Navigating norms and invisible rules: Explaining the case of business influence in international shipping regulation

This article develops a micro-level theoretical perspective of business influence in international negotiations. By drawing on organizational institutional theory, the article proposes that site-specific institutionalized norms can structure the nature and extent of business power. The article illustrates the value of this perspective through an illustrative case study of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) through interviews and participant observation of on-site dynamics during negotiations on environmental shipping regulation. The article shows how, in the case of the IMO, specific institutionalized norms and beliefs structure private actors’ possible influence and their claims to authority. In particular, strongly held beliefs about the nature of political deliberation in the IMO both constrain and enable business interests, sometimes overriding the general structural power of the shipping industry. This research implies that future scholarship of business power and lobbying should be attentive to specific institutionalized ideas structuring business actors’ range of legitimate activities, in particular in international institutions where individual negotiation sites can develop idiosyncratic norms and beliefs about the legitimacy of private actor participation.

Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Corporate Reputation in the Wine Sector

This article offers a comprehensive overview on the relationship between sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and corporate reputation (CR) by examining a field study case of a wine family firm located in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Through qualitative research methods, direct interviews to the family, social accountability, archives and observations of the company's life, information is organized in thematic areas suggesting the need of an alignment between environmental and business interests. The results are further used in proposing a framework model focused on the identification of key performance indicators (KPI). The main pillars of this concept are evaluating, monitoring and improving CR. The conclusion stresses the importance of replicating this type of modelling initiative with the purpose of professionalizing the wine industry into a more sustainable production and more successful business practices.

Taxing the Digital Economy: Nigeria’s Financial Act 2019 and Significant Economic Presence Order 2020

This note outlines the salient provisions of the Significant Economic Presence Order 2020 and its implications for non-resident companies with business interests in Nigeria’s digital economy. It also identifies some impediments to the implementation of the new digital tax regime.

ANATOMI KERJASAMA BILATERAL INDONESIA-CHINA DALAM PENGEMBANGAN VAKSIN COVID-19

Each country in the world began to put their struggle to cope the COVID-19 Pandemic in their top priority since early 2020. They have been using all possible resources, particularly through their foreign relations to support their effort to tackle the pandemic. Since the pandemic is a global problem, all country in the world need to cooperate each other and gain the best solution for their people. In this particular case, we do a research on the international cooperation in developing COVID-19 vaccine. This research aims to see how the bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and China in COVID-19 vaccine development. We do a critical study on this case, such as Indonesian government’s side interests, business interests of several ministers, public questions regarding unsafe vaccine, vaccine monopoly, out of procedure of the vaccine development process, and also transparency and open access about the development of the vaccine. This research uses a qualitative method with bilateral cooperation as the concept. Data collection is using literature study, observation, and interview. The result found out that the cooperation not only on vaccine development, but also economy recovery and others.

The Size and Growth Potential of the Digital Economy in ODA-eligible Countries

This rapid review synthesises evidence on the current size of the digital market, the countries promoting development of digital business and their approach through Trade Policies or Incentive Frameworks, and the current and potential size of the market with the UK / China / US / other significant countries. It draws on a variety of sources, including reports by international organisations (such as the World Bank and OECD), grey literature produced by think tanks and the private sector, and peer reviewed academic papers. A high proportion of estimates of the size of the digital economy come from research conducted by or for corporations and industry bodies, such as Google and the GSMA (which represents the telecommunications industry). Their research may be influenced by their business interests, the methodologies and data sources they utilise are often opaque, and the information required to critically assess findings is sometimes missing. Given this, the estimates presented in this review are best seen as ballpark figures rather than precise measurements. A limitation of this rapid evidence review stems from the lack of consistent methodologies for estimating the size of the digital economy. The OECD is attempting to develop a standard approach to measuring the digital economy across the national accounts of the G20, but this has not yet been finalised. This makes comparing the results of different studies very challenging. The problem is particularly stark in low income countries, where there are frequently huge gaps in the relevant data.

