Public Corporations Research Articles

Improving Fuel Efficiency and Reducing Carbon Emissions from Buses in India

There is a growing public transport crisis in India, with a tremendous increase in the number of private vehicles. Many public bus corporations are operating with net financial losses and rely on government subsidies to keep operations going; therefore, investment in new buses and technology upgrades is rare. Of the various expenditures that bus corporations incur, fuel costs account for 30 percent. There is a strong need to improve fuel efficiency of buses to not only improve the financial viability of the bus companies but also to reduce their environmental and related health impacts. This study analyzes data on more than 500 buses from 3 leading bus corporations in India and identifies measures that can be implemented to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

BOARD POWERS AND UNETHICAL ACCOUNTING OF PUBLIC QUOTED CORPORATIONS IN NIGERIA

Numerous scandals have been committed globally due to excessive use of unethical accounting. Various research has been conducted on board activities and unethical accounting and their discoveries were assorted. None to the researchers’ awareness examined such association in an entire population of the registered public non-financial corporations in Nigeria for a period of 10 years (2010-2019). Secondary data was extracted from the annual reports and accounts, companies, and directors’ profile of the firms. The data was analyzed using Ordinary Least Square regression. The study found among other things that board power and its proxies except board capability have significant impact on the unethical accounting of listed firms in Nigeria. It is therefore, recommended that, the quoted firms in Nigeria should ensure the composition of all-encompassing and robust audit committees. They should also guarantee the presence of assorted gender, varied ethnic groups, directors with national honor and oversea directors on the boards. The organizations should ensure the formation of risk management committee in the entire corporations. The management should guarantee the existence of vastly skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable directors on the boards as these will aid in curbing the unethical accounting. The implication of the outcomes of this research to literature is that the discoveries of the research are to be utilized by researchers in confirming tokenism/critical mass theory, social capital theory. Also, to validate upper echelon theory, efficient contracting theory, resource dependency theory, signaling theory, human capital theory, behavioral theory of corporate boards and governance and agency theory. The discovery of the study is only applicable to listed organizations in Nigeria. The research utilized only six proxies of board power which is a limiting factor, and the result of the study might vary if other substitutions of board power are utilized. Moreover, the research did not capture the financial sector of Nigerian economy for the reason that the unethical accounting model utilized of Collins et al (2017) has elements which are only relevant to non-financial corporations. If other models of unethical accounting that can capture the financial industry are applied, the outcome of research may had been changed.

공기업의 구분회계 도입은 부채를 감소시켰는가?

[Purpose] The purpose of this study is to verify the effectiveness of Segment accounting introduced by the government for the efficient debt management of public corporations. More than six years after the government introduced Segment accounting system for public corporations, it is meaningful to empirically analyze the relationship between the Segment accounting and debt management of public corporations.
 [Methodology] The government applies the debt ratio as a debt management measure to measure the effectiveness of Segment accounting for public corporations, and public corporations' financial liabilities are important liabilities that account for 67 to 88% of total liabilities. This study measures whether the debt ratio is improved in preparation for before and after the introduction of Segment accounting. In addition, regression analysis is conducted to measure the difference in the effectiveness of Segment accounting between the types of public corporations (market type and semi-market type).
 [Findings] According to the analysis results, there was no change in the rate of decrease or increase in the debt ratio of public corporations after the introduction of Segment accounting.
 However, the rate of increase in the financial debt ratio of public corporations appears to have slowed, and it is judged that the effect of Segment accounting is recognized in the sector.
 There are differences between types of public corporations in slowing the rate of increase in the financial debt ratio, and the market type was found to be more effective than the semi-market type. This is judged to have a large self-adjustment ability in the operation of public corporations because market-type public corporations have been listed on the stock market or have relatively little government control.
 [Implications] This study is significant in that it confirms the effect of Segment accounting of public corporations through empirical analysis. The government applies only the debt ratio as a debt management measure of public corporations. However, since the most important part of public corporations' liabilities is financial liabilities, it is judged that if the ratio of financial liabilities is added and applied, it can be more effective in managing public corporations' liabilities.

