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The purpose of this paper is to examine how Fortune 100 companies are using Facebook (FB) in terms of employing corporate ability (CA), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and hybrid communication strategies, meeting different stakeholders’ expectations, and incorporating interactivity components into social media.

A quantitative content analysis was used to examine a total of 1,486 corporate FB postings.

–Fortune 100 companies predominantly employed a CA strategy over a CSR strategy or a hybrid strategy. They prioritize customers’ needs over other stakeholders’ (e.g. stockholders and community members) on FB. FB fans are more likely to post “like” when companies personalize their FB messages. Seeking specific action-oriented participation on FB increased the frequencies of “like” and “comment,” whereas using the generic terms like “try” or “learn” decreased such frequencies. Finally, the frequencies of fans posting “like” and “comment” are affected by how often companies responded to fans’ postings and not influenced by how often companies feed new FB updates to fans.

This study provides a benchmark case of how corporations are using a mainstream social media outlet to engage different stakeholders. It helps to assess the current status of public relations communication strategies on the mainstream social networking site. Companies can increase public engagement and response on social media through more personalized messages and techniques to encourage active participation and dialogue.

Executive education can be a powerful catalyst for both personal and organisational development. How corporations are utilising this potential was the subject of an international study of executive education trends among the Fortune 300, Fortune Service 100, and Fortune International 100 firms. The results of the study reflect expanding corporate support for executive education, both on an in‐company basis and through university‐based programmes. The results also suggest some interesting comparisons among the executive education practices of the three survey population subgroupings.

The purpose of this paper is to explore emerging trends in the content of codes of ethics of US Fortune 100 and Global 100 corporate web sites through a longitudinal study.

The web sites of the 200 companies were surfed and the relevant documents of the codes of ethics were extracted to separate text files. The computer files were then mined using the customized developed software and each ethical keyword was counted. The number of filed codes of ethics was 95 for both the 100 US‐based and the 100 Global‐based companies.

In addition to the content analysis of the ethic codes of the studied groups and finding high‐frequency ethical keywords, the results of this study indicate a convergence of the contents. Moreover, the results also show that the ethical codes are now more readily available on corporations’ web sites; that is a sign of higher level of disclosure of ethical codes compared to that in 2006. Finally, this research proposes some hypotheses to explain the changes from 2006 to 2009.

Many smaller corporations and start‐up companies can benefit from the results of this study by comparing their codes of ethics with those of the major US and global companies, using key ethical phrases that are discussed here. Moreover, US companies wanting to establish new subsidiaries in other countries can also take advantage of the results of this study. They can find out what are the common dissimilarities between American corporates and other international firms, from ethical point of view, when they want to reach a uniform code of ethics.

Longitudinal study of the content of codes of ethics can help in encouraging firms to give consideration to ethical issues. This research is the first attempt to study the ethical standards adopted by the major US and global corporations, before and after the global financial crisis.

This study analyses the content of codes of ethics of the world's top firms and compares Fortune 500 and global 500 companies, considering the frequency of ethical keywords on their codes. It also compares the similarities and differences and indicates whether the content is divergent or convergent. The study also shows how the disclosure of codes of ethics has changed in the time‐span of research.

The Web has been a growing topic of interest since its introduction into the popular culture. This study examines the use of the Web by the Fortune Global 100 firms relative to the Fortune 100. It examines the firms’ desire and ability to communicate to and with individuals and organizations interested in the firm. Each firm’s site was reviewed for accessibility, content, and inquiry potential. The Fortune 100 seems to be slightly ahead of the Fortune Global 100 in terms of information content and interactivity but trail in the area of multiple language availability. All of the other criteria that were examined did not clearly favor either group.

Reports the results of a recent survey that investigated the contemporary practice of organizational development among the USA’s fastest growing firms (as identified by Fortune magazine). States that although the project received a 31 per cent response rate overall, only 18 organizations provided usable results for analysis purposes. After an initial overview of the study, compares and contrasts the data collected from these organizations with results from related survey projects using similar sets of items. Also addresses the implications of these results for the practice of OD/HRD.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of goal-setting theory in remediating workplace demographic representation inequality.

This study evaluates the effect of goal-setting theory in Fortune 100 companies’ corporate social reporting (CSR) on year-over-prior change in diversity representation using t-tests and independent, repeated measures ANOVA.

Reporting companies significantly outperformed the population in minority and female leadership increases. Companies using specific goals and relevant feedback facilitated better outcomes for minority and female leaders, respectively.

Dichotomous coding was employed. Qualitative coding over multiple years is suggested for future research. CSR reporting is voluntary, unaudited, and inconsistent. Comparing outcomes for organizations with mandatory reporting or diversity quotas would provide interesting future comparatives. Despite the limitations, this research demonstrates the benefits of goal-setting theory on social outcomes.

