Shrinking mining cities — once prosperous settlements servicing a mining site or a system of mining sites — are characterized by long‐term population and/or economic decline. Many of these towns ...experience periods of growth and shrinkage, mirroring the ebbs and flows of international mineral markets which determine the fortunes of the dominant mining corporation upon which each of these towns heavily depends. This dependence on one main industry produces a parallel development in the fluctuations of both workforce and population. Thus, the strategies of the main company in these towns can, to a great extent, determine future developments and have a great impact on urban management plans. Climate conditions, knowledge, education and health services, as well as transportation links, are important factors that have impacted on lifestyles in mining cities, but it is the parallel development with the private sector operators (often a single corporation) that constitutes the distinctive feature of these cities and that ultimately defines their shrinkage. This article discusses shrinking mining cities in capitalist economies, the factors underpinning their development, and some of the planning and community challenges faced by these cities in Australia, Canada, Japan and Mexico.
Résumé
Les villes minières en décroissance, localités autrefois prospères qui desservent un site ou un réseau de sites d'exploitation minière, se caractérisent par un long déclin de leur population et de leur économie. Beaucoup d'entre elles connaissent des périodes de croissance et de décroissance, à l'image des hauts et des bas des marchés miniers internationaux dont dépend la prospérité du groupe minier prépondérant dans chacune de ces villes. Cette dépendance vis‐à‐vis d'une seule activité industrielle génère une évolution parallèle de la main‐d'œuvre et de la population. Dans ces villes, les stratégies de l'entreprise principale peuvent donc très largement déterminer les aménagements futurs et influer sur les plans de gestion urbaine. Conditions climatiques, savoirs, éducation, services de santé et réseaux de transport sont des facteurs importants dans le mode de vie local, mais ce sont les transformations qui vont de pair avec l'évolution des opérateurs du secteur privé (souvent une seule grosse entreprise) qui constituent le trait distinctif de ces villes minières et détermine finalement le ‘rétrécissement’ urbain. Cet article analyse les villes minières en décroissance dans les économies capitalistes en s'attachant aux facteurs fondamentaux de leur développement et à certains enjeux, propres à l'aménagement et à la communauté, auxquels ces villes sont confrontées dans leur pays respectif (Australie, Canada, Japon et Mexique).
Product reformulation– the process of altering a food or beverage product's recipe or composition to improve the product's health profile – is a prominent response to the obesity and noncommunicable ...disease epidemics in the U.S. To date, reformulation in the U.S. has been largely voluntary and initiated by actors within the food and beverage industry. Similar voluntary efforts by the tobacco and alcohol industry have been considered to be a mechanism of corporate political strategy to shape public health policies and decisions to suit commercial needs.
We propose a taxonomy of food and beverage industry corporate political strategies that builds on the existing literature. We then analyzed the industry's responses to a 2014 U.S. government consultation on product reformulation, run as part of the process to define the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. We qualitatively coded the industry's responses for predominant narratives and framings around reformulation using a purposely-designed coding framework, and compared the results to the taxonomy.
The food and beverage industry in the United States used a highly similar narrative around voluntary product reformulation in their consultation responses: that reformulation is “part of the solution” to obesity and NCDs, even though their products or industry are not large contributors to the problem, and that progress has been made despite reformulation posing significant technical challenges. This narrative and the frames used in the submissions illustrate the four categories of the taxonomy: participation in the policy process, influencing the framing of the nutrition policy debate, creating partnerships, and influencing the interpretation of evidence. These strategic uses of reformulation align with previous research on food and beverage corporate political strategy.
•Proposes a taxonomy of food and beverage industry corporate political strategy.•Analyzes frames and narratives in the industry's responses to a public consultation.•Assess relationship between product reformulation and the industry's strategy.•Found the industry uses a highly similar narrative and framing of reformulation.•Findings align with previous research on the industry's corporate political strategy.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of mortality in Fiji, a middle-income country in the Pacific. Some food products processed sold and marketed by the food industry are major ...contributors to the NCD epidemic, and the food industry is widely identified as having strong economic and political power. However, little research has been undertaken on the attempts by the food industry to influence public health-related policies and programs in its favour. The "corporate political activity" (CPA) of the food industry includes six strategies (information and messaging; financial incentives; constituency building; legal strategies; policy substitution; opposition fragmentation and destabilisation). For this study, we aimed to gain a detailed understanding of the CPA strategies and practices of major food industry actors in Fiji, interpreted through a public health lens.
We implemented a systematic approach to monitor the CPA of the food industry in Fiji for three months. It consisted of document analysis of relevant publicly available information. In parallel, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 stakeholders involved in diet- and/or public health-related issues in Fiji. Both components of the study were thematically analysed. We found evidence that the food industry adopted a diverse range of strategies in an attempt to influence public policy in Fiji, with all six CPA strategies identified. Participants identified that there is a substantial risk that the widespread CPA of the food industry could undermine efforts to address NCDs in Fiji.
Despite limited public disclosure of information, such as data related to food industry donations to political parties and lobbying, we were able to identify many CPA practices used by the food industry in Fiji. Greater transparency from the food industry and the government would help strengthen efforts to increase their accountability and support NCD prevention. In other low- and middle-income countries, it is likely that a systematic document analysis approach would also need to be supplemented with key informant interviews to gain insight into this important influence on NCD prevention.
