Voluntary Codes Research Articles

日本企業のCSRにおける行動規範に関する一考察:国連グローバル・コンパクトを中心に

日本企業のCSRにおける行動規範に関する一考察:国連グローバル・コンパクトを中心に

Negotiating the Mines: The Culture of Safety in the Indian Coalmines, 1895–1970

This article explains the way mineworkers negotiated workplace hazards and articulated their ideas of safety. Mineworkers increasingly attained mining sense and made use of it, thereby surviving terrible working conditions and seeking to mend the accident-control mechanism. The formation and function of their mining sense were part of the industrialization process. It involved mineworkers’ particular ways of adaptation—quixotic and prudent—to the demand made by work relations. The miners’ unions strove to push the safety regime beyond voluntary codes of discipline and practical and technological solutions. They invested in legislative disciplining and sought informed safety-supervisory controls. They got involved in ‘civic engagement’ with agreeable investigators and legislators within the colonial context and afterwards. Confronted with the limits of such measures, the rank-and-file moved on, from the latter half of the 1950s to direct action in the very mining faces, thereby insisting on the right to withdrawal from danger. The historiographies which argued that Indian workers knowingly acquiesced to perilous mining to maintain livelihoods inadequately lend us the safety ideas shared and action at protection prevention undertaken by mineworkers. This article shows that Indian mineworkers reinforced the safety campaign through their strategic manoeuvring in legislative and workplace struggles as did their counterparts in Britain and some other societies.

Listen to the People: Friends of the Earth challenge ‘Brexit’ public participation

With the chaotic and uncertain events around the withdrawal agreement negotiations between the EU and the UK, the question of ‘how’ Brexit is to occur is very important. This article relates to that question. It addresses it by describing Friends of the Earth’s legal challenge, in the form of a Communication to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, alleging breaches under Articles 8 and 3 of the Aarhus Convention. Fundamentally, it’s about the UK government’s apparent failure to properly engage the public on the transparency for sustainable development environmental governance (and governance in general), by having clear legal frameworks that provide for effective and consistent participation. Yet in the UK, a mature and established democratic country, the public finds itself in the peculiar situation of not having clear or enforceable rights to effective public participation in the environmental field, during the preparation of new laws. That is specifically, when new laws are being prepared by the executive that can significantly impact on the environment. There is a voluntary ministerial code legislative centrepiece for Brexit with regards to how exit from the EU should occur and what that could mean for the environment.

Proliferation of corporate governance codes in the backdrop of divergent ownership structures

In the backdrop of the convergence–divergence debate, the goal of this article is to examine the proliferation of corporate governance codes in the light of a single factor, namely varying corporate ownership structures across countries. While such codes emanated and became popular in the United Kingdom where companies largely display dispersed shareholding, the concept has been disseminated to countries that carry considerably different ownership structures, i.e. mainly concentrated shareholding. This is bound to give rise to incongruities in the implementation of these codes. In order to enunciate the claim made above, the article will consider two aspects that convergence advocates have focused on, namely (i) shareholder empowerment and (ii) self-regulation. For example, corporate governance codes place considerable emphasis on the structure and independence of the boards of directors of companies as a means to ensure shareholder protection. While this approach is meant to produce results in companies with dispersed shareholding, the same cannot be said of companies with concentrated shareholding where the empowerment of shareholders through director independence or other means would only embolden the already dominant controlling shareholders. Moving to self-regulation, a voluntary code operating on a ‘comply-or-explain’ basis can ensure sufficient adherence only if certain factors are present in the jurisdiction where it is applied. Relying upon available empirical evidence, this article finds that use of self-regulation in voluntary codes of corporate governance may generate different results depending upon the ownership structures of companies, thereby exhibiting signs of divergence on this count.

The Transfer Code of Practice: Overview and Updates

ABSTRACTThe Transfer Code of Practice is a National Information Standards Organization recommended practice and voluntary code for journal publishers containing best practices for transferring and receiving journals. The code helps publishers to ensure that journal content remains accessible by librarians and readers when there is a transfer between parties, and ensures that the transfer process occurs with minimum disruption. Publishers who register as Transfer-compliant are asked to endorse the code, and to abide by its principles wherever it is commercially reasonable to do so. Jessie Copeland, Head of Electronic and Continuing Resources of the Robert W. Woodruff Library of Emory University, and a member of the Transfer Committee, presented the current work of the committee and gave updates on current projects.

Applying Corporate Political Activity (CPA) analysis to Australian gambling industry submissions against regulation of television sports betting advertising.

