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Showing papers on "Corporate governance published in 2020"


Book
09 Jan 2020
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors define corporate communication as "defining corporate communication in contemporary organizations" and "corporate identity, branding and corporate reputation" and discuss the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and community relations.
Abstract: Part I: Introduction Chapter 1: Defining Corporate Communication Chapter 2: Corporate Communication in Contemporary Organizations Part II: Conceptual Foundations Chapter 3: Stakeholder Management and Communication Chapter 4: Corporate Identity, Branding and Corporate Reputation Part III: Corporate Communication in Practice Chapter 5: Communication Strategy Chapter 6: Strategic Planning and Campaign Management Chapter 7: Research and Measurement Part IV: Specialist Areas in Corporate Communications Chapter 8: Media Relations Chapter 9: Employee Communication Chapter 10: Issues Management Chapter 11: Crisis Communication Part V: New Developments in Corporate Communication Chapter 12: Leadership and Change Communication Chapter 13: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Community Relations Chapter 14: Social Media and Corporate Communication

445 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Apr 2020
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the responses in East Asian countries, in China, Japan and South Korea, and provided some commonalities and lessons, and found that a few governance decisions in respective countries made a difference, along with strong community solidarity and community behavior.
Abstract: Corona Virus (CODID-19) was first reported in Wuhan in December 2019, then spread in different parts of China, and gradually became a global pandemic in March 2020. While the death toll is still increasing, the epicenter of casualty has shifted from Asia to Europe, and that of the affected people has shifted to USA. This paper analyzes the responses in East Asian countries, in China, Japan and South Korea, and provides some commonalities and lessons. While countries have different governance mechanism, it was found that a few governance decisions in respective countries made a difference, along with strong community solidarity and community behavior. Extensive use of emerging technologies is made along with medical/health care treatment to make the response more effective and reduce the risk of the spread of the disease. Although the pandemic was a global one, its responses were local, depending on the local governance, socio-economic and cultural context.

329 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used Thomson Reuters ASSET4 ESG ratings to analyze the influence of firm size, a company's available resources for providing ESG data, and the availability of a company’s ESGdata on the company's sustainability performance.
Abstract: The concept of sustainable and responsible (SR) investments expresses that every investment should be based on the SR investor’s code of ethics. To a large extent the allocation of SR investments to more sustainable companies and ethical practices is based on the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) scores provided by rating agencies. However, a thorough investigation of ESG scores is a neglected topic in the literature. This paper uses Thomson Reuters ASSET4 ESG ratings to analyze the influence of firm size, a company’s available resources for providing ESG data, and the availability of a company’s ESG data on the company’s sustainability performance. We find a significant positive correlation between the stated variables, which can be explained by organizational legitimacy. The results raise the question of whether the way the ESG score measures corporate sustainability gives an advantage to larger firms with more resources while not providing SR investors with the information needed to make decisions based on their beliefs. Due to our results, SR investors and scholars should reopen the discussion about: what sustainability rating agencies measure with ESG scores, what exactly needs to be measured, and if the sustainable finance community can reach their self-imposed objectives with this measurement.

307 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that even ‘well optimized’ moderation systems could exacerbate, rather than relieve, many existing problems with content policy as enacted by platforms, as it is demonstrated these systems remain opaque, unaccountable and poorly understood.
Abstract: As government pressure on major technology companies builds, both firms and legislators are searching for technical solutions to difficult platform governance puzzles such as hate speech and misinf...

271 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The government managed to control the pandemic rather quickly by adopting a suppression strategy, followed by a control strategy, based on a collaborative and pragmatic decision‐making style, successful communication with the public, a lot of resources and a high level of citizens' trust in government.
Abstract: This paper addresses how the Norwegian government has handled the corona pandemic. Compared to many other countries Norway performs well in handling the crises and this must be understood in the context of competent politicians, a high trust society with a reliable and professional bureaucracy, a strong state, a good economic situation, a big welfare state and low density of the population. The government managed to control the pandemic rather quickly by adopting a suppression strategy, followed by a control strategy, based on a collaborative and pragmatic decision-making style, successful communication with the public, a lot of resources and a high level of citizens' trust in government. The alleged success of the Norwegian case is about the relationship between crisis management capacity and legitimacy. Crisis management is most successful when it is able to combine democratic legitimacy with government capacity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

232 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Li et al. as discussed by the authors survey corporate governance in China, as described in a growing literature published in top journals, and discuss how law and institutions are particularly important for China, where controlling shareholders have great power.
Abstract: This article surveys corporate governance in China, as described in a growing literature published in top journals. Unlike the classical vertical agency problems in Western countries, the dominant agency problem in China is the horizontal agency conflict between controlling and minority shareholders arising from concentrated ownership structure; thus one cannot automatically apply what is known about the USA to China. As these features are also prevalent in many other countries, insights from this survey can also be applied to countries far beyond China. We start by describing controlling shareholder and agency problems in China, and then discuss how law and institutions are particularly important for China, where controlling shareholders have great power. As state-owned enterprises have their own features, we separately discuss their corporate governance. We also briefly discuss corporate social responsibility in China. Finally, we provide an agenda for future research.