In recent years, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) have been extensive concerned. However, few studies have focused on the impact of situational factors on corporate ESG practice decisions. ...Based on this, using 9428 observations of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2019, this paper attempts to explore the impact of local official turnover on corporate ESG practices, and analyzes the boundary effects of this impact from three aspects: region, industry, and corporate. Our results suggest that (1) official turnover can lead to changes in economic policies and redistribution of political resources, which can stimulate companies’ “risk aversion motivation” and “development motivation” and thus promote their ESG practices; (2) this effect is more significant in the high degree of government intervention, the high level of industry competition and private corporates. (3) Further test finds that only when the official turnover abnormally and the regional economic development well, official turnover can significantly contribute to corporate ESG. This paper enriches the relevant research on the decision-making scenarios of corporate ESG practices from the macro-institutional perspective.
The structure of the control network of transnational corporations affects global market competition and financial stability. So far, only small national samples were studied and there was no ...appropriate methodology to assess control globally. We present the first investigation of the architecture of the international ownership network, along with the computation of the control held by each global player. We find that transnational corporations form a giant bow-tie structure and that a large portion of control flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions. This core can be seen as an economic "super-entity" that raises new important issues both for researchers and policy makers.
Sustainability science has grown as a field of inquiry, but has said little about the role of large-scale private sector actors in socio-ecological systems change. However, the shaping of global ...trends and transitions depends greatly on the private sector and its development impact. Market-based and command-and-control policy instruments have, along with corporate citizenship, been the predominant means for bringing sustainable development priorities into private sector decision-making. This research identifies conflict as a further means through which environmental and social risks are translated into business costs and decision making. Through in-depth interviews with finance, legal, and sustainability professionals in the extractive industries, and empirical case analysis of 50 projects worldwide, this research reports on the financial value at stake when conflict erupts with local communities. Over the past decade, high commodity prices have fueled the expansion of mining and hydrocarbon extraction. These developments profoundly transform environments, communities, and economies, and frequently generate social conflict. Our analysis shows that mining and hydrocarbon companies fail to factor in the full scale of the costs of conflict. For example, as a result of conflict, a major, world-class mining project with capital expenditure of between US$3 and US$5 billion was reported to suffer roughly US$20 million per week of delayed production in net present value terms. Clear analysis of the costs of conflict provides sustainability professionals with a strengthened basis to influence corporate decision making, particularly when linked to corporate values. Perverse outcomes of overemphasizing a cost analysis are also discussed.
Introduction: One of the crises that has plagued human society recently is the crisis caused by the coronavirus disease. The spread of this virus first affected China’s economy and then caused major ...financial crises and uncertainty among shareholders. One of the most important ways to protect the interests of shareholders is corporate governance, which increases the company’s value in the long run. Therefore, this research aimed to investigate the impact of the Corona crisis on the relationship between corporate governance and stock performance.Methods: The current study is descriptive research, and the data of 150 companies admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2017 to 2022 was used as a sample. Regression analysis and correlation coefficient were used for data analysis and hypothesis testing.Results: The findings of the research at a 95% confidence level showed that the coronavirus crisis moderates the relationship between the components of corporate governance, the independence of the board of directors, and institutional investors with stock performance, whereas it does not have a moderating effect on the relationship between some other components of corporate governance, such as the size of the board of directors and dual duties of the CEO with stock performance.Conclusion: By increasing some corporate governance mechanisms, such as the board of directors’ independence and institutional ownership, the negative impact of the Corona epidemic on stock performance may decrease.
Growing demand for agricultural commodities is causing the expansion of agricultural frontiers onto native vegetation worldwide. Agribusiness companies linking these frontiers to distant spaces of ...consumption through global commodity chains increasingly make zero-deforestation pledges. However, production and land conversion are often carried out by less-visible local and regional actors that are mobile and responsive to new agricultural expansion opportunities and legal constraints on land use. With more stringent deforestation regulations in some countries, we ask whether their movements are determined partly by differences in land-use policies, resulting in “deforestation havens.” We analyze the determinants of investment decisions by agricultural companies in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano, a region that has become the new deforestation “hot spot” in South America. We test whether companies seek out less-regulated forest areas for new agricultural investments. Based on interviews with 82 companies totaling 2.5 Mha of properties, we show that, in addition to proximity to current investments and the availability of cheap forestland, lower deforestation regulations attract investments by companies that tend to clear more forest, mostly cattle ranching operations, and that lower enforcement attracts all companies. Avoiding deforestation leakage requires harmonizing deforestation regulations across regions and commodities and promoting sustainable intensification in cattle ranching.
Keystone species have a disproportionate influence on the structure and function of ecosystems. Here we analyze whether a keystone-like pattern can be observed in the relationship between ...transnational corporations and marine ecosystems globally. We show how thirteen corporations control 11-16% of the global marine catch (9-13 million tons) and 19-40% of the largest and most valuable stocks, including species that play important roles in their respective ecosystem. They dominate all segments of seafood production, operate through an extensive global network of subsidiaries and are profoundly involved in fisheries and aquaculture decision-making. Based on our findings, we define these companies as keystone actors of the Anthropocene. The phenomenon of keystone actors represents an increasingly important feature of the human-dominated world. Sustainable leadership by keystone actors could result in cascading effects throughout the entire seafood industry and enable a critical transition towards improved management of marine living resources and ecosystems.
There has been recent scrutiny of private equity involvement in the healthcare market by federal and state governmental agencies who are concerned about the corporatization and financialization of ...healthcare in the United States. Data is emerging that patient costs increase, quality of healthcare decreases, physician autonomy decreases, and physician burnout and moral injury increases when corporate interests like private equity enter the medical market. Like other medical specialties, the field of radiology has been affected by corporatization and radiologists should understand how private equity interests may affect individual radiologists and the radiology workforce on a larger scale.
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