Global Business Review current issue

General Disregard for Details of GRI Human Rights Reporting by Large Corporations

Morhardt, J. E. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:44:46 PDT

This article examines the web-based social responsibility reporting of the 100 largest companies in six broad industrial sectors to determine the extent to which the reporting follows the specific guidance of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 Human Rights Performance Indicators (HR1–HR9). Ninety-seven of these companies have some sort of social information on their websites, and 95 of them have formal corporate responsibility reports. Seventy-one of these companies indicate that their reports were based on the G3 guidelines, and 66 of these provide a detailed index to them. The nine G3 HR guidelines can be subdivided into 17 specific items; six of them can be interpreted as requiring only that actions or measures taken be described, and these are widely followed, primarily in the form of policy statements. The remaining items, reported much less frequently, are quantitative, requiring total numbers or percentages of specific actions or incidents, or identification of operations in which such incidents are at significant risk. Thus, although the G3 guidelines for human rights reporting contemplate quantitative statements of performance, most of the reports examined for this article do not provide any, nor, for the most part, indicate why not. I argue that the reporting likely would be more informative if the guidelines were rewritten to request the nature of the processes and procedures the company is implementing for achieving the desired human rights outcomes, and the degree to which they are in place.

Modern Knowledge Management and Computer-based Technology: The Inseparable Phenomenon

Jain, S. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:44:46 PDT

This article makes the case that modern knowledge management (KM) is inseparable from a consideration of technology. While recognizing that there are many non-technological facets to knowledge management research and practice, it takes issue with the perspective proposed by some that knowledge management has little or nothing to do with technology. Similarly, the perspective that equates knowledge management with information management is challenged. The research involves an analysis of the contrasting perspectives to show that each has blind spots that obscure a clear vision of the relationship between computer-based technology and knowledge management. The KM perspective introduced here neither dismisses technology nor identifies with it. From this perspective, this paper develops the contention that modern KM has been tremendously enriched by advances in computer-based technology (CBT), discussing several specific examples. Moreover, this article concludes that CBT needs to be grounded in a clear, deep consideration of knowledge management. Moreover, several implications for business computing systems researchers are outlined. The new perspective offers students and practitioners a middle-ground between two extremes for framing their understanding and observation of KM and CBT phenomena. The article furnishes a fresh, inclusive conception of the relationship between KM and CBT.

HR Determinants of Organizational Success amongst Small and Medium Enterprises in the Indian Automobile Sector

Akhouri, N. N., Sharma, R. R. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:44:46 PDT

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the auto sector have emerged in response to the growing off-shore requirements of the auto industry. The growth has been so rapid that it has remained elusive to researchers and the present study is an attempt to bridge this knowledge gap. Three scales (Engaging Leadership both from the perspectives of the leaders and the subordinates, and Employee Engagement) were developed by the researchers for the purpose of the study. Two existing scales viz., Cultural Intelligence and Positive and Negative Affectivity were also used in the study. The results show statistically significant results between professionals of high performing and low performing SMEs on Engaging Leadership, Employee Engagement, Cultural Intelligence and Positivity and Negativity.

Efficiency and Futures Trading-Price Nexus in Indian Commodity Futures Markets

Sahoo, P., Kumar, R. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:44:46 PDT

Trading in commodity derivatives on exchange platforms is an instrument to achieve price discovery, better price risk management, besides helping macroeconomy with better resource allocation. Though the volume of commodity futures trade increased exponentially after the withdrawal of prohibition in 2003, the functioning of futures markets came under scrutiny during 2006–07 due to price rise and the government has proposed to impose transaction tax by 0.017 per cent on trading volume in the 2008–09 budget. In this context, we examine the efficiency and futures trading-price nexus for five top selected commodities namely gold, copper, petroleum crude, soya oil, and chana (chickpea) in commodity futures markets in India. Our results suggest that the commodity futures market is efficient for all five commodities. Further, we do not have sufficient evidence to support that futures market leads to higher inflation.

Innovation in Organizations: A Review of the Role of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management

Dasgupta, M., Gupta, R.K. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:44:46 PDT

This article reviews the role of organizational learning and knowledge management in innovation. An extensive review of past literature hints that knowledge, although a very strategic resource, is not easy to manage. Explicit knowledge can be stored in databases or documents but implicit knowledge resides in peoples’, brains. It is the management of this knowledge which poses a bigger challenge for most organizations. Past research mentions that implicit knowledge can be managed indirectly by managing various factors which contribute to an organization's culture, structure, technology, and leadership. A preliminary model has been proposed highlighting the role of organizational learning and knowledge management in innovation. The model high-lights the importance of a flexible and adaptive organization structure, a culture of trust and knowledge sharing, a strong technological network and a committed leadership to promote knowledge development and learning in the organization which is a prerequisite for innovation and creation of new knowledge. The article in addition to providing a detailed narrative of literature highlighting the importance of the various factors identified in the model, also gives practical implications and directions for future research in the area.