221 citations


Book ChapterDOI
23 Sep 2020
TL;DR: The Governance of Complexity and the Complexity of Governance: Preliminary Remarks on some Problems and Limits of Economic Guidance as discussed by the authors, published by the Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YN, at http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/papers/Jessop-governance-of-complexity.pdf
Abstract: • you should observe the conventions of academic citation in a version of the following form: Bob Jessop, 'The Governance of Complexity and the Complexity of Governance: Preliminary Remarks on some Problems and Limits of Economic Guidance', published by the Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YN, at http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/papers/Jessop-Governance-ofComplexity.pdf

218 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is argued that Brazil’s governance of the COVID-19 pandemic can best be described as governance without (central) government, and what this collapse of public health reveals about the limitations of democratic governance in the age of Bolsonaro is reflected.
Abstract: Brazil's governance of the COVID-19 pandemic has been described as nothing short of tragic by several commentators. President Jair Bolsonaro's dangerous brew of neoliberal authoritarianism, science denialism and ableism has plunged this country into catastrophe. In this article we argue that this form (or lack) of public health governance can best be described as governance without (central) government. We begin with an overview of public health governance in the country before introducing the main theoretical concepts that guide our analysis, namely the notions of 'government by exception' and 'strategic ignorance'. Finally, we sketch the main features of this emerging form of (non)governance of COVID-19. We highlight the new forms of solidarity and mutual aid that have emerged in favelas and Indigenous communities, which have stepped in to fill the void left by a limited federal presence. The article concludes by reflecting on what this collapse of public health reveals about the limitations of democratic governance in the age of Bolsonaro.

204 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Observations of responses to COVID-19 are used to reflect on agility and adaptive governance and provide tools to evaluate it after the dust has settled, pointing to the paradoxical nature of adaptive governance.

197 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The contribution of business and management scholars to the discussion surrounding the sustainable development goals and their impact for business organizations has grown exponentially in the last years as discussed by the authors, through bibliometric and systematic literature review methods, the scientific knowledge about SDGs and the business sector, analyzing 266 articles published in leading journals between 2012 and 2019.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review the literature on economic theories and 40 years of practice of Chinese SOEs and discuss implications for future research, including SOE reform, performance and financing strategies, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility in SOEs.
Abstract: State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are important components of the Chinese economy. Although SOEs are generally considered inefficient in operations, China’s economy, which relies heavily on SOEs, has been highly successful over the last four decades. This indicates the importance of SOEs in China’s past and future economic success. Therefore, in this study, we review the literature on economic theories and 40 years of practice of Chinese SOEs and discuss implications for future research. Our review consists of four parts: the theories of SOEs and their reform, the performance and financing strategies of SOEs, corporate governance in SOEs, and corporate social responsibility in SOEs.

