Saturday, February 29, 2020

A Case Study At The HSBC

A Case Study At The HSBC Chapter 1 Literature Review 1.1 Overview of Corporate Social Responsibility The notion that business has duties to society is firmly well-established, despite the fact that in the past there has been a revolution in the way people view the relationship between business and society. Numerous researchers suggest that companies which indulge in corporate social responsibility obtain consumers’ positive product and brand evaluations, brand choice, brand recommendations, good attitude to firm, good image of the firm, purchase intention and even enjoy a premium price. Spurred at least in part by such evidences, more companies than ever before are backing CSR initiatives such as corporate philanthropy, cause-related marketing, minority support programs, and socially responsible employment and manufacturing practices with real financial muscle. Not surprisingly, this trend is also reflected in the pervasive belief among business leaders that CSR is an economic imperative in todayâ₠¬â„¢s national as well as global marketplace. However despite the increasing importance of CSR, there is little research available about CSR’s impact on consumers. According to Yoon (2003), it is not clear when and how CSR activities influence consumer evaluations. Recent researchers have suggested that a CSR activity might backfire on the company if the consumers have become suspicious and infer that the company’s true motive for the CSR activity is only to improve its image to sell more products without trying to act for the sake of consumers 1.1.1 Defining Corporate Social Responsibility According to Kotler (1991), Corporate social responsibility is about doing business in a way that maintains or improves both the customer’s and society’s well being; Fombrun and Gordberg (2000)’s point of view is that, corporate social Responsibility is something that no sane chairman should be without. On the other hand, Petkus and Woodruff (1992) believe CSR i ncludes both avoiding harm and doing good. Corporate social responsibility is viewed as a company’s commitment to minimize or eliminate any harmful effects and maximizing its long run beneficial impact on society. Corporate social responsibility activities include numerous factors; namely meeting customer expectations, demonstrating commitment to environmental responsibility, improved environmental performance, staying ahead of the legislation, and increased employee motivation. Mohr, Webb, and Harris (2001, 47) define CSR as â€Å"a company’s commitment to minimizing or eliminating any harmful effects and maximizing its long-run beneficial impact on society.† Though, Angelidis and Ibrahim (1993) define corporate social responsibility as corporate social actions whose purpose is to satisfy social needs, Lerner and Fryxell (1988) suggest that CSR describes the extent to which organizational outcomes are consistent with societal values and expectations. While some view CSR as an obligation, others, namely: Enderle & Tavis (1998) define corporate social responsibility as â€Å"the policy and practice of a corporation’s social involvement over and beyond its legal obligations for the benefit of the society at large†. 1.1.2 Dimensions of Social Responsibility The dimension of social responsibility was propounded by Carroll (1979). It was proposed that organisations have to have 4 pillars that must be fulfilled to be good corporate citizens. They are: Economic Dimension. Economic responsibility is to be profitable for principals, by delivering a good quality product, at a fair price, is due to customers.

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Securitization as a System of Pooling Resources in the Area of Banking Essay

Securitization as a System of Pooling Resources in the Area of Banking and Finance Law - Essay Example This paper illustrates that non-liquid assets are resources, which could be freely traded in its present form and needs to be converted into another form of instrument for it to be accepted in the capital markets. A popular form of non-liquid asset is the mortgage loans, which could not be readily disposed but may be converted into securities through sale to Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that issue bonds. Conversion of non-liquid assets to tradable securities such as bonds will allow banks to free some capital, which is tied up in the loans portfolio and allows for diversification of financial sources for business operations. Issuance of ABS also allows the originator to remove the non-liquid assets from its books of accounts in cases of true sale transactions, which in effect improves the financial ratio of the originator most especially in cases where it is bound to comply certain risk-based capital standards such as bank reserves. As a general rule, all the risk connected to the securities traded and purchased is transferred to the buyer. Unlike regularly issued bonds where security is based on the financial soundness of the issuing company, asset-backed bonds depend primarily on the funds or cash flows generated by the pooled assets which makes it less risky than the regular securities. This means that since the securities are backed by a specific pool of assets, ABS investors are, to some degree, protected from losing money if the originator of the bonds suddenly goes bankrupt. However, the very nature of ABS would not protect the buyer or investor when the transaction is flawed or vitiated. The degree of the risk involve shall be mitigated or aggravated by the system adopted in the transaction whether it is a true sale or a synthetic securitization.

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Steve Job's success and his (responsibilities) as a leader for do Assignment

Steve Job's success and his (responsibilities) as a leader for do changes to face the external environment changes - Assignment Example For example, when he became the Apple CEO, the company started manufacturing an unsystematic assortment of computers and peripherals. However, through his leadership, Jobs cut down the production of a myriad of products and instead urged his team to focus on making only four computers, and this was a success (Emerald, 2002). As a transformational leader, Steve Jobs took his responsibility from the end to end. In particular, he not only created a new vision for the company but was also involved in institutionalizing the change (Eisenbach, Watson & Pillai, 1999). He knew that in order to gain simplicity in Apple devices was to ensure a seamless integration of the hardware, software and other peripheral parts (Isaacson, 2012). Consequently, he was involved in fulfilling this in the Apple products that were produced. In a nutshell, Steve Jobs provided a clear responsibility and priorities with extensive communication and freedom to improvise. He experimented with ideas and also linked his projects to the future with predictable intervals (McKnight, 2013). Steve Jobs was able to change the culture of Apple from being quantity focused on quality focused. In particular, he was able to create a small manageable product portfolio that ended up attracting huge revenues for the company. In the first place, he recognized the need for change in the way things were done at Apple. The recognition came from the fact that Apple was having declining sales figures and posting poor financial results. Consequently, he provided a vision of the company’s future about the need to turn things around and make Apple profitable (Schein, 1996). Upon communication of his vision for the company, Jobs began seeking for solutions from members who agreed on reducing the company’s product portfolio and concentrating on improving quality of the remaining products. The reduction also meant to lay off of workers to manageable levels