주민참여를 통한 지방공기업 청렴도 제고 방안 분석

The purpose of this study is to empirically analyze the conceptual expansion plan of integrity based on the understanding of the concept of integrity of local public enterprises. Specifically, we will examine the integrity of local public enterprises and how they are studied, and conceptually expand it to present the integrity of local public enterprises in terms of resident participation. Major studies of local public enterprises focus on organizational performance, but discussions on local public enterprises are needed from the perspective of residents in that local public enterprises ultimately provide services to improve the quality of life of local residents. For the analysis, data from Evaluation Institute of Regional Public Corporation's perception of residents' participation plan were used. As a result of the analysis, looking at the aspect of resident participation, it was found that having a positive motivation for participation had a significant effect on raising the awareness of employees of local public corporations. On the other hand, it was found that the motivation to participate in pursuit of negative purposes or personal interests had a negative (-) effect on employees' awareness. However, regardless of the intention of the motivation to participate, there was no statistical significance in the means of check and monitoring. In the end, it can be seen that the participation of residents is necessary to improve the internal organizational culture of employees. It was found that the level of participation consciousness had a positive effect on integrity when actively recognizing the necessity. On the other hand, it was understood that the check and monitoring system could be secured through participation in the case of recognition of time waste and formation of bonds with the region. In the case of organizational management and information provision, which are the existing major factors, the leader's management capabilities and information provision from an objective point of view were significant in securing checks and monitoring means. However, if local public enterprises recognize that they provide only information showing the positive position of the institution, negative results were found in securing check and monitoring.

Benefit Analysis of Online Korea Agri-Food Exchange

This study analyzed the benefits of the B2B online agricultural exchange, which is promoted by the government for digital transformation in the distribution sector as the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology is introduced and the agricultural distribution environment is changing rapidly owing to COVID-19. Currently, the Korean government is conducting the national B2B online agricultural exchange, where sellers, including producer organizations and agricultural corporations, can make direct transactions and buyers, including public market wholesale corporations, intermediaries, and trade participants, can purchase agricultural products through the online platform, regardless of time and location.
 Against this backdrop, we analyzed the potential benefits of the online agricultural exchange, divided into those from the reduction in distribution stages and from the increase in user convenience. For the analysis, benefits from the reduction in distribution stages are divided into logistics cost saving, shrinkage loss reduction, and commission reduction. Benefits from the increase in user convenience are divided into shipper’s saving of search cost and buyer’s saving of transaction cost. Assuming that the online agricultural exchange is worth KRW 500 billion, the expected economic benefit was analyzed to be about KRW 38.3 billion per year.

Does it Make You Better Off? Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and Corporate Sustainability Performance: Empirical Evidence

Going public (or an IPO) is a strategic decision for value creation motivated by various reasons such as capital raising, windows of opportunities that reflect the perfect market timing and publicity. It is associated with financial and business attributes. In this article, we establish an original linkage between the IPO event and sustainability performance post-IPO, emphasizing the impacts of listing on enhancing sustainability performance. We integrate IPO theories and sustainability views in explaining the effect of the IPO on sustainability measures. We study a sample of Italian firms that went public from 2009 to 2018. Sustainability performance is measured by a sustainability rating which is a composite rating that comprises of 10 elements. Using empirical testing, we show a positive effect of the IPO on sustainability and governance indicators in the 3 years following the IPO, suggesting an image-improving and better compliance practices. And a mixed impact on financial performance.

Citizens united and individual sovereignty: A fresh perspective

In recent years super-PACs jumped into the political fray by making significant donations to political parties and candidates thus tilting political outcomes to suit their agendas. Super-PACs raise their money from individuals and corporations and spend it to promote their cause. Numerous commentators studied their impact on the American political landscape and highlighted its implications from a constitutionally driven perspective, anchored in the Free Speech clause of the First Amendment as it applies to corporate persons. In this Essay we analyze the phenomenon from a different vantage point, the prohibition to spend other people’s money in support of a cause which they refuse to endorse. We prove that although contributions made by private donors to super-PACs may sometimes be justified, no such redeeming grace is tenable in the case of contributions made by large public corporations. The distortion is caused by inviting corporations to identify their presumed political preferences by employing the decision rule current in corporate matters of “one share one vote” which allocates disproportionate power to the holders of large blocks of shares. Since political controversies ought to be governed by a different decision rule- “one person one vote” the distortion cannot be remedied through the intermediation of corporate players.

Seeing business like a state: Firms and industries after the digital revolution

What we know about firms and industries in the United States has been fundamentally shaped by governmental responses to the Great Depression. Mandates for regular disclosures by public corporations and a system of industry categories created for surveys of establishments gave us a synoptic view of the economy that served us well for generations. They also molded the development of the fields of strategic management and organization theory. But the tools and frameworks that made sense in the 1930s are a poor fit with the enterprises we encounter today. Basic terms like firm, industry, size, performance, employee, and nationality are contested. The field of strategic organization may be the academic discipline best suited to helping us transition to a new way of making sense of the organization of the economy.