AimsThis research aimed to assess the application to the gambling industry, of Corporate Political Activity (CPA) analysis previously developed from public health research on tobacco industry interactions with political institutions and previously applied to the alcohol industry, but not the gambling industry.BackgroundA growing body of literature has confirmed how public interest outcomes are frequently opposed by vested interests. This research focused on gambling industry submissions to a 2013 Australian Parliamentary inquiry into sports betting advertising. Gambling advertising became highly controversial following deregulation of sports betting advertising in Australia subsequent to the 2008 Australian High Court Betfair challenge. The dramatic increase in gambling advertising during sporting event broadcasts at children’s viewing times and on new interactive technology, sparked public concerns. A series of national regulatory reviews followed and the gambling industry was actively involved in opposing further regulation.MethodThe research used a corporate political activity (CPA) framework of analysis developed by UK tobacco public health researchers, which identified strategies and tactics used internationally by the tobacco industry, to broker pro-tobacco public policy outcomes. Testing the application of this CPA framework to gambling pro-industry strategies/tactics, this research focused on gambling industry submissions to the 2013 Australian Parliamentary Committee Inquiry.ResultsLike the tobacco industry, the research found the gambling industry used identified strategies and tactics, some new tactics and a new strategy of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’, promoting ‘responsible’ industry practices and pre-emptive establishment of internal ‘responsibility’ units/practices. Despite public concerns regarding sports betting advertising, the gambling industry reinforced individual choice/blame for harms and claimed it acted responsibly. It did this using strategies identified in the tobacco industry CPA framework: information strategy (and shaping the evidence base); financial incentive strategy; constituency building strategy; policy substitution strategy; legal strategy; and constituency fragmentation and destabilization strategy.ConclusionSimilar to the CPA analysis applied to tobacco and alcohol industries, the research demonstrated the usefulness of the CPA taxonomy for analyzing and documenting pre-emptive industry policy strategies and tactics, exposing gambling industry efforts to maintain industry self-regulation via voluntary codes and avoid more government regulation. Cross-sectoral application of the framework signals great potential for use of CPA by policymakers and public health advocates as a tool in the analysis of corporate industry arguments/discourses.

What’s behind the ag-data logo? An examination of voluntary agricultural-data codes of practice

In this article, we analyse agricultural data (ag-data) codes of practice. After the introduction, Part II examines the emergence of ag-data codes of practice and provides two case studies—the American Farm Bureau’s Privacy and Security Principles for Farm Data and New Zealand’s Farm Data Code of Practice—that illustrate that the ultimate aims of ag-data codes of practice are inextricably linked to consent, disclosure, transparency and, ultimately, the building of trust. Part III highlights the commonalities and challenges of ag-data codes of practice. In Part IV several concluding observations are made. Most notably, while ag-data codes of practice may help change practices and convert complex details about ag-data contracts into something tangible, understandable and useable, it is important for agricultural industries to not hastily or uncritically accept or adopt ag-data codes of practice. There needs to be clear objectives, and a clear direction in which stakeholders want to take ag-data practices. In other words, stakeholders need to be sure about what they are trying, and able, to achieve with ag-data codes of practice. Ag-data codes of practice need credible administration, accreditation and monitoring. There also needs to be a way of reviewing and evaluating the codes in a more meaningful way than simple metrics such as the number of members: for example, we need to know something about whether the codes raise awareness and education around data practices, and, perhaps most importantly, whether they encourage changes in attitudes and behaviours around the access to and use of ag-data.

Formal Regulation of Third Party Litigation Funding Agreements? A South African Perspective

In South Africa third party litigation funding agreement as a tool that provides access to justice is not legislated with regard to non-lawyers. This article is based on research conducted to determine whether regulating this type of agreement would facilitate in fostering the policy that favours access to justice. A brief comparative study showed that English law permits third party litigation funding agreements in the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. However, unlike in South African law, English law also has a body that regulates the conclusion of third party litigation funding agreements. The Association of Litigation Funders introduced a voluntary Code of Conduct for Litigation Funders in 2011 and an updated one in 2016, which regulates the conclusion of third party litigation funding agreements. The Code of Conduct protects the litigant against abuse by the funder and the funder against non-compliance by the litigant. Despite being a "self-regulatory" legislative initiative that governs most of the funding agreements in England, this Code does not bind non-members of the Association. In South Africa there is no such voluntary regulation of third party litigation funding agreements. Consequently, litigants may be prejudiced by the litigation funder in instances where a funder receives a disproportionate percentage of the capital award. The study on which this article draws investigated whether there is a need for an effective legislative response that regulates third party litigation funding agreements in South Africa. It was found that there is a need for formal regulation with regard to third party litigation funding agreements because there are no clear guidelines on the conclusion of the agreements in South Africa.
 