Journal ArticleDOI
16 Oct 2020
TL;DR: 15 recommendations are intended to increase the reliability, safety, and trustworthiness of HCAI systems: reliable systems based on sound software engineering practices, safety culture through business management strategies, and trustworthy certification by independent oversight.
Abstract: This article attempts to bridge the gap between widely discussed ethical principles of Human-centered AI (HCAI) and practical steps for effective governance. Since HCAI systems are developed and implemented in multiple organizational structures, I propose 15 recommendations at three levels of governance: team, organization, and industry. The recommendations are intended to increase the reliability, safety, and trustworthiness of HCAI systems: (1) reliable systems based on sound software engineering practices, (2) safety culture through business management strategies, and (3) trustworthy certification by independent oversight. Software engineering practices within teams include audit trails to enable analysis of failures, software engineering workflows, verification and validation testing, bias testing to enhance fairness, and explainable user interfaces. The safety culture within organizations comes from management strategies that include leadership commitment to safety, hiring and training oriented to safety, extensive reporting of failures and near misses, internal review boards for problems and future plans, and alignment with industry standard practices. The trustworthiness certification comes from industry-wide efforts that include government interventions and regulation, accounting firms conducting external audits, insurance companies compensating for failures, non-governmental and civil society organizations advancing design principles, and professional organizations and research institutes developing standards, policies, and novel ideas. The larger goal of effective governance is to limit the dangers and increase the benefits of HCAI to individuals, organizations, and society.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is argued that this requires transdisciplinary research (at pace), including explicit consideration of the aforementioned socio‐ethical issues, data governance and business models, alongside addressing technical issues, as the authors now have to simultaneously deal with multiple interacting outcomes in complex technical, social, economic and governance systems.
Abstract: The world needs to produce more food, more sustainably, on a planet with scarce resources and under changing climate. The advancement of technologies, computing power and analytics offers the possibility that 'digitalisation of agriculture' can provide new solutions to these complex challenges. The role of science is to evidence and support the design and use of digital technologies to realise these beneficial outcomes and avoid unintended consequences. This requires consideration of data governance design to enable the benefits of digital agriculture to be shared equitably and how digital agriculture could change agricultural business models; that is, farm structures, the value chain and stakeholder roles, networks and power relations, and governance. We argue that this requires transdisciplinary research (at pace), including explicit consideration of the aforementioned socio-ethical issues, data governance and business models, alongside addressing technical issues, as we now have to simultaneously deal with multiple interacting outcomes in complex technical, social, economic and governance systems. The exciting prospect is that digitalisation of science can enable this new, and more effective, way of working. The question then becomes: how can we effectively accelerate this shift to a new way of working in agricultural science? As well as identifying key research areas, we suggest organisational changes will be required: new research business models, agile project management; new skills and capabilities; and collaborations with new partners to develop 'technology ecosystems'. © 2018 The Authors. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of smart governance factors on quality of life in the context of smart cities is analyzed, using multivariate data techniques, with the application of Structural Equation Modeling methodology.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify "greenwashers" as firms which seem very transparent and reveal large quantities of ESG data but perform poorly in ESG aspects, and measure the extent to which large-cap firms engage in greenwashing.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects the level of financial distress risk (FDR) and found that firms with higher CSR levels have lower FDR, suggesting that a better CSR performance makes firms more creditworthy and have better access to financing.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of board characteristics on integrated reporting quality according to an agency theory approach is investigated, based on a sample of 134 international firms, showing a positive relationship between the size, independence, diversity, and activity of a board with the quality of integrated reporting.
Abstract: Integrated reporting is the latest novelty in the corporate reporting field. It is a tool capable of better representing the capacity of companies to create value over time. In recent years, attention to this new reporting tool has grown in both professional and academic fields. However, despite past research that has analysed many aspects of integrated reporting, the integrated reporting quality and its determinants are still little explored. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing the effect of board characteristics on integrated reporting quality according to an agency theory approach. The findings, based on a sample of 134 international firms, show a positive relationship between the size, independence, diversity, and activity of a board with integrated reporting quality. This study contributes to enriching literature in this area in various ways. First, it broadens the scope of application of agency theory; second, it identifies further internal determinants of integrated reporting quality. This is the first study that analyses the impact of the characteristics of a board as a determining factor of integrated reporting quality.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Business Roundtable, a large group of top CEOs, recently issued a statement defining the purpose of the corporation in stakeholder terms, a direct and intended reversal from an earlier statemen...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of environmental, social, and governance information disclosure on corporate sustainability performance among Asian firms from 2005 to 2017 has been examined, and the results show that environmental performance and social performance are significantly positively related to economic sustainable performance.