Corporate Public Relations In Maintaining The Image Of Telkom's Indihome Products In Witel Makassar

Strategy corporate public relations is a management function that creates, maintains, and maintains good and beneficial relationships between an organization and the public that can influence the success or failure of the organization. This research is focused to find out about the strategy of the company's corporate public relations in maintaining the product image of IndiHome PT. Telkom at Witel Makassar and secondly to find out about the product image of IndiHome PT. Telkom Makassar in Minasa Upa Village, Rappocini District. The type of research used is descriptive qualitative research with data collection techniques in the form of observation, documentation, and interviews. By using three theories, namely Image Theory, Theory of Integration and Attitude Change, and Excellent Theory. This research lasted for approximately 1 month located on Jl. Balaikota No. 04 Makassar. The informants in this study were General Manager & GS, Customer Care Manager, Corporate Secretary of IndiHome Telkom Witel Makassar, and the community of Minasa Upa Village, Rappocini District, Makassar City. The results show that IndiHome Telkom Witel Makassar's strategy in maintaining its image is to continue to provide excellent service which is the main key to staying good in the eyes of its customers and the image of Telkom's IndiHome products in the eyes of the community, especially in Minasa Upa Village, Rappocini District is very diverse.

Saving Behavior as an Integral Element of the Individual's Economic Behavior

In an unfavorable period of development of the country's economy, various types of subjective economic behavior, including labor, entrepreneurial, credit, savings behavior, are considered to be more relevant for periods of well-being. However, the degree of its impact on other types of behavior is so great that it cannot be ignored by decision makers in public governance and corporate management. The article analyzes the existing relationships between different types of economic behavior of individuals, the place among them of savings behavior and its impact on other types. The specific forms and results of the observed relationships are largely determined by the types and characteristics of savings behavior. The article attempts to classify the types of savings behavior in order to facilitate the identification and prediction of their impact on other types of economic behavior. In particular, two bases for the classification of savings behavior are proposed: the motivation to save and the share of income directed to savings. When making various decisions at all levels of management, it is necessary to clearly realize that the very fact of the formation of savings, as well as their size, can influence a wide range of actions of an individual in other areas of economic behavior.

Privatisation and Corporate Governance Efficiency: Liquidity Ratio Assessment of the Nigerian Cement Industry

The study examines how privatization affects public corporations’ corporate governance efficiency in the management of the liquidity ratio of the Nigerian cement industry. The observed variables are liquidity ratio and fourteen Corporate Governance proxies as dependent variables and independent variables. Secondary data were outsourced from the cement firms. Descriptive statistics and Pooled OLS regressions were used for analysis. Results suggest that the factors affecting corporate governance efficiency and causing capacity underutilization in the cement industry are macro-economic challenges and the weak private sector. The average total market value of shares, average foreign ownership, the average percentage of executive directors and average workforce has a positive impact on the Cement industry’s performance. However, privatization harms the performance of the company. Likewise, corporate governance has a significant impact on the liquidity ratio of the 1cement industry in Nigeria. The study recommends that corporate governance should reduce the liquidity ratios via long-term investment that will enhance return on investment. In addition, suggests devising strategies for proper liquidity and risk management to enhance financial performance and move towards sustainability and growth.

제4차 산업혁명시대에 있어서 ESG 경영 사례연구

The term ‘fourth industrial revolution’ was mentioned at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2016 and has become a term representing a new industrial era based on information and communication technology (ICT). In the environment of the 4th industrial revolution, ESG management activities are becoming a very important factor in business activities. With the emergence of a new paradigm of organizational operation in the post Covid19 era, the demands for ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) investment related to the environment, social responsibility are increasing. This study examines the role that can support ESG management by utilizing the expertise of appraisers. Real estate is one of the fields of high public interest, and since most ESGs have been conducted centered on the role of private companies, the role of the expert group or the role of public corporations and public institutions is relatively insufficient. If a company or general company engaged in the real estate investment business establishes the role of the Korea Appraisers Association to revitalize ESG management using appraisers, such as ESG appraisers, when investing in real estate, it is believed that it will be possible to promote efficient and sound development of the real estate industry. It was judged that a study on a group of experts was also necessary. In addition, even if the impact of Covid-19 is excluded, it is necessary to gradually introduce an appraisal using non-face-to-face or various advanced technologies (the 4th industry). This study differs from previous studies in that it focused on the role of ESG by the Korea Association of Property Appraisers while research on the role of ESG in public institutions or expert groups is being actively conducted in recent years.

