Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „Corporate administration”

Business leaders in the United States compete in a global marketplace for goods and services as well as in recruiting and retaining talented workers. The most experienced workers can usually be selective in choosing their employers. In 2000, awareness of corporate environmental issues began increasing substantially. Many prospective employees seek corporate leaders who are genuinely committed to running companies that focus on reducing negative environmental impacts. Business leaders have been increasingly using corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports to document their commitment to environmental responsibility. The purpose of this quantitative, experimental study was to examine working professionals' perceived attraction to a firm based on the level of credibility of the company's CSR report and whether any such effects differ based on employee qualification. Two hundred and eighty full time employees from two companies and members of a Department of Defense networking group completed the survey. Analysis of covariance, controlling for the effects of age and gender was used for evaluating the effects of the CSR status on attraction to a company. The results from this study indicate that an increase in credibility of a CSR report did not significantly relate to an increase in attraction to a company. In addition, the qualification level of the employee did not appear to have an influence on organizational attraction to a company that mentioned its corporate sustainability activities. This research contributes to theoretical research in organizational attraction and corporate environmental sustainability activities.

The globalization of the business community has intensified the competitive business environment. Corporations now face not only national but also international competition. As corporations strive to both survive and grow, they continuously seek new avenues for both top line revenue growth and expense control. Corporate Real Estate (CRE) is a significant component of corporate costs, often cited as being the second largest cost after payrolls. As a result of these competitive pressures and the desire to control real estate costs, Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) emerged as a recognized management discipline in the 1980s and 1990s. With the relatively recent advent of CRE as a separate management discipline, a wide variety of theories and models have been advanced that seek to explain the practice of CREM leadership, strategy, and performance management (PM). The purpose of this study was to further the development of the CREM discipline by identifying contemporary challenges that CRE leaders face. The study also examined the leadership practices and strategies they use to respond to these challenges, and the methods they use to measure the overall success of their strategies and leadership practices. Recommendations they would make to other CRE leaders to help them achieve success in their organizations conclude the study. The study was conducted as a qualitative phenomenological study. Data was collected from 14 senior CRE leaders by means of semi-structured telephone interviews. Subsequent analysis of the interview data resulted in 49 themes being identified of which 24 were considered major themes. The findings of the study are intended to guide the further development of the practice of CREM.

The research study involved an investigation into the relationship between corporate culture and organizational efficiency in the Japanese securities industry as it adapts to survive in the competitive international market. Using the materialist conception of history, a case study approach was used to examine the roots of Nikko’s corporate culture as it developed prior to the introduction of the modern management system. Working in compliance with a licensing system that served to preserve the status quo, Nikko officials experienced industry scandals, which encouraged Japanese securities executives to introduce American modern management systems. The purpose of the mixed method study was to understand the qualitative and quantitative changes in the management operations of Nikko Cordial affected by the corporate culture before and after the change in management. Insights into Nikko’s situation were gained from analyzing the records of Nikko Cordial with those of the Nomura and Daiwa securities companies.

Using a system of dialectics, organizational inefficiency and low profitability were discovered as triggers for the corporate scandals, despite the introduction of the modern management system. Based upon the analysis of Nikko’s case, an inductive conclusion was drawn that organizational efficiency and profitability were considered important factors to sustain a successful business model in the financial business field. The inevitability of regulation as one of the five cost factors necessary to enhance profitability for financial businesses was confirmed by the dialectical approach. The corporate culture is a key catalyst to reduce the costs involved in organizational efficiency and integrity.

This dissertation suggests that the greening of the corporate governance mechanisms—meaning efforts to tie executive compensation to environmental targets (incentive) and to enhance board responsibility over environmental performance (monitoring)—induces managers to comply with pressures to lower toxic emissions in the U.S. high polluting industries.

Although emphasis has been placed on the benefits of greater use of both incentive and monitoring mechanisms to improve corporate environmental performance, there is little consideration given to the potential costs associated with their implementation. I argue that mechanisms of incentive in the form of environmental compensation may serve as substitute of mechanisms of monitoring by the environmental board committee.

However, contrary to my expectations, results show that incentive and monitoring are positively associated. Nonetheless, I suggest that these mechanisms are most effective in improving environmental performance when adopted under specific circumstances of environmental risk. I found that the existence of environmental compensation is positively associated with firms' environmental risk. Furthermore, there is weak evidence showing that environmental board committees are more prevalent in firms that face conditions of moderate environmental risk.

This dissertation employs a panel regression model with random-effects. The sample consists of the S&P500 firms that are required to report toxic emissions to the Toxic Release Inventory, years 2006 to 2011. Data was collected from proxy statements, annual reports, and various other databases.

