Historically, management theory has ignored the constraints imposed by the biophysical (natural) environment. Building upon resource-based theory, this article attempts to fill this void by proposing a natural-resource-based view of the firm—a theory of competitive advantage based upon the firm's relationship to the natural environment. It is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development. Propositions are advanced for each of these strategies regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.

A natural resource-based view of the firm

There has been considerable research in respect of voluntary disclosure by companies and factors that may explain such disclosure. However, most of the research has been centred in developed countries. This study extends the previous literature by examining voluntary disclosure in a developing country, namely Kenya. Over the last decade, the Kenyan Government has initiated several far-reaching reforms at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) in order to mobilise domestic savings and attract foreign capital investment. These measures include privatisation of state corporations through the stock exchange and allowing foreign investors to own shares in the listed companies. This study provides a longitudinal examination of voluntary disclosure practices in the annual reports of listed companies in Kenya from 1992 to 2001. The study investigates the extent to which corporate governance attributes, ownership structure and company characteristics influence voluntary disclosure practices.

Our results suggest that the extent of voluntary disclosure is influenced by a firm's corporate governance attributes, ownership structure and company characteristics. The presence of an audit committee is a significant factor associated with the level of voluntary disclosure, and the proportion of non-executive directors on the board is found to be significantly negatively associated with the extent of voluntary disclosure. The study also finds that the levels of institutional and foreign ownership have a significantly positive impact on voluntary disclosure. Large companies and companies with high debt voluntarily disclose more information. In contrast, board leadership structure, liquidity, profitability and type of external audit firm do not have a significant influence on the level of voluntary disclosure by companies in Kenya.

Factors Influencing Voluntary Corporate Disclosure by Kenyan Companies

The purpose and functions of the Highway Research Board's Committee on Conduct of Research are set forth, and papers sponsored by the Committee and presented at the Annual Meetings of the Highway Research Board are mentioned. The Committee, which seeks to improve the quality and effectiveness of research, serves as a forum for the exhange of ideas and the delineation of the problems associated with the various methods of organizing and administering research programs, the consideration of project design and instrumentation, and the application of research findings in the transportation field. The Committee has sponsored Annual Meeting sessions (in 1969, 1973, and 1974) on various aspects (selection, design, and supervision of projects as well as the implementation of results and evaluation of the benefits) of research management. Papers presented at the 1969 sessions were published in Highway Research Record 338. Eight papers presented at the 1973 sessions are included in this publication.

Management of research. introduction

This paper proposes a systematic framework for the analysis of tensions in corporate sustainability. The framework is based on the emerging integrative view on corporate sustainability, which stresses the need for a simultaneous integration of economic, environmental and social dimensions without, a priori, emphasising one over any other. The integrative view presupposes that firms need to accept tensions in corporate sustainability and pursue different sustainability aspects simultaneously even if they seem to contradict each other. The framework proposed in this paper goes beyond the traditional triad of economic, environmental and social dimensions and argues that tensions in corporate sustainability occur between different levels, in change processes and within a temporal and spatial context. The framework provides vital groundwork for managing tensions in corporate sustainability based on paradox strategies. The paper then applies the framework to identify and characterise four selected tensions and illustrates how key approaches from the literature on strategic contradictions, tensions and paradoxes—i.e., acceptance and resolution strategies—can be used to manage these tensions. Thereby, it refines the emerging literature on the integrative view for the management of tensions in corporate sustainability. The framework also provides managers with a better understanding of tensions in corporate sustainability and enables them to embrace these tensions in their decision making.

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Tensions in Corporate Sustainability: Towards an Integrative Framework

What is Organizational Identity

This paper investigates whether the voluntary disclosure of ratios in corporate annual reports can be explained by agency and signalling theory. The two theories are discussed and the applicability to explaining ratio disclosures considered. Drawing on agency and signalling theory, seven hypotheses are tested using data collected over five years, for 313 UK companies. More specifically, associations are considered between ratio disclosure and the following characteristics: company profitability; return on investment; gearing; liquidity; company efficiency; size and industry. The paper finds some evidence of an association between ratio disclosure and company performance, size and industry. The implications of these findings are considered and areas of further research discussed.

Voluntary disclosure of accounting ratios in the uk

Retail franchising: an intellectual capital perspective

Purpose – Utilizing the stimulus-organism-response model, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of augmented reality (AR) (specifically augmentation) on consumers’ affective and behavioral response and to assess whether consumers’ hedonic motivation for shopping moderates this
relationship.

Design/methodology/approach – An experiment using the manipulation of AR and no AR was conducted with 162 participants aged between 18 and 35. Participants were recruited through snowball sampling and randomly assigned to the control or stimulus group. The hypothesized associations were analyzed using linear regression with bootstrapping.

Findings – The paper demonstrates the benefit of using an experiential AR retail application (app) to positively impact purchase intention. The results show that this effect is mediated by positive affective response. Furthermore, hedonic shopping motivation moderates the relationship between augmentation and
the positive affective response.

Research limitations/implications – Because of the chosen research approach, the results may lack generalizability to other forms of augmentation. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed model using different types of AR stimuli. Furthermore, replication of the study with other populations would
increase the generalizability of the findings.

Practical implications – Results of this study provide a valuable reference for retailers of the benefits of using AR when attempting to optimize experiential value in online environments.

Originality/value – The study contributes to experiential retail and consumer purchase behavior research by deepening the conceptualization of the impact of experiential technologies, more specifically AR apps, by considering the role of hedonic shopping motivations.

/pdf/the-impact-of-experiential-augmented-reality-applications-on-22ggv4npru.pdf

The impact of experiential augmented reality applications on fashion purchase intention

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the franchisor's perception of the role of entrepreneurial strategic orientation (EO) – innovative, risk‐taking, and proactive actions – within the special case of franchised firms, given the opposing forces for standardisation/uniformity and system innovation/adaptation.Design/methodology/approach – A cross‐sectional research design, involving a mail questionnaire survey, was employed to collect data from a sample of franchisors operating in the UK. The hypotheses specified in the study were tested using a path model.Findings – The results show that for franchise organisations, EO is positively related to performance. The recent meta‐analysis conducted by Rauch et al. also demonstrated that the correlation of EO with performance is fairly large (r=0.242). This correlation is consistent with the significant value reported in the study of 0.234. In addition, franchise system support structures were found to be important in fostering EO within the organis...

/pdf/entrepreneurial-orientation-and-the-franchise-system-ek9r8tx8pt.pdf

Entrepreneurial Orientation and the Franchise System : Organisational Antecedents and Performance Outcomes

Since the emergence of the relationship marketing paradigm, researchers have increasingly considered why some efforts at relationship marketing are more successful than others. This article explores this subject within the context of a particular form of relational exchange—the franchisor–franchisee relationship. Though the importance of good franchisor–franchisee relations have long been recognized as critical to the success of franchise systems, little attention has been given as to how this can be achieved. This article, by applying a relationship marketing framework, seeks to provide new insights into those factors that influence relationship quality and considers how relationships may evolve over time. The case analysis suggests that the quality of the franchise relationship is impacted by a number of factors but that effective communication is critical in ensuring shared values and, therefore, a relationship characterized by trust and commitment. Leadership also emerges as being very important in sh...

Anna Watson

Papers

Voluntary disclosure of accounting ratios in the uk

Retail franchising: an intellectual capital perspective

The impact of experiential augmented reality applications on fashion purchase intention

Entrepreneurial Orientation and the Franchise System : Organisational Antecedents and Performance Outcomes

Managing the Franchisor–Franchisee Relationship: A Relationship Marketing Perspective