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Action from activists is at the origin of many initiatives that end up injecting moral concerns into the way companies operate. In such instances, activists function as moral entrepreneurs that lastingly change the definition of what constitutes morally acceptable corporate behavior. Yet, in order to have such a lasting effect on companies, activist efforts need to pass through multiple stages that deal with both the effective mobilization of their own constituents and the triggering of corporate responses that can induce broader change in the economy. In the present chapter, the authors study how local shareholder activists initiated and helped sustain the process that led to the establishment of active ownership in Switzerland between 1997 and 2011. Active ownership refers to the active engagement of shareholders with firms to push them toward considering environmental, social, and corporate governance criteria in their decision-making. The case illustrates the processual nature of moralizing dynamics initiated by activists and emphasizes the long-term and cumulative nature of many moralization projects.

This article outlines the nature of corporate marketing myopia and details the salient characteristics of a corporate marketing logic. The notion of identity‐based views of the firm is held to be highly meaningful to the comprehension of corporate marketing. In addition, the paper aims to broaden the understanding of the antecedents of corporate marketing by making reference to earlier, integrative endeavours (sensory integration, design integration, communications integration, branding integration and identity integration).

The commentary explains the nature, antecedents, and benefits of an organisation‐wide corporate marketing logic.

A corporate marketing logic characterises those organisations which realise their institutions and corporate brands can be important sources of differentiation. Moreover, it is held that organisations need to be involved in multi‐lateral relationships vis‐à‐vis customers, other stakeholders and with society at large. It is also mindful that an organisational marketing orientation should accord sensitivity to CSR/ethical concerns. A key precept of the corporate marketing logic is that it is institution‐wide ethos which is enacted via an organisation's culture. A long and a short definition of corporate marketing are enumerated.

Perceiving organisational marketing via the prism of identity‐based views of the firm and utilising the new corporate marketing mix (the 8Cs of corporate marketing) affords a practical and pragmatic means by which senior managers can foster and maintain a corporate marketing ethos and culture.

A corporate marketing framework is introduced which is informed by: identity‐based views of the firm perspective and by key corporate‐level constructs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the brand core and its management over time. The aim is to develop a framework for managing the core of a brand for continuity and change.

A longitudinal case study of the Volvo brand’s core and its management serves as the empirical basis for a qualitative analysis of the “brand core” using rhetorical perspectives.

The management of the brand core for both continuity and change is an unsolved paradox in strategic brand management literature and practice. Existing conceptualisations offer little or no guidance regarding managing a brand’s core over time. The Volvo brand has evolved by adding and shifting mindsets, which has kept its core surprisingly stable.

The new framework mitigates a paradox and, by defining the brand core as a point of reference, allows for brand management to address both continuity and change and consider a range of stakeholders while doing so. The integration ofs rhetoric into the framework makes it applicable to product, service and corporate brands, or indeed anything that can be considered a “brand”. The brand core is defined as “an entity of core values and a promise”.

By shifting perspectives on a brand’s core over time, change and development are stimulated while preserving its inner values and promise.

The brand core framework integrating rhetoric theory was supported by a longitudinal case study to resolve a strategic brand management paradox.

Tax risk-management (TRM) is relatively understudied in the area of corporate governance and integrated reporting. The purpose of this study is to identify whether South African organisations identify, rank and manage tax risks in terms of importance and relevance to their own corporation. The study also aims to identify the link, if any, between TRM practices being implemented and the discussion and disclosure of these practices in the integrated report.

Detailed interviews with some of South Africa’s leading tax and corporate governance experts are used to highlight the TRM practices currently in place, as well as the evolution of these practices. These interviews also identify the connection between the practices and the integrated reporting disclosures.

The experts interviewed have identified a sound understanding of TRM practices in place and certainly some evolution of these practices over the past five years. What has been identified though is the need for further enhancement and incorporation of TRM practices into the corporate governance control structures within organisations. Integrated reporting disclosure of TRM still appears to be an area where there is need for improvement, specifically a better understanding by companies of how to use their integrated reports as a strategic asset of the company as opposed to merely a compliance exercise.

The research relies on a relatively small sample of subject experts and does not provide a complete account of TRM developments.

The study adds value by contributing to research conducted on TRM. Although there has been research on ERM from a corporate governance perspective, few studies have examined this from a tax perspective, and there is virtually no formal academic research on the relationship between TRM and corporate governance from a South African perspective.

This paper aims to compare the mission statements of Indian and Singaporean firms in the healthcare sector, and define the main components of Indian and Singaporean mission statements.

The study was based on a network analytic approach and content analysis. The research was performed on 200 companies (100 Indian companies and 100 Singaporean companies). For each company, we searched for a mission statement published in the company website. Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (NMF) in Python programming language was utilized to obtain the differences in the components of mission statements between Indian and Singaporean firms.

The study results indicate a similarity and variation between Indian and Singaporean mission statements. Both countries are more concerned about patients, service, community, quality, and healthcare in their mission statements, but Indian mission statements emphasize quality, affordable price, and technology more than Singaporean firms. In contrast, Singaporean mission statements tend to highlight innovation and company value. This research will assist strategic managers in identifying the mission statement components and choosing the right strategy for the organization.

This study contributes to the literature and ethos theory by identifying and distinguishing the paramount differences between the Indian and Singaporean mission statement components in the healthcare sector.

The purpose of this research is to explore corporate social responsibility (CSR) evidence and, especially, the experience and practice of enterprises in Portugal.

