constitutionalizing Property-Owning Democracy

The Clientele Effect of Corporate Tax Lobbying

We investigate the motivation for and outcome of corporate participation in shaping tax policy via lobbying. We hypothesize that firms lobby on tax issues when it is the most cost‐effective way to either reduce or preserve their tax burden and that those anticipating greater gains allocate more resources to their lobbying effort. This effort, in turn, differentiates aggressive from defensive lobbying, and it is the aggressive firms who exhibit measurable change in future tax rates. The empirical results are consistent with the hypotheses. Among firms involved in lobbying, those with low long‐run tax rates are more likely to lobby on tax issues. Among firms that lobby on tax issues, only those engaged in aggressive lobbying exhibit a negative relation between the magnitude of tax lobbying expenditures and future tax rates. We estimate that for each dollar the aggressive firms invest in tax lobbying, they realize a tax savings between $6 and $37.

Corporate Participation in the Democratic Process in the United States and Germany

There are many factors that influence political elections, among them, money may be the most important one. The starting point of this Article is the judgment of the U.S. Supreme Court inCitizens United v. Federal Election Commission. After this decision is described, the approaches of the United States and Germany in regulating political speech by campaign finance laws will be discussed, focusing on the role of companies. This Article will outline the status quo of federal American campaign finance laws (Part B). Regarding the German approach, this Article will outline theParteiengesetz(Political Parties Act, hereinafter: Part G) and decisions of theBundesverfassungsgericht(Constitutional Court, hereinafter: BVerfG) (Part C). European regulations are not the subject of this Article. Both approaches will be compared and future prospects will be given as a conclusion (Part D).

Weak Coffee: Certification and Co-Optation in the Fair Trade Movement

The sociological literature on social movement organizations (SMOs) has come to recognize that under neoliberal globalization many SMOs have moved from an emphasis on the state as the locus of change toward a focus on corporations as targets. This shift has led some SMOs to turn to forms of market-based private regulatory action. The use of one such tactic—voluntary, third-party product certification—has grown substantially, as SMOs seek ways to hold stateless firms accountable. This article explores the case of the international fair trade movement, which aims to change the inequitable terms of global trade in commodities for small farmers, artisans, and waged laborers. Drawing from interviews with a range of fair trade participants, document analysis, and media coverage, the article describes fair trade's growing relationship with multinational coffee firms, particularly Starbucks and Nestle. It explores intra-movement conflicts over the terms for and the effects of corporate participation in fair trade, and illuminates tensions between conceptualizations of fair trade as movement, market, and system. The article makes two arguments. First, while fair trade has succeeded partially in reembedding market exchange within systems of social and moral relations, it has also proved susceptible to the power of corporate actors to disembed the alternative through a process of movement co-optation. Second, it argues that co-optation takes a unique form in the context of social movements whose principal tools to achieve social change are certification and labeling: it occurs primarily on the terrain of standards, in the form of weakening or dilution.

Quantifying Corporate Social Responsibility Involvement in Art and Culture Projects in Romania and Bulgaria

The recent crisis has deeply changed the present business environment and new priorities are now emerging for companies in order to meet the economic and social criteria that the society is imposing on them. On a pragmatic approach of business ethics, companies are developing their contribution to social causes by considering a large area of corporate social responsibility CSR projects, aimed at inducing bidirectional benefits, expressed at corporate and societal level. Taking this general context into account, the aim of our present research paper is to investigate and measure the corporate participation in supporting art and culture initiatives in Romania and Bulgaria, in a comparative and empirical approach intended to shed a new light on the development of specific CSR in the two above mentioned countries. In this respect, we analyze the top companies by revenues in Romania and Bulgaria and we construct an innovative index AC-CSR Index for quantifying their implication in art and culture projects in the last years, as a part of their recognized accountability towards society as a whole. The AC-CSR Index, derived as a composite measure of arts and culture actions, aims at encompassing the performance of top companies regarding a broad-spectrum of corporate culture responsibility engagements. The main results emphasize an increasing thoughtfulness of companies in Romania and Bulgaria to this class of CSR projects, especially considering the leader position of the analyzed companies. More detailed results and comments about the AC-CSR Index are also presented.