This thesis has been published by Md Abdul Baten & Clara Chidinma Amadi.

Companies experience a problem implementing corporate social responsibility reporting standards due to geographical differences, an over-abundance of guidelines, regulatory disparities, and varying levels of stakeholder requirements. These diverse conditions result in inadequate reporting of sustainability efforts and a lack of consistency of what actually gets reported. This exploratory, qualitative case study was based on a theoretical framework consisting of Freeman’s stakeholder theory, Suchman’s legitimacy theory, and Spence’s signaling theory. The sample consisted of six respondents from a research population of 100 multinational corporations (MNCs) with successful reporting practices. The instrument used was a researcher-developed questionnaire. The study addresses three research questions: How did leadership identify sustainability reporting standards, guidelines, or frameworks that would be appropriate for their company; how did the needs of the company’s stakeholders for reporting differ from the standards selected; and what CSR activities, indicators, or disclosures are not being included in the guideline that the company might want to report based on the needs of the stakeholders? Based on the results, nine themes emerged: (a) External motivational factors and stakeholders are critical to deciding which reporting guideline to use; (b) the CSR reporting method chosen is selected in order to meet the needs of the most influential actors; (c) companies augment reports with self-created KPIs based on influential actors and situational requirements; (d) the CSR reporting process requires greater internal collaboration within an organization; (e) changes to business strategy and resource allocation may be necessary; (f) both external and internal stakeholders are a source of valuable input and feedback regarding the produced reports; (g) collecting material and nonmaterial data is useful in producing reports and improving transparency; (h) companies want to see the impacts of their use competitors’ CSR activities and to use their reports to improve their own CSR activities and reports; and (i) standardization of reporting guidelines would benefit all stakeholders by allowing companies to become more transparent, improve comparisons between companies, and provide incentive to improve CSR processes. This research contributes to the growing body of knowledge on CSR reporting and allows companies to better understand CSR reporting process in their own environments.

This dissertation consists of two chapters that concern with the consumption cycle and corporate finance. The first chapter analyzes the role of durability in characterizing the consumption cycle. There is strong empirical evidence demonstrating that decreases in residential investments and durable expenditures are early indicators of economic downturns. Analogously, once the economy goes into recession, early increases in residential investments and durable expenditures signal economic recoveries. So far, little work has been done detailing the mechanisms explaining these important empirical stylized facts. In this article, I develop a general equilibrium asset pricing production model that includes durability and substitutability between perishable and durable service consumption. Results indicate that large shocks in the productivity of the capital accumulation process and a high elasticity of intertemporal substitution are both needed to create the correct timing of changes in durable expenditures and nondurable consumption characterized in the data. The study also uses this general equilibrium model as a framework to make predictions about the term structure of forward contracts settled on a national housing price index. Such work will create a foundation for further developing this important derivatives market.

The second chapter analyzes the link between debt maturity and the term spread. This chapter is co-authored with Pratish Anilkumar Patel. Evidence shows that a firm's debt maturity and term spread are intricately linked. Firms issue short term debt when the term spread is significantly positive and they increase maturity as the term spread decreases. The current literature explains this link with market frictions such as agency problems, asymmetric information, and liquidity risk. We explain the link between debt maturity and term spread using the trade-off theory of capital structure. When the term spread is small or even negative, transaction costs of debt rollover outweigh bankruptcy costs. Therefore, the firm optimally chooses to increase debt maturity. On the other hand, when the term spread is significantly positive, bankruptcy costs outweigh transaction costs of debt rollover. Therefore shorter debt maturity is optimal as it minimizes the chance of bankruptcy. In addition, we contribute to the current discussion in the literature concerning the speed of adjustments of capital structure, finding that firms are active in adjusting their capital structure. The model is consistent with a variety of stylized facts concerning debt maturity.

This research study examined the ecological damage in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria for the past over 50 years, which has resulted from oil exploration activities. It presents a detail review and analysis and a partial solution to the crisis that has metamorphosed from the neglect and abject environmental destruction the Niger Delta of Nigeria. The toll of environmental damage brought to the indigenes of the Niger Delta was investigated as well as the clamor of the indigenes against Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria. The study’s objective was to identify the gap that exists between corporate social responsibility programs (CSR) of SPDC and the needs and aspirations of the indigenes of the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta and the reason that the Niger Delta has become unfriendly with the SPDC. The research unveils this gap as the absence of holistic management and suggests how a holistic concept in management could significantly add to the solution of the existing conflict between the indigenes and SPDC. The researcher conducted a qualitative research that focused on stakeholders’ perceptions, which succinctly sifted the reasons for the consequential unrest in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. In order to address the prevailing problems, the researcher used descriptions, interpretations and transparency techniques for the purpose, analysis, and conclusions.