Abstract: Within the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure–corporate sustainability performance (economic, environmental and social; EES) framework, our empirical analysis examined the impact of ESG information disclosure on EES sustainability performance among Asian firms from 2005 to 2017. The positive ESG disclosure–EES sustainability performance relationship found in this study provides evidence that disclosing the implementation of environment and social strategies within an effective system of corporate governance in the organization strengthens corporate sustainability performance. The results also show that environmental performance and social performance are significantly positively related to economic sustainable performance, indicating that the corporation’s economic value and creating value for society are interdependent. In line with the stakeholder theory and the shared value theory, ESG information disclosure to all stakeholders is an important factor in creating a competitive advantage for enhancing corporate sustainability performance.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of firms' engagement in ESG policies on their innovation capacity levels was investigated by applying a nonparametric frontier analysis framework to a sample of 320 Japanese firms over the period 2008-2016.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The grand challenges that humanity faces, such as poverty, inequality, hunger, conflict, climate change, deforestation, and pandemics, hinders the progress of sustainable development as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The grand challenges that humanity faces—poverty, inequality, hunger, conflict, climate change, deforestation, and pandemics, among others—hinder the progress of sustainable development. These issu...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The paper advocates for the need of a common framework to evaluate the potential impact of the use of AI in the public sector and discusses the specific effects of automated decision support systems on public services and the growing expectations for governments to play a more prevalent role in the digital society.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on the financial performance of Indian and GCC listed firms was analyzed and found that board accountability and audit committee have an insignificant impact on firms' performance measured by ROE and Tobin's Q.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy and board gender diversity on environmental and social performance are examined. But, the results reveal that the positive relationship between CSR strategy and environmental performance is negatively moderated by board diversity.
Abstract: Drawing on upper echelons and resource dependence theories and using data of European listed companies over the period 2009–2016, we examine the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy and board gender diversity on environmental and social performance. In particular, we investigate whether CSR strategy contributes to improving corporate environmental and social performance, and whether this relationship is moderated by board gender diversity. Our empirical findings suggest that firms with more effective CSR strategies exhibit better environmental and social performance. The results also show that board gender diversity is positively associated with environmental and social performance, thus supporting the notion that board gender diversity promotes sustainable development. Furthermore, the findings reveal that the positive relationship between CSR strategy and environmental performance is negatively moderated by board gender diversity. Finally, the results show that that national governance quality and firm size are important underlying factors affecting corporate environmental and social performance.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Despite ample research on corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR), there is a lack of consensus on the nature of the relationship between these two concepts and on how t...
Abstract: Despite ample research on corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR), there is a lack of consensus on the nature of the relationship between these two concepts and on how t...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There were systematic variations in the governors' decisions, and these variations were embedded in a subtle but growing pattern of differences among the states in a host of policy areas, ranging from decisions about embracing the Affordable Care Act to improving their infrastructure.
Abstract: The explosion of the coronavirus onto the global stage has posed unprecedented challenges for governance. In the United States, the question of how best to respond to these challenges has fractured along intergovernmental lines. The federal government left most of the decisions to the states, and the states went in very different directions. Some of those decisions naturally flowed from the disease's emerging patterns. But to a surprising degree, there were systematic variations in the governors' decisions, and these variations were embedded in a subtle but growing pattern of differences among the states in a host of policy areas, ranging from decisions about embracing the Affordable Care Act to improving their infrastructure. These patterns raise fundamental questions about the role of the federal government's leadership in an issue that was truly national in scope, and whether such varied state reactions were in the public interest. The debate reinforces the emerging reality of an increasingly divided states of America. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper provided an up-to-date and comprehensive systematic literature review (SLR) of the existing research on women on corporate boards (WOCBs) and corporate financial and non-financial performance.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the integration of nature-based approaches for climate change adaptation into municipalities' daily planning practices and associated governance is examined, and five complementary strategies are identified: targeted stakeholder collaboration, strategic citizen involvement, outsourcing, alteration of internal working structures, and concealed science-policy integration.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of environmental, social, and governance disclosure (ESGD) on firm performance (FP) before and after the introduction of integrated reporting (IR) further to explore a potential moderation effect of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms on this relationship.
Abstract: Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effect of environmental, social, and governance disclosure (ESGD) on firm performance (FP) before and after the introduction of integrated reporting (IR) further to exploring a potential moderation effect of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Ordinary least squares (OLS) and firm-fixed effects models were estimated based on data related to FTSE 350 between 2009 and 2018. The data has been mainly collected from Bloomberg and Capital IQ. This analysis was supplemented with applying a two-stage least squares (2 SLS) model to address any concerns regarding the expected occurrence of endogeneity problems. Findings The results show a positive and significant relationship between ESGD score and firm performance before and after 2013, among a sample of FTSE 350. Furthermore, the study is suggestive of a moderation effect of CG mechanisms (i.e., ownership concentration, gender diversity and board size) on the ESGD-FP nexus. Additionally, this paper finds that firms voluntarily associated with IR have a tendency to achieve better firm financial performance. Practical implications The findings of the present study have several policy and practitioner implications. For example, managers may engage in ESGD to enhance their firms’ financial performance by the voluntary involvement in IR, which believed to help investors to rationalise their investment decisions. Likewise, the results reiterate the crucial need to integrate more social, environmental and economic regulations to promote sustainability in the UK. The paper also offers a systematic picture for policymakers in the UK as well as future researchers. Social implications The findings of this paper indicate that IR plays a significant role in the relationship between ESGD and FP, where IR firms seemed to be achieving better FP as compared with their nonIR counterparts. This implies that stakeholders may have played a magnificent effort to encourage firms’ voluntary engagement in IR in the UK. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the potential moderating effect of ownership concentration, gender diversity and board size on the relationship between ESGD and FP and to examine whether firms’ voluntary involvement in IR can lead to better FP after the introduction of IR in 2013 in the UK.