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The purpose of this paper is to identify the existing status of environmental disclosure practices in Indian core sector companies.

Waste disposal costs and other environmental liability costs are crucial information to be disclosed by core sector companies as they have direct impact on the environment. A content analysis of the annual reports of select core sector companies across four industries, viz. Oil and petrochemicals, Mining and minerals, Steel and Cement, has been undertaken to study the extent and nature of their environmental disclosures in their annual reports for 2007‐2008.

The study shows that the level of disclosure of environmental information varies across industries as well as companies and the information revealed in the annual reports is found to be more qualitative than quantitative.

The disclosure made by the core sector companies does not adequately cover the informational needs of stakeholders. However, the increasing disclosure trends can be considered as a first step toward improved environmental disclosure. The study therefore supports the need for a suitable framework for environmental disclosure, such that all the stakeholders can use it as credible information.

This study contributes to the literature by evaluating voluntary environmental disclosures made by Indian core sector companies in their annual report. Further work based on this preliminary finding may be done to assess the status of environmental disclosure for a larger sample of Indian core sector companies.

Poor maintenance management leads to non-negligible economic, environmental and social impacts and obstacles to the sustainable manufacturing paradigm. Studies evaluating maintenance impacts on sustainability underline growing interest in the topic, but reports on the industrial field are lacking. Therefore, this paper investigates the industrial environment and the indicators that manufacturing companies use for measuring their maintenance impacts.

In this pilot survey study, several stakeholders of production enterprises in the south of Italy were interviewed to unveil the spread of the measurement of maintenance impacts on sustainability and the indicators used by those companies.

The interview results showed a low level of awareness among stakeholders about maintenance impacts on sustainability. Maintenance stakeholders are mainly focused on technical and economic factors, whereas environmental, quality and safety stakeholders are becoming more aware of maintenance impacts on environmental and social factors. However, both groups need guidelines to define sustainability indicators to assess such impacts.

This exploratory study allowed us to investigate the current situation in industrial organisations and achieve the first variegated and diversified vision of the awareness of company stakeholders on maintenance impacts on the sustainability of several business functions. This paper provides a valuable contribution to “maintenance and sustainability” research area in production contexts and sheds light on non-negligible maintenance impacts on sustainability, providing preliminary insights on the topic and an effective basis for defining future research opportunities. Moreover, this study enables increased awareness among internal and external manufacturing company stakeholders on the role of maintenance in sustainable production.

Geographical disparities in the light of regional development constitute ever present issue affecting academic debates as well as decision process of policy makers also in the Central and East European countries, mainly during the last two decades. The purpose of this paper is to outline the economic development of one of the most underdeveloped regions in Slovakia, of Banská Bystrica, during the transformation stage of post-socialist societal development, with emphasis on the period after 2000, in the context of the economic performance related to other regions of the country.

For this purpose, several economic indicators (unemployment rate, vacancies, employment in economic sectors, wages, gross domestic product, foreign direct investment and housing construction) are utilised, whose common contribution to assessing the economic performance of a territorial system is secured by using the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methodological approach. Thus, analytical part of the study stems from standard statistical data, enriched by 11 in-depth interviews conducted with stakeholders involved in socio-economic and political life of the region.

Of internal factors, innovation capacity of the region and supporting the business environment appear to be a key for its further economic development. Attractiveness for foreign direct investment as well as social cohesion of the EU are considered the crucial factors of regional development stemming from the external environment.

Using TOPSIS method and series of in-depth interviews with regional stakeholders the authors identified development prospects of underdeveloped Banská Bystrica region, in the context of opportunities and threats forming its presence in the near future.

Proper and effective control through audit is necessary in the case of public enterprises as the funds invested in them do not belong to those who manage the affairs of these enterprises. That is why it is important that their financial operations are subjected to severe scrutiny. Examines the problems of audit control of public enterprises, which would indicate an insight into the legal framework of audit accountability and the deviations emerging there from in actual practice. Government auditors do not have sufficient appreciation of the commercial nature of the public enterprises, and too detailed and continuous audit dampens the initiative of enterprising managers, forcing them to adopt a more cautious approach and restricting the scope of delegation of powers. In some cases the Comptroller and Auditor‐General is the sole auditor, and in other cases he performs the superimposed audit in addition to the audit by the professional auditor. Therefore, finds that audit control over public enterprises varies from case to case, and the CAG should interpret this power according to the need of situation, and there should be external efficiency audit for public enterprises.

