This paper analyzes the information provided in sustainability reports by six firms that were named among the top fifty in social reporting and verification. We found that the type of information reported was considerably behind the standards that have been promulgated. Secondly, U.S. companies are considerably behind best practice in social reporting. Thirdly, extemal verification of sustainability reports is inconsistent.

This paper reviews the literature on so-called strategic philanthropy, corporate philanthropy that helps the bottom line, which has been touted in the business and society literature for over twenty years. Although corporate decision makers report that they are motivated to give to charity based on the many potential strategic benefits, research evidence supporting the effectiveness of corporate philanthropy at enhancing profitability is scarce and not very convincing. Our current understanding of corporate philanthropy provokes the old Texas criticism against big-talking wannabe cowboys, "all hat and no cattle."

The development of business enterprises in Indian Country is changing to lives of native people: Their relationship to the dominant society is transitioning from a long-standing dependency to one of self sufficiency. The business and management literature devotes scant attention to tribal organizations. An analysis of three tribal enterprises in this paper suggests that social responsibility may be an inherent value of tribal organizations and guides their economic development activities. The paper concludes with suggested premises of a tribal view of corporate social responsibility.

The use of corporate social performance measures is explored through survey methodology. The greater the proportion of outside and minority directors, the greater the importance of corporate social performance measures to the board of directors concerns.

There are four business and society perspectives often referred to: philanthropic, (corporate) social responsibility, corporate citizenship, and mutual gain. Often the terms are used interchangeably. This paper suggests that a closer analysis of the terms demonstrates that there are, in fact, important distinctions between them. This article explains these distinctions by building a distinctive typology, and then discusses some of the implications. It begins by framing business and society relationships as collaborations involving business, govemment, and civil society organizational sectors.

This paper reports on a qualitative analysis of the roles that organisational slack may play in corporate environmental responsiveness. It argues that the recent work on slack and environmental responsiveness, can be extended by recognising the many potential roles that different types of slack can play in a dynamic decision-making context. The paper systematises and draws lessons from examples of the roles of slack encountered in a recent series of 35 interviews. It concludes that future treatments of slack and social issues in business should incorporate a more holistic view of slack, which recognises its dynamic, complex and often contradictory effects on decision-making in organisations.

Sustainable development is a concept that is increasingly gaining acceptance as a desirable societal condition. The concept of what a sustainable society might be like, or how it might be created, however, still requires much work. A multi-level, multi-systems based model of sustainability applying to organizations was developed by Starik and Rands (1995), which can be extended to the level of societies. In this paper we reexamine the Starik and Rands framework, further develop some of its basic elements, and develop an extension of it at the societal level. We discuss how this model might guide efforts to develop a sustainable society In a particular nation.

In this paper, we argue that institutional discourses and practices do not pass undisturbed across organizational boundaries. We look at how corporate scientists in the automobile industry, acting as institutional entrepreneurs, influence way in which corporations perceive and respond to climate science.

In this paper, we use the concept of cognitive dissonance to understand how firms balance cognition and behavior within the framework of their enviroimiental strategies. By understanding the paths for dissonance reduction, the motives for choosing one path over another, and the factors influencing the choice of a particular path by a business firm, we develop propositions regarding how firms make strategic choices with regard to environmental behavior.

In the so-called "New Economy," the creation and development of new business ventures carries significant public policy and social policy implications. The patterns of job creation and technology commercialization embody important assumptions about the roles and responsibilities of govemment and private enterprise. This study defines and compares the stmctural and policy underpinnings of two leading institutional frameworks for new venture development: the Anglo-American model and the Nordic approach.

Firms are under increasing pressure from a variety of institutional (market and legal) forces to reduce pollution beyond their own boundaries by managing the entire physical system life-cycle of their products or services from the creation of inputs to the final disposal of outputs. These forces pressure firms to adopt more of what we call life-cycle oriented environmental management (LCOEM). Our preliminary results suggest that European and American firms implement LCOEM in different ways. Because European firms (mainly those from Northem Europe) face more social and regulatory pressure, their approach is both more advanced and more cooperative. This paper will examine the institutional sources for these differing motivations and differing implementation styles regarding LCOEM.

