Absentee Ownership and Corporate Environmental Performance

SE-0215366PI(S)Don Grant II亚利桑那大学该项目解决了两个关于缺席工厂的环境绩效的问题：(1)总部位于州外或外国的工厂比当地拥有的工厂排放更多的毒素吗？(2)总部位于偏远地区的工厂是否会根据所在社区的社会资本产生更多的污染。对全球化和资本主义扩张持批评态度的人士表示，没有人拥有的工厂对当地社区作为居住场所没有长期利益。相反，他们非常愿意掠夺自然环境，如果这能最大化母公司的利润。与此同时，有关结构嵌入性的文献表明，这种组织模式过于简单化，无论工厂总部设在哪里，工厂的表现都受到其所在的当地机构文化的制约。这项研究将检验几个假设-(1)州外或外国总部的化工厂有更高的排放率(即，它们在现场使用的化学品向环境释放更大比例)，(2)州外或外国总部的化工厂位于公民不参与的社区时，排放量更高，(3)州外或外国总部的化工厂，当位于既不参与公民活动，又由贫困少数族裔组成的社区时，排放量特别高。为了验证这些假设，将使用一个由大约2000家化工厂组成的数据文件。文件包括美国环保局有毒物质排放清单中每一家工厂的有毒物质释放、其所有权状况以及周围社区的社会和机构特征的信息。1990年将使用横截面设计来确定缺席者所有权对排放率的直接和有条件的影响。为了评估这些影响是如何改变的，将采用滞后的面板设计。调查结果将为正在迅速成为模式类型的商业组织提供新的见解：缺席所有权。先前的研究表明，缺席所有权具有经济和社会影响；这项研究将首次具体说明缺席所有权在哪些情况下也会对环境产生影响。这一结果可能会指导监管机构决定是否更密切地监控外国公司拥有的工厂，以及商界自我监管的努力。

SES-0215366PI (s) Don Grant IIUniversity of Arizona The project addresses two questions concerning the environmental performance of absentee owned plants: (1) Do plants with out-of-state or foreign headquarters emit more toxins than locally owned plants?, and (2) Do plants with remote headquarters pollute more depending on the social capital of their host communities. Critics of globalization and capitalist expansion suggest that absentee owned plants have no long-term interest in local communities as places to live. Rather they are very willing to plunder their natural surroundings if it will maximize their parent firm's profits. Meanwhile literature on structural embeddedness suggest that this organizational model is too simplistic, that regardless of where a plant's headquarters is located, a plant's performance is conditioned by the local institutional culture in which it is situated. The research will test several hypothesis-(1) chemical plants with out-of-state or foreign headquarters have higher emission rates (i.e., release a larger percent of chemicals they use on-site to the environment), (2) chemical plants with out-of-state or foreign headquarters have higher emission rates when located in civically disengaged communities, and (3) chemical plants with out-of-state ore foreign headquarters have particularly high emission rates when located in communities that are both civically disengaged and comprised of poor minorities. To test these hypotheses, a data file consisting of roughly 2000 chemical plants will be used. The file includes information on each plant's toxic releases from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory, its ownership status, and the social and institutional features of its surrounding community. A cross-section design will be used to determine the direct and conditional effects of absentee ownership on emission rates in 1990. To assess how these effects have changed a lagged panel design will be employed.Findings will provide new insights into what is rapidly becoming the modal type of business organization: absentee ownership. Prior research has demonstrated that absentee ownership has economic and social effects; this study will be the first to specify some of the conditions under which absentee ownership also has environmental consequences. Results could potentially guide regulators in deciding whether to monitor plants owned by foreign firms more closely, and the business community in its efforts at self-regulation.