New Opportunities for the Development of Corporate Governance in Power Generating Companies for the Benefit of Investors

The paper presents an analysis of the central metrics of corporate governance in wholesale and territorial generating companies of the electric power industry that concern ownership structure and compliance of the companies with the principles of the Corporate Governance Code based on their performance results of 2018 - 2019. An increase in ownership concentration and the presence of the state in the competitive segment of the electric power industry is noted. This study has identified the least met criteria for evaluating compliance with the principles of the Corporate Governance Code. The possibilities of developing corporate governance for the benefit of investors are elucidated. These are tightening control over the observance of international "soft law" ("comply or explain"); expanding the criteria for evaluating compliance with the principles of the Corporate Governance Code that are recommended by the Bank of Russia; updating the Corporate Governance Code based on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) transformation. A new form of oversight over compliance with the Corporate Code principles and criteria for evaluating the adherence to the ESG principles are proposed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the book reflects on what these different developments mean for international law. It describes an emerging “transnational legal order” promoting policy and practice in the absence of a binding regulatory instrument. It presents and addresses concerns and caveats over business enterprises incorporating rights versus co-opting rights. It is argued that self-regulation is a misnomer in that constituencies outside the corporation co-create conditions for enforcement. Information and activism that raised awareness concerning the adverse human rights impacts associated with particular business practices and have prompted change in many instances, at minimum the creation of a corporate code or policy that incorporates reference to human rights and speaks to responsibility. Less well articulated is accountability to victims of rights violations and access to remedy. Ensuring policies that are in place are put into practice and corporate performance is consistent with responsibility to respect remains a challenge. Mandating information can aid and accelerate efforts to ensure business enterprises take the responsibility to respect human rights seriously—a “smart mix” of strategies will be required, and we must appreciate that soft law and social pressure are an important part of the mix.

Corporate Codes of Ethics - The How Factor

Although recognized as a key factor for its effectiveness, the adopted process for the development of a global corporate code of ethics, is one of the least documented aspects by Academia. The code is often created at central level and then sent for adoption and implementation to the different branches within the organisation, and the fact that they are not involved in the development process, frequently elicits resistance and compromises effectiveness. This was initially the case with the company of this study, where it was found that business units from different geographical locations had gradually made adaptations to the original code of the Group, which no longer remained the same across countries, neither in text nor in form, which led to the code review. Developed through an action-research methodology, this case study describes the review process which included 30 people from all the Group companies. All defined goals have been achieved. The different companies’ representatives consider that the participatory methodology was a key-factor to the general acceptance of the produced document. Three years after the code release, its efficacy was also evaluated with the Ethics Ombudsman who presented possible success indicators.

Introduction

This introductory chapter provides a background of private regulation of labor standards in global supply chains. Over the past three decades, there has been a plethora of private, voluntary regulatory initiatives with regard to social (labor) and environmental issues. This proliferation has come about in part because of pressure from antiglobalizers calling for global governance, and consumer and activist movements calling for global corporations to be more socially and environmentally responsible. There are many different methods of private voluntary regulation for labor standards, but the most common is the private regulation model. It has three elements: setting of standards regarding labor practices in global supply chains through a corporate code of conduct generally based on the conventions of the International Labour Organization; “auditing” or “social auditing” that involves monitoring whether supplier factories comply with the code of conduct; and incentives for suppliers to improve compliance by linking future sourcing decisions to their compliance records (penalizing or dropping noncompliant suppliers and rewarding more compliant ones). The book looks at the current state and future trajectory of this form of private regulation.

