The business judgement rule and voluntary reporting
Some sectors of society wishing to sec commerce adopt high standards of corporate citizenship may feel that those managers who do not enthusiastically embrace voluntary social or environmental reporting are trying to avoid their obligations to the broader community. This may be a naive and unfair judgement. The job of the corporate manager is to use other people's money to meet other people's goals. With the role comes a moral and legal responsibility. A challenge for the responsible steward is to balance the private interest of the owners against the public desire for more information about corporate social performance. In this chapter, we explore the line between a narrow perspective on a manager's legal responsibility to be frugal with corporate resources, and the growing expectation that management will spend some of these resources on corporate reporting that may in itself increase pressure on the corporation to spend further resources pursuing social ends.
Triple bottom line reporting in the irrigation sector
Most irrigation in Australia was instigated with regional socio-economic development as a primary goal. The irrigation schemes were developed with grand visions of settling the interior and providing farming opportunities to soldiers returning from world wars. Thus it could be said that the master planners in government had a fledgling version of the triple bottom line in their sights. These visions have partly been realised with evidence from the Murrumbidgee and Murray basins of significant inland populations associated with the irrigated districts and an annual revenue of $3.1 billion associated with an investment into irrigation infrastructure valued at about $10 billion (Meyer 2005). ... Irrigation development induces considerable environmental change, but the expectation has been in the past that the economic and social benefits would be greater than the environmental costs. However, public attitudes have changed over time, from enthusiasm for development and exploitation to greater concern regarding environmental issues and sustainability. Recently, the irrigation industry has found it difficult to communicate to the wider populace and government the benefits of irrigation to their regions and to explain the activities and investment undertaken to tackle the environmental sustainability concerns. To rectify this, irrigation water supply businesses are investigating using a reporting structure that includes financial, environmental, and social and cultural elements. This triple bottom line, holistic approach is intended to provide a more balanced view of water use, with socio-economic benefits and environmental consequences demonstrated. It is anticipated that this approach will lead to a more transparent and informed debate on the sustainable use of resources between all parties. This chapter will provide an overview the story of irrigation in the Murray and Murrumbidgee basins, their current environmental and socio-economic conditions and the context for sustainability performance reporting by irrigation water suppliers. Two case studies of irrigation company performance reporting will be presented. The concept of sustainability introduces expectations of a social licence as practical concerns for irrigation water supply businesses. These concerns about demonstrating responsible performance go beyond the legal reporting requirements for annual financial and environmental compliance reporting.
Harmonising Australia's Environmental Laws: Scoping of Harmonisation of Environmental Regulation and Regulatory Practice across Jurisdictions in Australia
The overall aim of this document is to provide a foundation for understanding the opportunities and potential risks of harmonization of environmental regulation and regulatory practice across Australia. The focus adopted was intra-national harmonisation of environmental laws. A multi-method approach was undertaken including the following: 1. Desktop research and review of relevant literature and legislation; 2. Key informant data from discussions with members of the Harmonisation of Environmental Regulation Project Team; and 3. Three case studies: US Pollution, NSW Planning and Hazardous Waste.
Theoretical Effects of Mortality Fear on Environmental Regulatory Non-Compliance
Empirical studies from the field of existential psychology point to the possibility that the fear of death could be contributing to a lack of compliance with environmental regulations. A key theory within the field of experimental existential psychology, Terror Management Theory, has shown that reminders of mortality affect a broad range of behaviours; in many cases including activities that have little or no logical connection to death. Studies in this area have also shown that increased awareness of death can be triggered by a range of events, again, some seemingly unrelated to mortality. Terror Management Theory has been applied to other non-compliance behaviours, and its potential links with environmental regulatory noncompliance warrant investigation. This paper sets out a number of pathways by which the fear of death may be a factor in primary producer environmental regulatory non-compliance, together with examples of empirical studies which support the validity of each component of these paths.
Transaction costs and water reform: the devils hiding in the details
This report investigates the impacts of different forms of transaction costs upon the effectiveness of legal and institutional structures intended to improve urban and peri-urban water management. The report is based upon detailed investigation of the implementation of water management policy in peri-urban Sydney.