At the beginning of the twenty first century, there was an ongoing debate concerning the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in achieving sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). While external stakeholders required corporations to balance economic, social and environmental dimensions, research indicated a considerable gap about how CSR initiatives could be used to contribute to the community and the corporation’s SCA. The specific problem that was addressed in this study is how CSR initiatives can be used to contribute to the community in the form of sustainable development and the corporation’s SCA. The purpose of this qualitative study, utilizing a single embedded descriptive case study research design, was to achieve a deeper understanding on how CSR initiatives are planned, aligned and implemented in large MNCs in the cement industry and how these initiatives may contribute to the community in the form of sustainable development and the corporation’s SCA. The study used stakeholder theory as the theoretical framework and was based on semi-structured interviews with 24 participants: six executive managers from three MNCs in the cement industry and 18 employed community inhabitants in the areas corresponding to three study corporations. Corporations and participants were purposively selected. The study findings clearly indicated that the strategic approach to CSR (i.e., aligning the corporation goals with the goals of the community) may balance economic value creation with the expectations of local communities. These findings revealed that corporate leaders may likely develop “mutually beneficial” relationships with potential stakeholders. As a result, the corporation can improve reputation and access to finance, capital, market and resources, as well as reduce operational risks and attract better employees. On the other hand, the community can get safe and affordable products and services, access to better job offerings, clean environment and a better quality of life. Understanding how CSR initiatives are planned, aligned and implemented in large MNCs in the cement industry may positively impact the community and the corporation’s SCA. Future research was recommended to explore the elements of organizational culture (i.e., values and beliefs) that affect the sustainable management practices of large MNCs.

This study built upon the Project GLOBE (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004) analysis by using a Web-based version of the GLOBE Questionnaire in order to examine the extent to which the cultural values and practices of middle managers in a multinational organization vary depending on (a) their cultural background and the region in which they work, (b) whether they were a member of a recently acquired company, and (c) the number of years employed by the multinational organization. Multinational organizations face the unique challenge of operating in societies that have different sets of cultural norms, expectations, beliefs, and values. Just as societies have distinct cultures, so do organizations. Individuals working in organizations are influenced by the organizational culture as well as by the societal culture and competition between these 2 sets of distinct cultures can dramatically impact the success or failure of an acquisition, a strategic alliance, or any other initiative involving multiple cultures. Focusing on data from over 200 middle managers from the United States parent organization, and the regional organizations in Ireland, France, and Japan, a secondary analysis shows that an individual's values and beliefs tend to be more closely aligned with the corporate culture of the parent organization than with the societal culture of the regional organization. Additionally, an examination of the culture of an acquired company shows that there are no statistically significant differences in cultural practices, and only 2 statistically significant differences in cultural values, several years after the acquisition. Finally, the results from this study show that statistically significant differences for cultural practices and values between individual respondents and the overall organization tend to be most prevalent among middle managers with 5 to 10 years of service with the organization.

Corporate social responsibility programs have become an integral part of large and multi-national companies. This has been in response to two issues: unethical business practices and the growing concern of stakeholders in companies’ services, products, and activities. There has been an absence of corporate social responsibility programs in medium-sized enterprises, particularly in the United States. Many executives in U.S. medium-sized enterprises find it unnecessary to initiate programs of this type. This study focused on the types of corporate social responsibility programs that exist in medium-sized enterprises and the impact executives believe corporate social responsibility programs have on their companies. The purpose of the study was to identify the reasons why medium-sized enterprises lack corporate social responsibility programs. The study used interviews of executives of medium-sized enterprises in Northeast Ohio. The literature review presents the history of corporate social responsibility programs and the theoretical concept, stakeholder theory, which has allowed these type of programs to develop into their present state along with the advantages and benefits of the programs. The study is significant because the lack of a corporate social responsibility program is detrimental to the success of medium-sized companies. Findings suggest companies have realized financial benefits, realized competitive advantages, and created goodwill through the implementation and maintenance of corporate social responsibility programs.

As healthcare consulting continues to grow, the improvement in healthcare companies’ finances, information technology, marketing, and management continues to increase as well. Despite this increase, one form of healthcare consulting is lacking. This is where HC³ (Healthcare Corporate Culture Consulting) steps in. HC³ will act as a consulting firm that will focus on the improvement of a healthcare company’s culture and operations. It will work with different types of healthcare companies to improve their strategy, marketing, culture, training, and talent development. The following business proposal aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of how HC³ or Healthcare Corporate Culture Consulting aspires to change the way healthcare is operated today. The business proposal has been organized in four chapters: market analysis, feasibility analysis, legal and regulatory analysis, and financial analysis, so as to detail exactly how these changes will be carried out.