International Business

Over time, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained popularity, with people accepting the fact that companies have a responsibility to help the community in which they do business. Gone are the days when the sole objective of business was profit maximization. Companies are said to possess stakeholders whose interests they have to understand and try to satisfy. Stakeholder theory is thus closely linked with CSR. An interesting question is how companies are supposed to satisfy these needs. This paper attempted to evaluate the CSR best practices of America’s richest companies of 2010 as determined by Fortune Magazine: Wal-Mart, Chevron and Bank of America. This evaluation was done using a CSR best practices guide obtained from the CSR activities of the top 3 most socially responsible companies of 2010. Content analysis was utilized to explore the CSR reports of these companies, focusing on activities related to 4 key stakeholders, 1) Employees, 2) Customers, 3) Community and 4) Environment. Results of the analysis revealed that Wal-Mart, Chevron and Bank of America performed very well in discharging their responsibilities towards the community and the environment, but did quite poorly towards employees in particular. These companies were advised to focus more on the welfare of their employees, given their vital importance to the success of each company. Companies were also advised to provide customers with forums and mechanisms for feedback and comments. These would provide valuable information to the companies on how to improve their services so as to maintain existing customers and garner new ones.

Exchange rate exposure of UK listed oil and gas companies was examined against four major currencies; Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Euro and US dollar by applying Adler and Dumas (1984) estimation model. The final sample of the study consists of (17) firms. (100%) of the sample firms exhibit significant negative exposure to US dollar indicating a decrease in stock returns of these firms, all the companies’ exhibit significant positive exposure to Australian dollar, 88% of the sample firms exhibits significant positive exposure to Canadian dollar. Major findings from the study reveals that oil and gas sector in UK is highly vulnerable to exchange rate risk particularly against US, Australian and Canadian dollar.

This article aims at investigating the impact of trade liberalization on pollution and environmental degradation in Iran. Results indicate that pollution is positively related to trade liberalization and real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per square kilometer and with increased in trade liberalization, GDP will increase. In addition, strong evidence suggests that trade liberalization, real GDP per square kilometer and Gross National Product(GNP) are positively related to environmental degradation. Therefore with increased in GDP and GNP, environmental degradation will increase. In total, result showed that effects of trade liberalization is harmful to the environment.

The present research reviewed the effect of share issued and long-term loan on stock returns and price of shares of companies admitted into Tehran SE between the years 2001 and 2005. This research attempted to determine whether different methods of financing like share issued and long-term loans affect the price and return of shares or not, or that their effects are different or similar. We used t-test to test the hypothesis. Also, the Kolmogorov-Smirnof Test was employed to determine the normality of the data. The results obtained in this research were shown that the average share prices and share return is higher in companies that had financed via share issued than the companies which have used the long-term loan facilities.

The study examined previous studies on the relationship between board dynamics (structure, composition, diversity) and corporate performances, the results of the investigations revealed mixed findings on the relationship between board variables and corporate performance, some studies established evidence of significant positive relation while others discovered neutral and or negative relationship. Therefore the conflicting results discovered may be due to differences in corporate governance practice found in different countries.

The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between marketing metrics from innovation view and achievement of objective for customer relationship management is based on Gartner's model in Isfahan’ city Sepah Bank. The theoretical framework was provided based on Gartner’s model In this study was surveyed by a questionnaire includes 61 item for samples of 160 managers and assistants in Sepah bank. The main idea of this paper is whether marketing metrics from innovation view and achievement of objective for customer relationship management are related? This study method is applied research from purpose view and descriptive survey method of field research. The model was tested by using LISREL and SPSS software. The results show a direct and positive relationship between marketing metrics from innovation view and achievement of objective for customer relationship management (two sides). According the research findings are related between components of metrics Innovation (New services, New services launches, Satisfaction from new services, Revenue of new services) and customer relationship management. However, There is no relationship between revenue of new services and customer relationship management. The value fitted indexes of the model (GFI=0.91 and AGFI=0.89) is Indicative the suitability of the model.

As an academic discipline, business ethics emerged in the 1970s. Since no academic business ethics journals or conferences existed, researchers published in general management journals, and attended general conferences. Over time, specialized peer-reviewed journals appeared, and more researchers entered the field. Corporate scandals in the earlier 2000s increased the field's popularity. As of 2009, sixteen academic journals devoted to various business ethics issues existed, with Journal of Business Ethics and Business Ethics Quarterly considered the leaders. Business ethics (also corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations. Business ethics has both normative and descriptive dimensions. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. Academics attempting to understand business behavior employ descriptive methods. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the interaction of profit-maximizing behavior with non-economic concerns. Interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and within academia. For example, today most major corporations promote their commitment to non-economic values under headings such as ethics codes and social responsibility charters. Adam Smith said, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.

In this article based on case study in Tondar 90 assembly shop in Iran khodro company, with the use of "Stop -Watch" method, the cycle time of every conveyance operation to each workstation of the assembly lines is measured then the standard time of every conveyance cycle, the ideal rate of conveyance, the velocity of conveyance in each minute, are calculated. Then, with the use of linear programming technique, decrease the total expected cost of conveyance. In the next stage, by using the Hungarian allocation technique, for each line of assembly shop, lifter and the operator was allocated and in the next stage with the use of distinction criterion ranking technique, the optimum mix of lifters related to the type of identified application in the whole shop, determined. Finally with the use of ‘technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution’ (TOPSIS), the best conveyance operator, technically the best performance of conveyance as for specified indexes, is characterized.

Whether Oil price changes have an impact on the Stocks of KSE (Karachi Stock Exchange) or not? This study examines impact or relationship of Oil prices on stock returns with reference to KSE (Karachi Stock Exchange) Pakistan. Weekly data ranging from January 1998 to October 2010 is included and tested in this paper. This relationship is tested by using Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Matrix. Data Stationary is ensured by Unit Root Test. Evidence from Granger Causality and Impulse Response Test. The Results shows that Oil prices and shares prices in Pakistan has no long term relationship or impact on each other focusing on the data of KSE (Karachi Stock Exchange).

This paper examines the role of asset management and banking sector in Nepal. The study employs five different tests of random walk: autocorrelation test, runs test, unit root tests (ADF, PP, and KPSS), variance ratio test and autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity test. The results of the tests are in broad agreement, conclusively rejecting the presence of random walk in daily returns of the eight stock market indices. The serial correlation tests and the runs tests both revealed that the successive price changes are not random and are serially dependent. Similarly, the unit root tests conclude that unit roots, as necessary conditions for a random walk, are absent from all of the return series. Finally, the study found that in pre-merger period on the average, banks were 93.83% cost efficient, whereas, this figure rose to 94.15% for post merger period. It reflected 0.32% improvement in cost efficiency. The result was significant at 10% level of significance. In case of profit efficiency, the post merger gain was -5%, however, the result was insignificant.