Necroeconomics: Power, Ethics, and the Political Economy of Human-Animal Relations

<p>This paper is an innovative addition to the ongoing debate about human-animal relations. It approaches the topic from the perspective of political economy rather than moral philosophy and seeks to provide an explanatory framework combining commodification of animals and death in the global economy. While acknowledging the importance of the ongoing debate about animal rights, it seeks to shift the focus of analysis of industries which create value through the killing of animals toward one based on the Foucauldian notions of power as biopolitics and governance. In order to reconceptualise the relations of power which exist between human business interests and animal life, it introduces the notion that animals killed for meat, by-products, or research purposes are treated as necrocommodities; that is, commodities whose value is created as a direct result of death. By challenging the prevalent notions of speciesist hierarchisation and property rights, it seeks to cast a new light on the tangible power relations which exist between humans and animal species which are hunted or fished for profit. In doing so, this paper challenges the notion that the economy is amoral. Instead, it presents a preliminary picture of an economy rooted in inter-species power relations which is necessarily subject to a moral critique. The case study of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and ongoing "scientific" whaling is used to elucidate and introduce the concept of necroeconomics, but the main goal is to present an analytical framework that has a bearing on wider moral and structural issues in the international animal and animal product industry. Moreover, it situates animal-human relations within broader problems of modernity, thereby broadening its scope and calling for more academic focus on the place of animals in the modern political economy and its attendant circuits of power.</p>

Power Dynamics and Corporate Power in Governance Processes: Evidence From U.S. Environmental Governance Systems

Prior research has documented involvement of government and civil society actors in governance processes, but has largely neglected a key player: corporate business interests. Combining insights from social-ecological systems, organizational systems theory, theories of governance and power, interest group rule-making participation, and non-state alternative environmental governance, we examine corporate involvement and power in environmental governance systems. Drawing on a sample of Twitter messages about fuel economy standards, posted between 2012 and 2020, we offer a sector-level discourse analysis of corporate power and its interaction with the sociopolitical environment. The results suggest that business interests are gaining increasing power in the participation arena of U.S. fuel economy governance processes. The results likewise indicate corporations’ response to a changing political landscape in the U.S. Taken together, our analysis advances current scholarship on power dynamics in governance processes and on empirical assessment of power, offering implications for governance system design and implementation.

Necroeconomics: Power, Ethics, and the Political Economy of Human-Animal Relations

<p>This paper is an innovative addition to the ongoing debate about human-animal relations. It approaches the topic from the perspective of political economy rather than moral philosophy and seeks to provide an explanatory framework combining commodification of animals and death in the global economy. While acknowledging the importance of the ongoing debate about animal rights, it seeks to shift the focus of analysis of industries which create value through the killing of animals toward one based on the Foucauldian notions of power as biopolitics and governance. In order to reconceptualise the relations of power which exist between human business interests and animal life, it introduces the notion that animals killed for meat, by-products, or research purposes are treated as necrocommodities; that is, commodities whose value is created as a direct result of death. By challenging the prevalent notions of speciesist hierarchisation and property rights, it seeks to cast a new light on the tangible power relations which exist between humans and animal species which are hunted or fished for profit. In doing so, this paper challenges the notion that the economy is amoral. Instead, it presents a preliminary picture of an economy rooted in inter-species power relations which is necessarily subject to a moral critique. The case study of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and ongoing "scientific" whaling is used to elucidate and introduce the concept of necroeconomics, but the main goal is to present an analytical framework that has a bearing on wider moral and structural issues in the international animal and animal product industry. Moreover, it situates animal-human relations within broader problems of modernity, thereby broadening its scope and calling for more academic focus on the place of animals in the modern political economy and its attendant circuits of power.</p>

Odds-wise view: Whose ideas prevail in the global integrity campaigns against match-fixing?

The global expansion of sports betting has resulted in the formation of (inter)national governing regimes aimed at sustaining revenue and regulating attendant issues, including match-fixing. This article explores the workings of these regimes vis-à-vis the management of match-fixing issues in sport. More particularly, this article focuses on betting monitoring programmes as countermeasures against match-fixing and conceptualises these as social instruments that ultimately define issues and influence the wider integrity agenda of anti-match-fixing campaigns. Analysing documentary, observation and interview data from two disparate monitoring programmes, the results show that betting monitoring is a technical extension of corporate risk management, invariably reflecting the business interests of the betting industry. Therefore, the operating logic of betting monitoring defines match-fixing as an act of sabotaging the competitive edge of betting companies. Moreover, this interest-laden paradigm reigns within the broader policy agenda of sport integrity by equating the betting industry's interest with that of sport. From this, the article suggests that betting monitoring plays a part in the legitimation of commercial gambling by reframing the issue of match-fixing as a common enemy that gambling and sport join forces to combat, not a risk that gambling brings to sport.