More Pain, More Gain! The Delivery of COVID-19 Vaccines and the Pharmaceutical Industry's Role in Widening the Access Gap.

An effective response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic entails a comprehensive strategy that ensures equitable access to all COVID-19-fighting technologies. To achieve this goal, the international community has acknowledged immunization as a public good. However, a trend of grossly unequal dose distribution emerged, owing, among other factors, to pharmaceutical companies' profit-driven actions, jeopardizing the mechanisms built to increase vaccine access. The contradiction between public health interests and corporate discretion in determining vaccine dose distribution poses critical concerns about the health risks associated with lengthening the duration of the pandemic and the eventual liability of companies for violations of human rights. To evaluate the risks posed to the COVID-19 immunization program, data on vaccine allocation and delivery, vaccine dose application, immunized populations, and the volume of Advanced Purchase Agreements (APAs) between countries and pharmaceutical companies were compiled and assessed. A descriptive analysis was then conducted to analyze the role of pharmaceutical companies in providing equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. When the data is broken down by income (as of June 2021), it shows that high-income countries (HICs) have already crossed the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) 20% immunization threshold. However, countries of all other income levels have yet to achieve this mark for fully vaccinated people. Upper-middle-income countries (UMICs) have approximately 3%, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have approximately 2% and low-income countries (LICs) have less than 0.1% of fully vaccinated people per hundred. The supply shortage is expected to last until the second half of 2021. As a result of the COVAX failure, a health gap emerged with countries living in a pre-immunization period for an extended time. The existing conflict between the international response to tackle COVID-19 and corporate profit-driven behavior contributed to prolonging pandemic, especially in Africa. Accordingly, there is a need to approve an international treaty that targets the activities of all actors, including the pharmaceutical companies, in protecting human rights and the right to health realms.

Valuation of sector‐switching and politicization in the governance of corporatized public services

AbstractCorporatization has great potential for public service provision, but governments face severe challenges in recruiting executive directors (EDs) with relevant human capital. Debates arise about the roles of sector‐switching and politicization in public corporation governance, but a critical research gap exists. ED pay (EDP) is a crucial governance factor and signifies the valuation of ED human capital. This study links debates on sector‐switching and politicization with human capital theory discourses and analyzes a panel dataset of 1832 ED observations in 291 German public corporations. Political mandate holders and former private‐sector EDs receive significantly higher EDP, whereas political human capital is valued even higher. Operating in a profit context strengthens the pay effects for political mandate holders but, contrary to widespread assumptions, not for former private‐sector EDs. This study enhances the theoretical understanding of the valuation of human capital factors in public corporation governance and provides important research perspectives.

Detection of Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure Falsification Based on Support Vector Machine.

Environmental information disclosure (EID) is an important embodiment of corporate social responsibility. With the awakening of public awareness of environmental protection and the increasing pressure of environmental preservation, enterprises tend to strategically manipulate environmental information for the pursuit of profit, which will consequently lead to environmental information disclosure falsification (EIDF) and disruption of both the market regulatory order and the development of green economy. In this article, support vector machine (SVM) technique is applied to construct the detection model of corporate EIDF. Based on the theory of “public pressure,” the detection indicators will be improved from three aspects: public pressure, corporate governance, and financial indicators. The training set and test set are constructed by combining the manually collected cases of environmental administrative penalties from 2015 to 2019 with the indicator information of nonfinancial listed enterprises in China's A-share market, and the SVM detection performance is compared with the logistic regression of the benchmark model. To solve the problem of category imbalance, we have introduced the Borderline-SMOTE oversampling technique. Based on the detection results of SVM and Borderline-SMOTE, we find that the Borderline-SMOTE-SVM model has the best detection performance, surpassing the SVM and logistic regression models. These conclusions have constructive policy implications for regulatory agencies, investors, the third-party service sector, enterprises, and government policy-making to achieve high-quality corporate EID.