Participatory action research and collaboration in CSR initiatives by DMOs

ABSTRACTThis study applies a participatory action research (PAR) approach to investigate a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative by a Norwegian destination management organization (DMO). This initiative concerns whale watching and refers to a voluntary code of conduct. The focus is on the features of the relevant institutional field and the discursive development of collaborative interactions among the actors who worked actively to the code of conduct. The aim is twofold: to gain a deep understanding of the processes of development and implementation of CSR initiatives at the destination level, and to reflect on the adoption of PAR in this context. The findings highlight the potential role of DMOs as leaders and consider some critically important factors (resources, support by public institutions and acceptance). The findings also suggest the usefulness of PAR in CSR studies in relation to explore and understand the complexity of the processes related to the development of the initiatives and the relevant actors’ behaviors.

Parametric analysis of design stage building energy performance simulation models

For many years, the practice of implementing a design stage building energy performance simulation (BEPS) model has been overshadowed by a perceived lack of accurate results, when predicted model figures are compared with actual usage, post-occupancy. With the worldwide push for more efficient buildings, this perception of lack of accuracy is becoming an important issue. Research has primarily focussed on the examination of post-occupancy calibrated models. In the construction industry, most BEPS models are built to show compliance with national standards and/or regulations, such as ASHRAE or the UK's Part L, or a voluntary code such as LEED™. This is done at the design stage, before construction has commenced, as compliance usually must be shown as part of the regulatory planning and early design process.Examining two very different buildings, a methodology has been devised to identify the groups of influential parameters within a design stage BEPS model and determine quantitatively, how influential these groups might be on the predicted energy usage.The study finds that many similar issues exist in both building's design models, even though the buildings are in different countries, of different operational characteristics and had design models built at differing levels of complexity. The process of developing the most accurate design stage BEPS model is broken down into nine possible model stages and each of the nine is quantitatively assessed. The study gives pertinent guidance to an energy modeller as to the likely accuracy of their model, depending on what data has been used in the model's creation.

Holding Food Companies Responsible for Unhealthy Food Marketing to Children: Can International Human Rights Instruments Provide a New Approach?

Public health advocates argue that unhealthy food marketing to children infringes children’s rights, given its link to obesity, and that states have an obligation under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (‘UNCRC’) to protect children from such marketing. This article explains how international human rights concepts could be used to impose obligations directly on companies to modify their practices to protect children from unhealthy food marketing. We draw on the global governance framework that creates human rights obligations for businesses, and evaluate voluntary codes and initiatives on responsible marketing to children in Australia, to see whether they satisfy the obligations imposed under this framework and the UNCRC. Finding significant limitations in these measures, we set out recommendations for how the food industry could take an approach to food marketing that places children’s best interests as a primary consideration.

Plain language emergency alert codes: The importance of direct impact statements in hospital emergency alerts.

The nature of an emergency is not predictable, and no two emergencies are alike. In response to this unpredictable nature, healthcare facilities across the nation have adopted a system of emergency codes to notify staff of an emergent situation, often without alerting patients and visitors to the crises. However, the system of emergency codes varies significantly within most states and even within healthcare coalition regions. This variation in codes leads to not only the potential for staff confusion, considering many healthcare providers work within multiple healthcare centers, but also decreases the amount of transparency a healthcare center projects to its patients and visitors. The research conducted as part of this study indicated that an overwhelming majority of healthcare professionals would prefer voluntary plain language emergency code standardization to the current individual code systems.

Natural Resource Access Rights and Wrongs: Nontimber Forest Products Gathering in Urban Environments

ABSTRACTThis article uses research about non-timber forest products (NTFP) gathering in Seattle, Washington, USA to examine how people gain access to natural resources in urban environments. Our analysis focuses on gathering in three spaces: parks, yards, and public rights of way. We present a framework for conceptualizing access, and highlight cognitive mechanisms of access associated with foragers’ internal moral judgments about harvesting. Key findings are: (1) internal moral calculations about whether it is right or wrong to harvest a particular NTFP in a particular place are an important but previously unacknowledged mechanism governing resource access; and (2) these calculations may help prevent over-harvesting of NTFPs, which are common pool resources, in urban environments where social and environmental conditions lend themselves to a de facto situation of open access. Our findings suggest that voluntary codes of conduct may be the best way to manage NTFP access in cities.