OBLIGATORY CSR VIA SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CORPORATE BUSINESS ENTITIES

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is primarily a philanthropic concept. The underlying principle that CSR is merely a business voluntary endeavor has become the main problem in the implementation of CSR. One of the developments of CSR enforcement is through the Corporate Code of Conduct (CoC) which is a standard procedure in a company conducting its business activities on the basis of economic, legal and ethical factors. Recently, there are a new business entities known as Low Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C), Benefit Corporation (B Corps), and Community Interest Company (CIC) introduced in the UK as a new vehicle to promote social well-being through business activities, which is believed to be more effective than corporate social responsibility, whereby these new business entities enforce CSR as an obligatory obligation rather than a voluntary act. Main purpose of this article is to examine legal jurisprudence behind establishment of these business entities. This research adopted the doctrinal legal research which focus on review of the regulation and policy contained in primary sources such as, case law, and statutory provisions. Reference will also be made to secondary sources such as textbook, journal articles, report, seminar papers, as well as data from official website.

Ethical Considerations for Healthcare Organizations

Ethical misbehavior in the delivery of healthcare creates harm not only to individual therapists and administrators who might choose to overstep ethical boundaries but also, more broadly, causes harm to patients, to healthcare organizations, to professional organizations, and ultimately to society. Both corporate codes of conduct and professional codes of ethics are important, because they set standards of conduct and penalize noncompliant or unethical conduct. The purposes of this article are (1) to differentiate corporate compliance from ethics in a healthcare organization; (2) to explain the application of ethics principles to organizational and professional behaviors; (3) to discuss three important ethical issues (cultural competence, conflict of interest, and employer demands); and (4) to emphasize that, whether applying a corporate code of conduct or a professional code of ethics (or both), the integrity of each individual is essential to ethical behavior. To illustrate these concepts, ASHA's Code of Ethics is discussed in detail (including the ethics complaint adjudication process), and hypothetical case studies are presented under the macro headings of Cultural Competence, Conflict of Interest, and Employer Demands.

Negotiating 'Evil': Google, Project Maven and the Corporate Form

‘Don’t be evil’ was part of Google’s corporate code of conduct since 2000; however, it was quietly removed in April or May 2018 and subsequently replaced with ‘do the right thing’. Questions were raised both internally and externally to the organisation regarding the substantive meaning of this imperative. Some have highlighted the company’s original intentions in creating the code of conduct, while others have used the motto as a basis for critiquing the company—such as for its advertising practices, failure to pay corporate tax or the manipulation of Google-owned content. The imperative’s removal occurred at a time when thousands of Google employees, including senior engineers, signed a letter protesting the company’s involvement in Project Maven, a Pentagon program that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video imagery, which could in turn be used to improve the targeting capability of drone strikes. Employees asserted their refusal to be involved in the business of war and expressed their wariness of the United States government’s use of technology. This article will examine the legal construct and concept of the corporation, and whether it is possible for corporations to not be evil in the twenty-first century.

CORPORATE CULTURE OF INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Introduction. Corporate culture serves as a regulator of staff behavior through a system of values, norms, rules established within a single educational institution. Corporate culture can be considered as a kind of management ideology aimed at increasing the business activity of employees, the formation of their corporate identity. Goal is to investigate the phenomenon of corporate culture, to analyze the structure and functions of corporate culture, to characterize the features of the corporate code, to reveal the essence of corporate symbols; to present the main aspects of forming the corporate culture of a higher education institution (on the example of the Western Ukrainian National University). Method. The research methodology is based on the complex application of general scientific methods, including analysis and synthesis. The applied historical and cultural approach involves the study of corporate culture as a socio-cultural phenomenon, its role in creating the image of the university. Results. The scientific novelty of the obtained results is reflected both in the very formulation of the problem and in a comprehensive approach to its solution; The work is a study of the innovative activities of higher education institutions in the formation and development of corporate culture, is a critical analysis of previously unexplored aspects of the Western Ukrainian National University. The results of the study are reflected in the conclusions. Conclusions. It is established that the management of a higher education institution forms a corporate culture, thanks to which employees identify themselves as a professional community that stands out in the market of educational services. The directions of improvement of corporate culture of the university are offered, the basic principles of effective corporate culture, the maintenance of the corporate code, and also a role of corporate symbols in formation of image of university are analyzed.