As a generally accepted principle, the corporate social report is a communication and measurement object. But there are limitations concerning availability and accuracy of the data that could create constraints and diminish the scope of this report. Thus, the methodology for this paper is subdivided into two different aspects of research: First, an individual perspective about each enterprise studied and second, a general perspective applied to CSR in Portugal. The sample used was based on the survey developed by the Instituto ETHOS, applied to a sample of enterprises carried out in Portugal, during the year 2002. It was published by Exame in a special edition – “The guide of socially responsible enterprises”. So, the authors analyze and present the results that are of interest in the area of CSR activity. In order to do so the authors develop a principal component analysis to sort and group the original data.

The preliminary analysis generated three components of CSR: the external influence (CSR external), the market influence (CSR market) and the operative influence (CSR operative) of the enterprises in Portugal.

This research shows cultural differences and helps to highlight the importance of more research in this area in the newly expanded European Community. It also highlights the relationship between CSR activity and corporate image and performance.

Corporate codes of conduct originated around 1900 in the USA gaining further momentum in the 1950s in relation to anti‐trust legislation. Subsequently, the adoption of codes of ethics has spread throughout the world and they now feature extensively in many organisations. The literature relating to codes of ethics, therefore, spans many decades and is undoubtedly comprehensive. The purpose of the paper is to provide an appropriate anthology of codes of ethics.

A descriptive, historical, anthological approach has been taken.

This paper examines the motivations for the adoption of codes of ethics, which naturally also includes international codes, their frequency of use and content. Codes are also not without critique and it is appropriate to highlight the criticisms of codes, to provide an assessment of their potential effectiveness, the issues surrounding implementation and enforcement and the relationship to organisational culture and leadership.

As noted, the literature on codes of conduct is extensive and while effort has been made to capture the key themes the review is not necessarily exhaustive.

The literature is characterised by the means of institutionalising ethics in organisations and the paper concludes with a summative reflection on the key dimensions that appear to be paramount for improving the efficacy of codes of conduct.

The purpose of this paper is to appraise the current status of enterprise risk management (ERM) in the Gulf Co‐operation Council (GCC) oil and gas entities to develop a practical, region‐specific, and systematic action plan for the GCC oil and gas industry that can transform the existing ERM models to a mature and robust framework.

The paper reviews current relevant literature on Committee of Sponsoring Organization of the Treadway Commission ERM Framework; and enterprise wide risk framework within the precincts of the GCC oil and gas industry to identify the knowledge gaps which form the basis for the research questions. The paper then empirically investigates the GCC oil industry through six case studies, encompassing the six countries in the GCC (GCC comprising of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates). The case study has focused by exploring the ERM system per se through comparative case studies to answer the research questions. The research questions and the work have been done from the perspective of the naturalistic (inductive) research paradigm.

This paper establishes the understanding of the current existing ERM models while identifying the determinants of ERM adoption and the most significant challenges for its implementation. Furthermore, the paper also develops the best practice approach for successful ERM implementation in the GCC oil and gas entities.

The use of a case study has been made precluding the use of other direct methods such as survey questionnaires. The analytical methods used are deductive and discursive in nature, limited to the nature of the methodology of case study used. Rigorous statistical methods could not be applied owing to the limitations of the case study method. The paper explores and compares the industry structure of oil and gas sector in GCC countries, for this purpose, only a few selected entities in the upstream and downstream oil and gas sector are discussed.

Although ERM is conceptually straightforward, its implementation in practice is not. Furthermore, ERM is accepted as a contemporary hot topic and also a board room priority in most industries. The present paper steers the way forward for an improved understanding of the ERM system in a strategic industry dealing with a strategic commodity.

There is a need for a proactive ERM program in the oil and gas industry and also a need for additional research especially in terms of its implementation. Nevertheless, an apparent caveat in the ERM system is that there is no standard approach to implementing and entities grapple with how they should go about putting together an ERM program. The findings provide useful and timely analysis of the GCC oil and gas industry from the perspective of implementation of an ERM framework which is contemporaneous business priority item in most entities in the GCC hydrocarbon sector.

The paper seeks to examine the role of corporate identity in UK clothing retail organisations, focusing on the “fast fashion” sector. The aim is to analyse the “gap” between desired identity and perceived identity within the sector.

An instrumental case study approach was adopted for this research. Companies' web sites and press releases were reviewed to find out the desired identity of organisations, while semi‐structured interviews were carried out with customers to elicit the perceived corporate identity. Themes developed from the cases will form the basis of further research.

This study has shown that although there are similarities, considerable “gaps” are present between the desired and perceived corporate identity of organisations, the latter being more important in understanding the research questions addressed which relate to corporate identity and the gap between desired and perceived identities. A number of propositions have emerged from the findings, which when investigated empirically will be useful for forming corporate identity constructs in the fashion retail sector.

This research provides some useful insights into the role of corporate identity within the fast fashion retail sector; however, it is not sufficient to make generalisable claims outside the cases examined. Further research is required to test some of the conceptual issues and propositions raised by this work.

The paper gives practitioners better insights into the gap between desired and perceived identity with a view to improving strategic interventions to close the gap.

The research makes a contribution to retail identity literature by emphasising the importance of perceived identity. The work is unique in being the first research to explore further the relationship between desired and perceived identity from a fashion retailing perspective. As a consequence the strategic implications from this work for desired identity are highlighted.

Leadership stands out as an enduringly popular, yet often controversial aspect of management. A recent growth in media reports of high‐profile CEO scandals has only served to add more coals to the fire. Leaders like Jack Welch and Bill Gates have been heralded as corporate icons. But today, as we reflect on the troublesome 1990s, business guru Jim Collins believes that there are few real heroes left standing.