Articles

  • Article 1 in this issue

    Early 20th Century Examples of Stakeholder Reporting from U.S. Corporate Annual Reports

    • Author: Kevin Feeney

    The content of traditional annual reports for publicly owned corporations is undergoing significant change. Whether in the traditional printed form, or increasingly, via web-based formats, annual reports are moving beyond the mere reporting of the fiscal year’s financial results. Corporate annual reports are beginning to include supplemental disclosures on the corporation’s labor and supplier activities environmental activities, governance, social responsibility and, most recently, sustainability. This trend has been observed more frequently for corporations based outside of the United States, though a small number of U.S corporations have embraced these concepts as well. Such supplemental disclosures are made not only to its shareholders, but also to individuals, groups and other entities that have a direct stake (i.e. stakeholders) in the corporation’s activities, successes and/or other matters at hand. This paper looks at the development of the stakeholder model and some of groups involved in the expansion of annual reports to include their concerns. Looking back historically, the paper examines early examples of stakeholder reporting from 20th Century annual reports of Ford Motor Company and by certain publicly owned U.S. railroads. Lastly, the paper provides evidence of an earlier example of stakeholder reporting then that previously identified in the literature.

    Pages 264-278

    PDF - Early 20th Century Examples of Stakeholder Reporting from U.S. Corporate Annual Reports (opens in a new tab)
  • Article 2 in this issue

    An Empirical Study of Association between Working Capital Management and Performance: Evidence from Tehran Stock Exchange

    • Author: Ahmad Ahmadpour, Mohammad Javad Zare, Keramatollah Heydari Rostami

    Present study is aimed at determining the effects of working capital management on the performance of firms. In this research, we have selected a sample of 112 Iranian firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange for a period of 10 years from 2000–2009, we have studied the effect of different variables of working capital management including the Average collection period, Inventory turnover in days, Average payment period and Cash conversion cycle on the financial performance of Iranian firms. Debt ratio, Current ratio, size of the firm (measured in terms of natural logarithm of sales), financial assets to total assets ratio and Stock Exchange Index have been used as control variables, Correlation, and regression analysis (Pooled least square and general least square with cross section weight models) are used for analysis. The results show that there is a strong negative relationship between variables of the working capital management and profitability of the firm.

    Pages 279-285

    PDF - An Empirical Study of Association between Working Capital Management and Performance: Evidence from Tehran Stock Exchange (opens in a new tab)
  • Article 3 in this issue

    The Global Economic Crisis and its Effects in Romania

    • Author: Alexandru Trifu, Radu Tasca

    The crises represent malfunctions that may occur within every domain of the human activity. That is why the causes, their way of emergence and their consequences are studied. The crisis is analyzed by economists considering specific criteria, these offering it the characteristics of a phenomenon with poisonously consequences for the affected organizations, institutions and social groups: inflation, unemployment, stagnation, recession etc. The evolution of the financial crisis will lead economies into a deflationary spiral in the next year or even a longer lasting, as deficit reduction efforts will take large, and probably we shall assist an output of some euro area of weaker states. World economies are hit by this crisis to various extents, depending on the vulnerabilities of each and their exposure to toxic assets. The response to the crisis is contingent upon the fundamental principles we believe in, the available resources, the institutions and the instruments we can make use of. In Romania, the response to the adverse effects of the crisis cannot be similar to that made by some European countries or the U.S. There are several differences between the Romanian economy and these economies, which do not allow copying the package of measures developed there.

    Pages 286-292

    PDF - The Global Economic Crisis and its Effects in Romania (opens in a new tab)
  • Article 4 in this issue

    Structuring Urban Sustainability with Water: A Case of Kamrangir Chor, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    • Author: Rumana Asad, Reazul Ahsan

    Too much or too little water is always a challenge for any water related issue, especially for developing countries where water is abundant or crisis like Bangladesh with the change of circumstances. Dhaka the capital of Bangladesh is facing a serious water scarcity problem due to the big gap between demand and supply of water system. On the other hand it can be say that this water crisis originated due to too much water like floods, rainfall, drought etc. that force rural people from other part of country towards city and city is losing its hydrological balance to accommodate these unwanted migrated people. Dhaka has experiencing a tremendous pressure and transformation in terms of its water system due to such unmanageable urban growth and uncontrolled urbanization. Design strategies and solution are needed to respond for pressing climate and environmental changes and necessary to take action against the ubiquitous human mismanagement of the essential resource of water. To overcome these water related problem water can be a designing element for structuring future development with the combination of sustainable approaches for social and physical transformation, open up opportunities for land water management system. This paper will try to find the changing relation between the city and its water system. Using Kamrangir chor a water linked suburb in Dhaka as an experimental site this paper will also frame some urban design strategies for reducing water damages, revitalize water sources, productive water parks, which will structure new water based urban development.

    Pages 293-303

    PDF - Structuring Urban Sustainability with Water: A Case of Kamrangir Chor, Dhaka, Bangladesh (opens in a new tab)