Companies transparently publishing goals, feedback, and metrics lead the way to multicultural environments. Additionally, investors use social responsibility in investment decision making. The Securities and Exchange Commission should incorporate non-financial requirements into existent reporting subject to audit, consistent presentation, and public availability. Organizations should disclose diversity goals and outcomes whether the company aspires to genuinely promote greater representation or avoid greater regulation. Reporting transparency and articulation of specific, measureable goals and feedback are encouraged for non-financial metrics.

Significant research investigates why inequality exists in organizations yet little addresses how to reduce the problem. Pioneer studies in applying goal-setting to diversity show promise. Research exploring the dark side of goal-setting is rapidly emerging. This research pursues the “light side” of goal-setting to evaluate use on social business issues, specifically, increasing diverse representation.

This chapter presents an exploratory study aiming at understanding how the largest multinational enterprises (MNEs) engage small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in their (inclusive) business strategies, either as suppliers, distributors, customers, innovators or as a target of their (Corporate Social Responsibility) CSR policies.

We explore the implicit or explicit strategies of 100 largest companies in the world towards SMEs as mentioned in their annual and CSR reports. This approach takes in particular stock of the ‘narratives’ developed by MNEs as an expression of their intended and (perceived) realised strategies.

The analysis of company statements show a country of origin effect in that European firms are clearly amongst the leaders in experimenting with inclusive business strategies that include SMEs. However, their number still remains limited. Sectors like banking and retail have developed the most interesting examples that are also spread over a large number of functions.

Although the results are not yet very radical, the developed taxonomy for the different types of approaches in which MNEs take a more or less active position towards SMES provides material for further studies. It can be applied in studying leading (better-practice) cases in order to help policy makers and business strategists to develop better business models for inclusive growth.

This article aims to present a novel, powerful and proven alternative for the flawed way in which firms traditionally state “company values”.

An analysis was made of the value statements of the 100 largest Fortune Global 500 firms. A literature search on company values was conducted. The authors’ field experience with the use of company values was applied.

A majority of large global companies have stated company values. There is abundant pundits’ advice on how to define, embed and live by company values. Nevertheless, stated company values generally have no impact on performance; worse, they may blow up in managers’ faces, with accusations of hypocrisy. The novel approach overcomes these shortcomings. First, it removes unnegotiable qualities, consigning these to the company’s code of conduct. Second, it no longer states a value as a singular point of perfection but as a position of a cursor on a scale.

This approach looks at a value as a capability, that is, a resource that requires investment and development, one that helps the company to be more effective than its competitors and that its competitors would find hard to imitate readily.

This approach looks at a value as a capability, that is, a resource that requires investment and development, one that helps the company to be more effective than its competitors and that its competitors would find hard to imitate readily.

The article is of value to practicing managers. The approach helps the firm to distinguish itself from competitors in a positive and hard-to-imitate way. It stimulates productive open conversations between the firm’s managers and employees. It leads to statements that both reveal and reinforce the firm’s desired culture.

The objective of this chapter is to identify the key characteristics of Global Services businesses that will thrive and achieve success in the future. These factors are integrated into three main pillars, which we refer to as the Triple-Win. The first and most obvious pillar is technology as a tool. The second pillar is the design and sustainability of the business model, without which the previous factor would be merely a cost and not an investment. And last but not the least, there is the purpose which gives meaning to the proposal, focusing on the human being and their environment. The DIDPAGA business model sits at the intersection of these three elements.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of corporate ability (CA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) on perceptions of CSR motives, attitudes, and behavioral intentions toward a company.

These effects were tested using a 2 (CA: good vs poor)×2 (CSR: continuous vs one-time) between-subjects experiment. The company with good CA was depicted as a top 20 Fortune 500 company, but in the poor CA condition, it faced disappointing financial outcomes due to the failure of its new product. To manipulate the different levels of CSR, the company’s charitable giving and community involvement was described as a continuous commitment or one-time donation.

Continuous CSR commitment significantly increased consumers’ positive attitudes, purchase intention, and willingness to support an organization. These positive effects become particularly more powerful for a company with poor business performance. Participants attributed more sincere and less image-promotion motives of CSR to a company with poor CA than to that with good CA. For the company with poor CA, both types of CSR motives mediated the relationship between CSR and the outcomes, while only sincere motives served as a mediator for the company with good CA.

The findings suggest the possibility that CSR initiatives pursued by unprofitable companies may be more recognized and appreciated than those by business giants. Thus, a company should maintain its CSR activities as a long-term strategy, especially when the company is not an industry leader.

This research suggests that the mediating role of perceived CSR motives can be contingent upon CA.