This paper aims to develop a framework that aids in achieving the desired state of financial performance for corporate enterprises based on distinct configurations of corporate governance (CG) practices.

This study uses a fuzzy-based system to arrive at a definitive configuration of CG practices that lead to a specific level of firm’s performance.

This analysis of the panel data of 92 National Stock Exchange–listed companies conducted for RONW on selected CG variables shows that eight fuzzy configurations lead to a particular state of RONW. The authors compare the results with the conventional regression-based scoring models.

Corporate enterprises can use the derived bundles of CG practices leading to a specific set of financial performance (RONW) to aid the decision-making process in defining and implementing their governance structures. The regulators can modify or customize the law-mandated CG practices to reduce redundancies and promote the national agenda of economic efficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the conceptual and policy underpinnings of the UK Government's “Big Society” programme.

The paper uses secondary research: a review and analysis of published sources – official and unofficial.

The “Big Society” concept is unclear but seems more focused upon extending the principle of markets than increasing community cohesion. This may do little to encourage the shared endeavour which is known to be necessary for service integration focused on individuals. Co‐production would be a better concept to underpin the Big Society.

There have been few attempts to undertake a broad analysis of the Big Society idea and critically explore the whole programme.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of the integration of management systems that include economic, social and environmental standards on economic performance.

The methodology consists of analyzing reports of certified companies and secondary data on economic performance indicators. Two sample groups of companies were compared against each other. The core group is composed of companies that have integration of certification on each triple bottom line (TBL) dimensions, economic, environmental and social (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001). The control group is composed of companies of the same size and sector (mirror sample) but without standards related to social and environmental dimensions. The comparative analysis of both core and control groups was performed based on non-parametric methods, such as the mood median test and structural equation modeling.

Several economic performance indicators of both groups were statistically analyzed and compared. The results show that companies with integrated management systems (IMS) (core group) on a TBL perspective showed better economic performance compared to other companies of the control group. Moreover, this study shows that the industry sector influences this relation, particularly in the energy, chemical and petrochemicals, services and transportation sectors.

For executives and managers, the results suggest that the amount invested in IMS in a TBL perspective increases the economic performance of companies, resulting in profitability, increased equity and sales growth. It reinforces the win–win perspective on sustainability in companies instead of the mindset on negative trade-offs on economics.

This research sheds light on controversies, discussed in the literature, concerning the positive vs negative effects on the economic performance of IMS, with social and environmental standards. The results show that economic performance is improved in companies of the core group.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Since the late 1970s, the study of the role, structure and functions of personnel management in the United Kingdom has been greatly facilitated by surveys emerging from a number of large‐scale surveys. A major interest in interpreting the data from these surveys has been to evaluate the impact of recession, and, latterly, recovery on the power, structure and roles of personnel departments and personnel specialists in recent years. The survey data are used comparatively to evaluate the empirical plausibility of the different scenarios which have arisen, and to account for the results that emerge.

The paper discusses the balance between values and economic efficiency in the public sector in comparison with the private sector. The argument is that the public sector, hence the public welfare service institutions, can learn much from the private service sector, hence the private service firms with regard to the relation to values, ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and efficiency in order to improve the balance between values and efficiency in the public sector.

The paper discusses the concept of balance in relation to the development of the management of private service companies as a useful alternative to new public management (NPM). It discusses this with regard to three issues: the evolution of the management of private companies; what can the public sector, hence the public welfare institutions, learn from the evolution of management of private companies? How would it be possible for governments to work for an alternative to NPM, on the basis of the experiences of management of private companies, improving the balance between values and economic efficiency in the public sector?

It is argued that a deadlock in the development of efficiency management in the public sector, hence in the public welfare service institutions, is created. It is argued, furthermore, that this deadlock to a great extent, paradoxically, is created because of the focusing on NPM for almost two decades as the most important tool to develop efficiency management in the public sector. Finally, it is argued that the experiences in private companies regarding how to find a proper balance between values, ethics, CSR and economic efficiency can be very helpful in developing a strategy within the public sector to unlock the deadlock regarding the development of efficiency management. That is why the experiences of management of the private services companies can become a constructive alternative to the experiences of NPM in the public sector at the level of welfare institutions.

There would be potential for more research on CSR, business ethics and values‐driven management in relation to the public sector.

The paper offers new insight into the relation between values, CSR and management models in the private and in the public sector.