Public governance and corporate innovation: evidence from a quasi-natural event in China

ABSTRACT Using a unique quasi-natural event, i.e. gangdom and evil forces (hereafter, GEs) elimination in China, we investigate the relationship between the public governance proxied by GEs elimination and corporate innovation based on the data of Chinese listed firms from 2013 to 2021. The results show that the GEs elimination leads to a 0.39% increase in corporate innovation investment. Quantitatively, the increase is approximately equivalent to 4.42 million yuan for a firm of median innovation investment. Furthermore, we find that the GEs elimination increases corporate innovation through two possible channels: relieving financing constraints and intensifying market competition. In addition, we also reveal that the effects of GEs elimination on corporate innovation are stronger in firms located in a better marketization environment and a stronger Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection environment. Our main results pass a series of robustness tests and endogeneity issues.

Spread The Seed to Win a Long Harvest

In an emerging technology sector, the generative value of inventions—its potential to spawn subsequent iterations and cumulative inventions—is crucial yet challenging to realize. This paper examines firm research publications as a novel mechanism for generative value creation in emerging technology sectors. Research publications, by broadcasting the firm’s research and attracting a diverse set of external follow-up inventions, exposes the focal inventing firm to a pool of distant, unfamiliar knowledge. In the meantime, the theoretical knowledge contained in these publications guides the focal firm to learn from and build on the distant knowledge contained in external follow-up inventions efficiently. To test these arguments, I collected data on U.S. publicly-traded, AI-active firms from 1995 to 2015. I tracked the cumulative innovation activities around these firms’ AI-related patents and the research publications associated with these patents. Analyses based on within-firm models show that, for a focal AI patent, same-firm publications not only increase the knowledge distance between the firm’s original knowledge pool and the incoming external follow-up inventions, but also enhance the volume and private value of the firm’s related, subsequent inventive efforts. This paper contributes to the literature on generative value of inventions, emerging technologies, and corporate publications.

Big Business and Dictatorships in Latin America: A Transnational History of Profits and Repression

Big Business and Dictatorships in Latin America: A Transnational History of Profits and Repression

Empowering Permanent Minorities: Foot Voting and Positive Freedom for Radicals

Foot voting—that is, an individual’s choice of a government, or of a governance regime such as that offered by a corporation or a homeowner’s association--has been advocated by libertarian law professor Ilya Somin in two recent books (2016, 2021) that emphasize the relative thoughtfulness of foot voters who are making important personal choices compared to the relative ignorance of ballot box voters whose individual votes are hardly ever outcome-determinative. This paper adopts Somin’s case for foot voting and suggests an additional ground for supporting it: giving radical minorities opportunities to exercise self-determination in a way that they are unable to do in majoritarian democratic and business systems in which public policies and corporate governance are targeted to the median voter, shareholder, employee, and consumer. Relying centrally on Mill (1859), Rawls (1999, 2005), and mechanism design theory (Maskin, 1999), it argues that it is in the practical and moral interest of non-radicals and radicals alike that there should be more support in business ethics and elsewhere than there is now for voluntary, partly self-governing, radical local political communities—“codominia”--and to serve and link these communities with small and large radical businesses—“coenterprises.” Although the paper is primarily conceptual, it also includes a qualitative empirical component, in the forms of introductory discussions of a survey on interest in joining radical communities that was administered to students in Southeast Asia, and of how the reforms proposed have a precedent in the long-standing Dutch and Belgian systems of pillarized community self-determination.

The Effect of Insider versus Outsider Activism on Corporate Targets’ Market Performance

Although outsider activists are the main participants of social protests, the large scale protests initiated by insider activists in recent years have attracted the public eyes and induced us to wonder whether insider activists, with higher risk and more significant cost to initiate and participate in social protests, are able to achieve more social movement outcomes than outsider activists. While factors influencing social movement outcomes have received ample attention from the perspectives of structure and agency, we still lack a good understanding of the impact of activist identity on social movement outcomes. This research builds a theoretical model to explain the links between activist identity and social movement economic outcomes by employing and extending the political process mode, a particular theory to explain social movement emergence and outcomes. Hypotheses developed from the model predict that protests initiated by insiders are more destructive to corporate targets’ market performance than outsider protests and that the destructiveness advantage of insider protests would be alleviated if corporate targets enjoy higher status but strengthened if targeted firms focus on service business. Results from a sample of social protests targeting U.S. public corporations reported by the New York Times between 2001 and 2021 provide support for the predictions. This research contributes to social movement outcomes by exploring the diverse impact of different types of activists and examining and extending the mobilizing structures of the political process model. This research also extends literature about insider activism by studying the economic outcomes of insider external activism.