Samuel B. Graves

THE CORPORATE SOCIAL PERFORMANCE–FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE LINK

Strategic managers are consistently faced with the decision of how to allocate scarce corporate resources in an environment that is placing more and more pressures on them. Recent scholarship in strategic management suggests that many of these pressures come directly from sources associated with social issues in management, rather than traditional arenas of strategic management. Using a greatly improved source of data on corporate social performance, this paper reports the results of a rigorous study of the empirical linkages between financial and social performance. Corporate social performance (CSP) is found to be positively associated with prior financial performance, supporting the theory that slack resource availability and CSP are positively related. CSP is also found to be positively associated with future financial performance, supporting the theory that good management and CSP are positively related.© 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Institutional Ownership and Corporate R&D in the Computer Industry

The article discusses a study on the relationship between institutional ownership and research and development (R&D) spending in several companies for the period 1980 to 1983, with a focus on the c...

Understanding Shareholder Activism: Which Corporations are Targeted?:

This study provides preliminary empirical evidence that shareholder activists target companies because of their size as well as specific stakeholder-related practices. The data show that shareholder activists target companies with shareholder resolutions demanding changes in corporate behaviors for companies producing problematic products and where environmental concerns exist. Furthermore, companies in specific industries are targeted based on poor employee and community-related practices. Activists, that is, are selective in their targeting of companies, choosing the most visible (largest) companies and those whose practices raise specific issues of interest to society.

Quality of Management and Quality of Stakeholder Relations: Are They Synonymous?

This article presents an integrative conceptual framework for linking corporate social performance, stakeholders, and quality of management, then tests this framework empirically. Results provide strong support for the hypothesis that perceived quality of management can be explained by the quality of performance with respect to specific primary stakeholders: owners, employees, customers, and (marginally) communities, but treatment of ecological environmental considera- tions is not a significant factor.

A multiobjective evolutionary approach for linearly constrained project selection under uncertainty

In the project selection problem a decision maker is required to allocate limited resources among an available set of competing projects. These projects could arise, although not exclusively, in an R&D, information technology or capital budgeting context. We propose an evolutionary method for project selection problems with partially funded projects, multiple (stochastic) objectives, project interdependencies (in the objectives), and a linear structure for resource constraints. The method is based on posterior articulation of preferences and is able to approximate the efficient frontier composed of stochastically nondominated solutions. We compared the method with the stochastic parameter space investigation method (PSI) and illustrate it by means of an R&D portfolio problem under uncertainty based on Monte Carlo simulation.

Institutional ownership and control: implications for long-term corporate strategy

Executive Overview Institutional owners are taking a more active role in strategic decision-making in American corporations. In this article, the research that has been done in this area is summarized. We argue that the impact of institutional ownership on strategic management may not be neutral, as institutional investors may have a shortened timeframe for critical decisions made on the basis of limited knowledge of the firms or industries in which they operate. This article discusses the implications of the shift toward institutional control of corporations.

Beyond Built to Last ... Stakeholder Relations in “Built‐to‐Last” Companies

These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The publisher or original authors may retain copyright to the materials. Beyond built to last...: Stakeholder relations in built-to-last companies

Mean–Gini analysis in R&D portfolio selection

Abstract To date no single model has been published which fully satisfies the needs for a practical R&D project selection technique. Some earlier models cannot handle risk well, while others do not provide efficient portfolios. This paper will present a model, adapted from the literature of financial portfolio optimization, which provides a practical means of developing preferred portfolios of risky R&D projects. The method is simple and highly intuitive, requiring estimation of only two parameters, the expected return and the Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient essentially replaces the variance in the two-parameter mean–variance model and results in a superior screening ability. The model that we present requires estimates of only these two parameters and, in turn, allows for relatively simple determination of stochastic dominance (SD) among candidate R&D portfolios. We apply our model to a simple artificial five-project set and then to a set of 30 actual candidate projects from an anonymous operating company. We demonstrate that we can determine the stochastically non-dominated portfolios for this real-world set of projects. Our technique, appropriate for all risk-averse decision makers, permits R&D managers to screen large numbers of candidate portfolios to discover those which they would prefer under the criteria of SD.

Performance Characteristics of Social and Traditional Investments

Socially responsible investment is a growing movement. The authors ask how we can evaluate social performance. They investigate both the financial and social performance of companies included in socially responsible and traditional investment portfolios. Companies that successfully pass a social screen (screened-in companies) outperform screened-out companies on a variety of social performance measures: employee relations, diversity, product (customer), community relations, environment, non-U. S. operations, and governance. Screened-in and screened-out companies perform about the same financially and in market terms.

Fad and Fashion in Shareholder Activism: The Landscape of Shareholder Resolutions, 1988–1998

These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The publisher or original authors may retain copyright to the materials. Fad and fashion in shareholder activism: The landscape of shareholder resolutions, 1988-1998