Formal regulation of third party litigation funding agreements? A South African perspective

In South Africa third party litigation funding agreement as a tool that provides access to justice is not legislated with regard to non-lawyers. This article is based on research conducted to determine whether regulating this type of agreement would facilitate in fostering the policy that favours access to justice. A brief comparative study showed that English law permits third party litigation funding agreements in the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. However, unlike in South African law, English law also has a body that regulates the conclusion of third party litigation funding agreements. The Association of Litigation Funders introduced a voluntary Code of Conduct for Litigation Funders in 2011 and an updated one in 2016, which regulates the conclusion of third party litigation funding agreements. The Code of Conduct protects the litigant against abuse by the funder and the funder against non-compliance by the litigant. Despite being a self-regulatory legislative initiative that governs most of the funding agreements in England, this Code does not bind non-members of the Association. In South Africa there is no such voluntary regulation of third party litigation funding agreements. Consequently, litigants may be prejudiced by the litigation funder in instances where a funder receives a disproportionate percentage of the capital award. The study on which this article draws investigated whether there is a need for an effective legislative response that regulates third party litigation funding agreements in South Africa. It was found that there is a need for formal regulation with regard to third party litigation funding agreements because there are no clear guidelines on the conclusion of the agreements in South Africa. Keywords : Access to justice; champerty; maintenance; non-lawyers; pactum de quota litis; public policy; third party litigation funding agreements.

Wytyczne ONZ dotyczące Biznesu i Praw Człowieka - implementacja Krajowych Planów Działania przez Polskę i Włochy

The question of responsibility of multinational corporations (MNC) for human rights abuses is still a hotly debated issue today. However, the core problem arises from the question whether MNC should be responsible for violations of human rights obligations because the necessity to regulate its actions not only on national, but also on international plane, is no longer challenged. Still, the problem remains how to effectively impose human rights obligations on companies. Should this be done only by national legislation, voluntary code of conducts, regulations of international organizations, international non-binding initiatives, or by binding obligations imposed by treaty? There have been various attempts to deal with the issue of the multinational corporations and human rights, on different levels. Various international or non-government organizations have addressed that issue. However, the most important and prominent initiatives were undertaken within the UN. An important UN initiative regarding business and Human Rights is the UN Global Compact, a voluntary framework for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.

Impact of Automobile Recalls on Stock Prices: A Study in the Indian Context

Not so long ago, ‘product recalls’ in the Indian automobile sector were a novelty. The defective vehicles were repaired as part of the after-sales service. In the absence of a strong regulatory framework, the manufacturers were under no obligation to proactively initiate product recalls. The introduction of a voluntary code on product recalls by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in 2012 and introduction/amendments in the existing legal regimen of the country in recent years have led companies to take more than just baby steps towards product recalls. Product recalls are a case of management failure. There is a need for gauging the impact of this failure on the stock price of the manufacturers, especially in the Indian context where the recall phenomenon is poised to gain further momentum. The event study methodology is a widely used approach to assess the impact of a particular event/announcement on the stock price. This methodology was used in the present study to gauge whether abnormal stock returns accrued to the manufacturers during 13 product recall announcements made in the Indian automobile sector between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2015. The study found that product recall announcements generated small and statistically insignificant cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) of –0.02 per cent in the (–1, +1) event window, 0.92 per cent in the (–2, +2) event window and 1.70 per cent in the (–5, +5) event window. The study found no substantial or statistically significant difference in the CAR generated during big recalls and small recalls. Furthermore, the study found little evidence that CAR generated during recalls where defective component(s) in the vehicle were repaired is positive as compared to CAR generated when such component(s) were replaced.

Managing intra-EU mobility\u2014do WHO principles of ethical recruitment have relevance?