Factors Influencing Bank Profitability in a Developing Economy: Empirical Evidence from Malaysia

Sufian, F. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:44:46 PDT

The present article examines the determinants of bank profitability in a developing economy. Specifically working within the Malaysian financial sector, the analysis is confined to the universe of the domestic and foreign commercial banks operating in the Malaysian financial sector during the period 2000–04. The empirical findings suggest that Malaysian banks with a higher credit risk and a higher loan concentration exhibit lower profitability level. On the other hand, banks that have a higher level of capitalization, a higher proportion of income from non-interest sources, and high operational expenses tend to exhibit higher profitability level. The results suggest that economic growth has a negative effect on Malaysian banks’ profitability, while a higher inflation rate has a positive impact on Malaysian banks’ profitability.

Multi-spillover Effects of Multinational Corporations on Host Countries: A Review of Literature

Dusanjh, H., Sidhu, A.S. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:44:46 PDT

The debate on the mushrooming growth of MNCs (multinational corporations) across the globe is drawing the attention of researchers as well as policy makers worldwide. This debate concerns the self-seeking motives of the entry of these MNCs in the host nations. Arguments differ on whether the MNCs operate in the new nations for their own motives only, thereby ignoring the interest of the host countries and their domestic firms. Several studies conducted in the past have attempted to measure the effects of the entry of the MNCs in the host nations. Unlike the direct effects, the indirect effects of these multinationals are quite difficult to enunciate due to the imprecise and disparate nature of the definition of these spillovers. The present paper contributes to this research by investigating the findings of past empirical researches carried out on spillover effects generated by these MNCs in the host nations. The study concludes that existence of both positive as well as negative spillovers is not the sole outcome of an ‘MNC entry’ into a host nation as posed by its critics but an array of other factors, thereby calling for a wider research to explore these factors.

Productivity and Financial Structure: Evidence from Indian High-tech Firms

Ghosh, S. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:44:46 PDT

The article utilizes data on high-tech Indian firms for 1996–2007 to explain the association between leverage and productivity. Accordingly, firm-level productivity measures are regressed on a set of control variables, which includes leverage among the regressors. The findings suggest that low leveraged firms tend to be more productive, on average. Robustness tests support the results.

Dimensions of Non-performing Assets in Urban Cooperative Banks in Tamil Nadu

Ramu, N. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:44:46 PDT

The Urban Cooperative Banking (UCB) system has come a long way since 1904 when the first UCB was started at Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu. UCBs remain not-for-profit, owned and controlled by the members who use their services. They are unit banks of the American model rather than branch banks of the British model. With the tightening of prudential norms, the banking sector has been consistently conforming to and adopting international prudential norms and accounting practices. Such strengthening of prudential norms have resulted in increased levels of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) for the Urban Cooperative Banking Sector. As per CAMELS rating model, the highest weight is given to asset quality components. Today, UCBs are compelled to maintain superior asset quality in the competitive market for their survival. In the wake of large scale defaults of UCBs in India, this study is an attempt to analyze the asset quality in select UCBs in Tamil Nadu. This paper also traces the Non-Performing Assets of financial cooperatives in other countries. A comparison of UCBs with financial cooperatives abroad is also done.

Case Study of an Industry-Academia Interface: The FITT Story

Sengupta, A. K. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:44:46 PDT

Developing a close interactive relationship with the external world, particularly the industry at large, is a necessary imperative for a technical university, in order to ensure the relevance of the academic curricula and research as well as to generate internal resources for undertaking R&D programmes in new and advanced high technology areas, upgradating infrastructure, and inducting, retaining, and reward high quality members of the faculty. In this regard, the role of the autonomous industry interface institutions and Technology Transfer Organizations (TTO) is of great importance. In this article the evolution of an Indian TTO has been described on the basis of its activities and performances during the first ten years of its existence in the form of a case study. Later, the concept of the transformation of a technical university into a technology enterprise has been briefly elaborated, and the potential role of the TTO in this transformation process discussed. Finally, a number of alternate courses of action that may be required in the changing scenario of the future have been highlighted.

Book Reviews

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:44:46 PDT