ABSTRACT

Thus study focuses on how governments signal legitimacy guidelines for corporations and how and why corporations strategically respond. We integrate institutional theory and research on corporate political strategy to develop a political dependence model that explains: a) how different types of dependencies of the government lead Chinese corporations to issue corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and b) how risk of monitoring influences the extent to which such CSR communications are more or less symbolic. We hypothesize that corporate relationships that influence the degree of political dependence of the firm such as private versus state control, executive service on political councils, political legacy and financial position all affect the likelihood of firms issuing CSR reports. Secondly, we focus on the symbolic nature of CSR reporting and how variance in the risk of monitoring through channels such as bureaucratic embeddedness and local government development influences the extent to which CSR communications are decoupled from substantive CSR activities. Our database includes all CSR reports issued by the population of approximately 1600 Chinese publicly listed firms during the period of 2006-2009. Our hypotheses are generally supported. The political perspective we develop contributes to organizational theory by showing the importance of governmental signaling as a mechanism of political influence, how different types of dependencies on the government expose companies to different types of legitimacy pressures shaping response to signals, and how variation in decoupling strategies may be identified by unpacking the extent of monitoring risk.

Arborlight: Hitting the switch on clean, high-quality fluorescent replacements (pdf)
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Erb students honed their business and critical thinking skills while working on master’s team and MAP projects on three continents—North America, Africa and South America.

Deschutes River Corridor and its water for Trout Unlimited

In a master’s team project titled “Value of Natural Resources: Deschutes River Corridor and Its Water,” Brian Hartmann and Michael Kasameyer, both Erb ’12, and Nathan Springer, Erb ’11, built a model to analyze the economic impact of different water management regimes on industries—agriculture, tourism, recreation, hotels, real estate and commercial salmon fishing—along the Deschutes River in Central Oregon.

The students learned the river provides $185.2 million in economic value annually, of which $134.7 million is direct revenue to the region, $28 million is revenue outside the region, and $22.5 million is the expressed value of products and services that residents receive for free in their market value equivalent. Associate Professor of Natural Resources and Environment William Currie advised the team.  Read more: http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/83533

Building sustainable community systems in Africa

Melissa Antokal, Erb ’12, was part of a team that worked on a master’s project titled “Building a Sustainable Community in Africa—Mpala Wildlife Conservancy.” The team’s goal was to develop a self-sustainability plan sensitive to local culture, help prepare the conservancy for a range of climate challenges and establish a plan that can be replicated in other parts of Kenya and Africa. Don Scavia, Professor and Director of the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute; Erb Institute Director Andrew Hoffman; and Abigail Mechtenberg, Research Fellow in Mechanical Engineering, Associate Researcher in the African Studies Center and Assistant Research Scientist in Applied Physics, advised the students.  Read more: http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/83663

Ecotourism in Peru

As a member of a Ross School Multidisciplinary Action Project team, Phel Meyer, Erb ’13, worked with Rainforest Expeditions, a Peruvian ecotourism company that owns and operates hotel lodges in the Amazon rainforest. The assignment included determining the financial feasibility of building a new tourist lodge on the firm’s land.

Meyer wrote of ecotourism: “Ideally, no one would build or do anything on the land, and the natural surroundings would stay the same. But Peru is a growing country with aspirations of improving its standing in the world and creating betters lives for its citizens. It needs economic growth and sees the rainforest as one of the many tools to achieve that growth.”

Read more: http://erb.umich.edu/blog/2011/04/13/erb-student-reports-on-ecotourism-in-the-peruvian-rainforest/

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Workshop focuses on increasing public understanding of climate risks, choices

The Erb Institute, U-M and the Union of Concerned Scientists hosted a workshop titled “Increasing Public Understanding of Climate Risks and Choices: What We Can Learn from Social Science Research and Practice” Jan. 19-21, 2012 at the Ross School.

Workshop organizer Andrew Hoffman described the workshop goals as:

• Build a shared understanding of the challenges constraining U.S. public understanding of climate risks and choices.
• Identify the current findings of social science research on public understanding of climate change and their practical applications.
• Identify applicable lessons from social science research and practice into reducing gaps between scientific and public understanding on other issues such as the health risks of tobacco.
• Identify best practices and opportunities to strengthen the integration of social science research and practice in improving public understanding of climate risks and choices.  Read more:  Link to conference website.

Key findings of the workshops were presented in a Public Town Hall on the evening of  January 20:  “Cures for Climate Confusion :  Breaking Through in our Neighborhood and our Nations.”  Watch the Town Hall Video (~90 minutes)| | Participants List

Additional Details and video presentation available here.

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