BackgroundThe WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel provides for guidance in health workforce management and cooperation in the international context. This article aims to examine whether the principles of the voluntary WHO Global Code of Practice can be applied to trigger health policy decisions within the EU zone of free movement of persons.MethodsIn the framework of the Joint Action on European Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting project (Grant Agreement: JA EUHWF 20122201 (see healthworkforce.eu)), focus group discussions were organised with over 30 experts representing ministries, universities and professional and international organisations. Ideas were collected about the applicability of the principles and with the aim to find EU law compatible, relevant solutions using a qualitative approach based on a standardised, semi-structured interview guide and pre-defined statements.ResultsBased on implementation practices summarised, focus group experts concluded that positive effects of adhering to the Code can be identified and useful ideas—compatible with EU law—exist to manage intra-EU mobility. The most relevant areas for intervention include bilateral cooperations, better use of EU financial resources, improved retention and integration policies and better data flow and monitoring.Improving retention is of key importance; however, ethical considerations should also apply within the EU. Compensation of source countries can be a solution to further elaborate on when developing EU financial mechanisms. Intra-EU circular mobility might be feasible and made more transparent if directed by tailor-made, institutional-level bilateral cooperations adjusted to different groups and profiles of health professionals. Integration policies should be improved as discrimination still exists when offering jobs despite the legal environment facilitating the recognition of professional qualifications. A system of feedback on registration/licencing data should be promoted providing for more evidence on intra-EU mobility and support its management.ConclusionsWorkforce planning in EU Member States can be supported, and more equitable distribution of the workforce can be provided by building policy decisions on the principles of the WHO Code. Political commitment has to be strengthened in EU countries to adopt implementation solutions for intra-EU problems. Long-term benefits of respecting global principles of the Code should be better demonstrated in order to incentivise all parties to follow such long-term objectives.

The impact of corporate governance code on earnings management in listed non-financial firms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether voluntary corporate governance (CG) code issued in 2002 constrain earnings management (EM) among listed non-finance companies in Kenya.Design/methodology/approachUsing a panel data of 338-firm year’s observations between 2005 and 2014, the authors test the hypothesis that CG constrains EM in non-finance firms listed in Kenya. The authors regress discretionary accruals (DA) against a developed Corporate Governance Index (CGI).FindingsThe overall results show that DA is not significantly related to CG suggesting the voluntary CG code does not deter EM in non-finance companies in Kenya.Practical implicationsEvidence of income decreasing\\increasing accruals implies EM still exists among the listed firms. This suggests that policymakers may need to consider radical actions including alternative or new CG approaches and new institutions to improve the effectiveness of CG.Originality/valueThis study extends existing studies by including composite CG as possible explanatory variable for constraining EM. The authors contribute to the debate by demonstrating that the voluntary CG code in Kenya is not effective in constraining DA and therefore the current initiatives by the regulator to change the current CG code are appropriately directed.

Malt Beverage Brand Popularity Among Youth and Youth-Appealing Advertising Content.

This study examined whether alcohol brands more popular among youth are more likely to have aired television advertisements that violated the alcohol industry's voluntary code by including youth-appealing content. We obtained a complete list of 288 brand-specific beer advertisements broadcast during the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's and women's basketball tournaments from 1999 to 2008. All ads were rated by a panel of health professionals using a modified Delphi method to assess the presence of youth-appealing content in violation of the alcohol industry's voluntary code. The ads represented 23 alcohol brands. The popularity of these brands was operationalized as the brand-specific popularity of youth alcohol consumption in the past 30days, as determined by a 2011 to 2012 national survey of underage drinkers. Brand-level popularity was used as the exposure variable to predict the odds of having advertisements with youth-appealing content violations. Accounting for other covariates and the clustering of advertisements within brands, increased brand popularity among underage youth was associated with significantly increased odds of having youth-appeal content violations in ads televised during the NCAA basketball tournament games (adjusted odds ratio=1.70, 95% CI: 1.38, 2.09). Alcohol brands popular among underage drinkers are more likely to air television advertising that violates the industry's voluntary code which proscribes youth-appealing content.

The UK Stewardship Code and investee earnings quality

PurposeThe UK Stewardship Code was the first voluntary governance code specifically for institutional investors. The Code sets out the principles of effective stewardship by institutional investors toward their investee companies with the aim of improving long-term risk-adjusted returns to shareholders. This paper aims to examine whether compliance by institutional investors with UK Stewardship Code is related to the earnings quality of their investee companies.Design/methodology/approachThe association between institutional investor Code compliance and Code compliance quality and investee company accruals quality is investigated.FindingsFor a sample of large UK listed companies from 2013, the authors find reasonably high levels of compliance with the Code by institutional investors. The analysis does not suggest that Code compliance is positively related to investee company earnings quality. Rather, the finding is that substantial or long-term investments are more likely to result in effective stewardship regardless of Code compliance.Originality/valueThis study offers valuable insights regarding the efficacy of the Stewardship Code’s policy approach to improving corporate governance by institutional investors.