Research with North American English-speaking samples has demonstrated that men and women hold differing perceptions of women performing managerial roles. There has been little empirical research to compare perceptions of women managers across cultures primarily due to language differences. To aid such research, we translated the women as managers scale (WAMS; Peters, Terborg, & Taynor, 1974) into Spanish and surveyed 412 individuals in the U.S. and Chile. Results showed that the dimensionality of the WAMS was similar on two factors. These results provide useful tools for future cross-cultural research and practical human resource applications for multinational enterprises.

This study examines the relationship between the degree of internationalization of a firm and its corporate environmental performance. For a sample of 138 U.S.-based manufacturing firms tested using 1993 and 1998 data, firms with a higher level of internationalization also exhibited higher measures of environmental performance. Similarly, a longitudinal test of data from 1991 through 1996 showed positive correlations that, in fact, grew stronger over time. These results lend support to the proposition that multinational corporations, rather than leading a "race to the bottom" in environmental standards, may in fact be proactive agents of positive environmental performance.

Results of two event studies of investor reaction to the 1997 fast-track denial and the 1999 failed WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle suggest investors may believe globalization is derailing. In both cases, investors bid dovm the value of a stock portfolio of Fortune 500 firms, particularly firms with the largest proportions of foreign assets as a percentage of total assets.

In this paper, we adapt the Bartlett and Ghoshal model (1989) to develop three categories of multinational corporation's CSP approaches — global, multidomestic, and transnational — to differentiate between possible CSP strategies based on the MNC's orientation towards local responsiveness v/s global standardization, or some combination of both, on economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Furthermore, we discuss which CSP strategy might be the most promising within an international business and society context, for sustainable MNC development.

This paper examines the emerging and evolving multilateral campaign to reduce corruption worldwide. That campaign centers on multilateral conventions recently adopted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the European Union (EU) — together with the policies and actions of other multilateral bodies, govemmental and non-govemmental, such as the United Nations, the Worid Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for African Unity (OAU), the Council of Europe, the Intemational Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and very importantly Transparency Intemational (Tl). The authors' concem is with the logics of comiption and reform, the developmental history of the global anti-corruption campaign, issues involved in mobilization of multilateral effort to comiption suppression, and whether there are useful lessons in previous and/or ongoing mobilization efforts in related policy arenas.

This paper addresses the current battle being waged between opponents of tobacco advertising and the tobacco Industry. It will (1) review the harmful of effects of tobacco, (2) examine the impact of tobacco advertising, especially on children, (3) evaluate the argument that a ban on tobacco advertising violates free speech and is unconstitutional, and (4) conclude that counter-advertising is the best means of neutralizing the effect of tobacco advertising in a free society.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) continues to investigate at least 174 deaths in the U.S. associated with failures of Firestone tires on Ford Explorers. This paper focuses narrowly upon the publicly accessible "facts" relevant to the issues involved in the difficult problems of risk tradeoffs.

It is apparent that firms differ in both the nature and extent of political activities in which they choose to participate. This might be due to various dynamics of governmental regulation, differing industry conditions, or tendencies of specific firms to respond to social or market pressures differently than their rivals, among other possible explanations. The study of corporate political strategy is aimed at explaining these and other differences in firms' political behavior. The purpose of this discussion session is to generate participative discussion regarding theoretical refinements to the proposed model and empirical methodologies that might be used to advance our understanding of this topic.

The growing power of the "pink pound" in the U.K. reflects how gay and lesbian customers have become an increasingly visible and vocal segment of the consumer market. In this paper, we examine the extent to which financial service providers have responded to this increasingly recognised demographic segment through implementing inclusive policies at the corporate and retail levels. Preliminary evidence suggests that the extent to which banks and building societies have responded to gay and lesbian consumers varies, but that this is not consistent within or between companies. As well as identifying positive and not-so-positive policies and practices within this segment, this study has wider implications for investigations of corporate responsiveness to social and political pressures.