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We investigate whether superior performance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies leads to better access to finance. We hypothesize that better access to finance can be attributed to (1) reduced agency costs due to enhanced stakeholder engagement and (2) reduced informational asymmetry due to increased transparency. Using a large cross‐section of firms, we find that firms with better CSR performance face significantly lower capital constraints. We provide evidence that both better stakeholder engagement and transparency around CSR performance are important in reducing capital constraints. The results are further confirmed using several alternative measures of capital constraints, a paired analysis based on a ratings shock to CSR performance, an instrumental variables approach, and a simultaneous equations approach. Finally, we show that the relation is driven by both the social and environmental dimension of CSR. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In the “electronic age” our teaching profession is faced with new challenges. Normally, educators tend to spend a significant amount of time updating the content of what they teach. They spend less time changing their methods of teaching. Today, this no longer works. A lot of content is delivered through Google and similar partners and what is now critical is that we make the necessary changes in our teaching methods to reflect this and to have some impact on our audiences. Based on more than forty years of teaching experience we feel qualified to underline the importance of the form and the method of teaching. Traditional teaching methods require that more time is spent transmitting the target information than would be spent if Google or relevant videos were used instead. Some forms of interaction can be substituted by some e-learning technologies as well. The only benefit of using traditional methods, if any, is the benefit to the students from the personal charisma and creativity of professors. It is certain that the right style of teaching can create a special atmosphere in the classroom. In this paper we would like to highlight our experiences. We take as our example – not to be too general – the concrete courses on Sustainability and CSR (Corporate social responsibility) that we have taught. These topics tend to divide both students and teachers. There are a lot of questions and data about these issues but few clear and definite answers. Science is habitually late in delivering answers to such fuzzy questions, which creates a lot of freedom regarding the taught content and requirements of the methods applied. In the first part of our paper we summarize five basic approaches to teaching. Then, using the example of Sustainability, we introduce step by step why and how complexity should be structured and then simplified. The third section concerns the concrete question of how to structure sustainability. The fourth describes how facts can be substantiated with analysis. The authors believe that parables can sometimes lead to deeper understanding than reliance on conventional methodological approaches. We are use famous parables and strategic grids to put across a simple message to students: you have to develop your own ideas about sustainability. We all are responsible for doing this — there is no given framework! We have tried to learn as much as possible from our colleagues and peers from all over the

Outside of direct ownership, the general public may feel it is an implicit stakeholder of a firm. As the public becomes more vested in a firm’s actions, the firm may be more likely to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. We proxy for the public’s stake in a firm with public visibility. Based on 3400 unique newspaper publications from 1994–2008, we measure visibility for the S&P 500 firms with the frequency of print articles per year concerning the firm. We find that visibility has a signficant, positive relationship with the CSR rating. Evidence also suggests this relationship may be causal and working in one direction, from visibility to CSR. While the existing literature provides other factors that influence CSR, visibility proves to have the most significant impact when tested alongside those other factors. Visibility also has a mediating effect on the relationship between CSR rating and firm size. CSR rating and firm size relate negatively for the lowest visibility firms and positively for the highest. This paper provides strong evidence that visibility is an important factor to consider for studies on corporate social performance.

The study was designed to assess the impact of participation of Port Harcourt indigenous women in poverty eradication programmes in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study used questionnaires to elicit responses from 385 indigenous women randomly selected in a multi-stage technique. Descriptive statistics and t-test were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that majority (58.3%) of the women were members of a cooperative society, 63.5 percent were members of community-based organizations (CBO) while 60.9 percent were members of “Esusu” (rotator credit schemes). About 66.3 percent of the women had engaged in jobs aimed at poverty alleviation. Only 6.0 percent identified that they were not members of any poverty alleviation programmes (PAP) by government. It was found that after joining the PAP, 75.5 percent of them experienced an increase in income of 36.6 percent. Significant differences existed in the income of the women after joining poverty alleviation programmes. It was therefore recommended that more programmes designed to alleviate poverty in Rivers State should target indigenous women; government should also establish entrepreneurship capacity-building programmes to enable women to bring out their optimal input while participating in the poverty eradication programmes. Consilience, No 14 (2015): Issue Fourteen: 2015

AbstractDespite the commonly vaunted “win‐win” prospect of combining intensified livestock production with greater gender equality, the benefits of formal marketization of livestock products are generally skewed toward men. In response to this global trend, there is a growing impetus to better understand the gender dynamics underlying women's market participation to curtail the risk of worsening gender inequalities in agricultural systems transitioning to intensified production. This study analyzes the spectrum of women's informal milk market practices in two Kenyan Counties undergoing dairy system intensification. Qualitative data were gathered from dairy stakeholders and market traders to explore the localized system of gender relations mediating women's engagement with milk markets and current practices. Results indicate that increased dairy intensification and informal market use is challenging existing gender norms and disrupting the boundaries between hegemonic (socially acceptable) and pariah (socially disruptive) gender relations. While women are generally better able to control the proceeds from their dairy labor in informal markets, they also face high social culpability and danger from engaging in illicit activities that transgress local norms. These contradictory “win‐lose” dynamics and trade‐offs highlight the contested nature of gender market relations under agricultural intensification and commercialization currently being pursued under low emissions dairy development (LEDD) in Kenya. The risk of exacerbating existing gender inequalities has profound implications for LEDD and agricultural intensification more broadly.

Trade liberalization has a significant impact on the environment and social welfare of countries. In the real world, almost all industries exist upstream and downstream firms but the existing literature on the impact of trade liberalization rarely discuss the interaction between upstream and downstream firms. The goal of this study is to analyze the effects of trade liberalization on the trade policies, environmental policies and social welfare of downstream exporting countries when different pricing schemes (uniform pricing vs. discriminatory pricing) are implemented by upstream monopoly firms. By constructing a three-stage dynamic game model we found that, regardless of pricing schemes, trade liberalization leads to increase both environmental taxes and import taxes. Trade liberalization increases the social welfare of downstream countries under discriminatory pricing, while trade liberalization first reduces and then increases the social welfare of downstream countries under uniform pricing. The results indicate that the downstream countries always have the incentive to participate in trade agreements that integrate markets when discriminatory pricing schemes will be implemented by upstream firms. This finding is the most significant contribution of this paper which has not been addressed in the previous literature.

Through its whole set of activities related to the invention, development, production and use of biological products and processes, bio-economy contributes significantly to the economy and to the progress of society by improving the sustainability of health, nutrition, energy efficiency, industry, environmental protection and human well-being in general. In this study, by creating an overview of the efficiency of renewable energy sources, in the context of sustainable resource management for preserving a healthy, diverse and resilient ecosystem, the research aimed to show the unused renewable energy sources at maximum potential in Romania, what are the reasons for their non-use, what are the opportunities and what are the solutions that can be adopted for the exploitation of these types of renewable energy sources in Romania. In the European Union, geothermal energy has already been well exploited and, in the future, will no longer make a significant contribution to increasing the productivity of renewable energies. Eurostat data was collected and processed using a linear regression model on the primary production of renewable energy in Romania and the rest of the European states for a period of 11 years (2005-2016); at the same time, statistical forecasts were made for the years 2017 and 2018 and was pursued to what extent social responsibility activities of companies is in line with the principles of bio-economy. In Romania, there is a very high potential for both geothermal energy that is insufficiently exploited to date and for the transformation of municipal waste into energy. It also explores the possibility of using intelligent information systems to optimize the exploitation of renewable energy sources. An important role in this effort is made by companies that, by adopting a Social Responsibility Code (CRS), can bring not only benefits, but also create a positive image with favorable consequences for all parties involved