The impact of sustainable public procurement on corporate ESG performance-The Chinese evidence.

Public procurement is an important bridge between public demand and market supply and may affect corporate behavior. However, in the advocacy of sustainable development, the extant research has rarely combined sustainable public procurement (SPP) with corporate ESG performance, to explore whether governments have contributed to the development of sustainable corporate performance through their sustainable procurement activities. This paper fills in the gap by matching the actual implementation of SPP of 42,369 projects in China over 2015~2020 with 20,125 corporate ESG performance data, to analyze the relationship between SPP implementation and corporate ESG performance. The results show that the implementation of SPP has a significant positive impact on corporate ESG performance. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact is stronger in China's eastern and central regions than in other regions, and corporates at a mature stage are more likely to follow the government sustainable behavior. In addition, the implementation of SPP has a long-term effect on corporate ESG performance. The above findings have important policy implications: firstly, there is a better role for government to play as the "invisible hand", to participate in the market economy; Specifically, SPP policy should be added to government policy tool box to improve corporate ESG performance in addition to disclosure requirement, and the SPP policy employed should in particular attend to the "missing sectors" of sustainability in SPP for the good of corporate ESG; secondly, the government should implement differentiated policies tailored to the region's economic development conditions and corporate development characteristics; thirdly, a long-term evaluation mechanism should be established so that the government can play a more long-term demonstration and leading role.

The link between green innovations, corporate performance, ESG activities, and sharing economy.

In current years (environment, social, and governance), ESG activities in various countries have been focus more attention their stakeholders by enterprises. The world largest developing country China. The Chinese registered Enterprises ESG performance helps to apprehend the deficiencies of their sustainable ability and development for boost the organizations value. Furthermore, enterprises must balance the allocation of resources between green innovation investment and ESG activities in the future as a result of the interaction effect between these two factors. This research examines the effects of environmental, social, and governance issues on financial and non-financial performance at registered Chinese manufacturing firms since 2009 to 2019. Green innovation is also tested as a moderating factor. Results show that environment, common, and governance performance has negative influence on the firm financial performance. On the other hand, its negative effects on financial performance will be enhanced. The environmental activities have negatively affected financial performance but green innovation has positively regulated them. Non-financial performance is positively impacted by the ESG performance. The ESG general performance and the environmental performance have positive influence on corporate reputation with the improvement of green innovation levels increase. Corporate financial performance is influenced by green innovation and social activities in a substitutional manner.

Official Turnover and Corporate ESG Practices: Evidence from China.

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.

A novel investigation of the influence of corporate governance on firms' credit ratings.

Corporate governance is the way of governing a firm in order to increase its accountability and to avoid any massive damage before it occurs. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of capital structure, firms' size, and competitive advantages of firms as control variables on credit ratings. We investigate the role of corporate governance in improving the firms' credit rating using a sample of Jordanian listed firms. We split firms into four categories according to WVB credit rating. We use both the binary logistic regression (LR) and the ordinal logistic regression (OLR) to model credit ratings in Jordanian environment. The empirical results show that the control variables are strong determinants of credit ratings. When we evaluate the relationship between the governance variables and credit ratings, we found interesting results. The board stockholders and board expertise are moderately significant. The board independence and role duality are weakly significant, while board size is insignificant.

Reducing Medical Admissions and Presentations Into Hospital through Optimising Medicines (REMAIN HOME): a stepped wedge, cluster randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether integrating pharmacists into general practices reduces the number of unplanned re-admissions of patients recently discharged from hospital. DESIGN, SETTING: Stepped wedge, cluster randomised trial in 14 general practices in southeast Queensland. PARTICIPANTS: Adults discharged from one of seven study hospitals during the seven days preceding recruitment (22 May 2017 - 14 March 2018) and prescribed five or more long term medicines, or having a primary discharge diagnosis of congestive heart failure or exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. INTERVENTION: Comprehensive face-to-face medicine management consultation with an integrated practice pharmacist within seven days of discharge, followed by a consultation with their general practitioner and further pharmacist consultations as needed. MAJOR OUTCOMES: Rates of unplanned, all-cause hospital re-admissions and emergency department (ED) presentations 12 months after hospital discharge; incremental net difference in overall costs. RESULTS: By 12 months, there had been 282 re-admissions among 177 control patients (incidence rate [IR], 1.65 per person-year) and 136 among 129 intervention patients (IR, 1.09 per person-year; fully adjusted IR ratio [IRR], 0.79; 95% CI, 0.52-1.18). ED presentation incidence (fully adjusted IRR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.22-0.94) and combined re-admission and ED presentation incidence (fully adjusted IRR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.48-0.99) were significantly lower for intervention patients. The estimated incremental net cost benefit of the intervention was $5072 per patient, with a benefit-cost ratio of 31:1. CONCLUSION: A collaborative pharmacist-GP model of post-hospital discharge medicines management can reduce the incidence of hospital re-admissions and ED presentations, achieving substantial cost savings to the health system. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12616001627448 (prospective).

Affirmative action programs and network benefits in the number of board positions.

Whereas governments are increasingly considering affirmative action programs to increase corporate board diversity, the effect of such programs can be superficial as they do not address the underlying problem, which is women's access to and inclusion in relevant corporate networks. To address this issue, we study the relationship among affirmative action programs (binding gender quotas and non-binding gender targets), director networks, and the number of board positions individual directors hold given their gender. We use personal, professional, and network characteristics of 25,127 unique directors from 2,435 public firms in 32 European countries over the period of 2000 through 2017. We find that in the absence of affirmative action programs, women directors benefit less from their networks than men directors suggesting the existence of a gender gap in network benefits. After the passage of binding gender quotas, this gender gap in network benefits narrows between women and men directors. Overall, this research suggests that binding gender quotas make director networks a more salient tool for hiring women and may help in leveling the playing field in the way these networks are used for achieving top management positions.

The effectiveness of internal control and innovation performance: An intermediary effect based on corporate social responsibility.

From the perspective of the effectiveness of internal control, this study analyzes the influence of internal control on innovation performance and internal control on corporate social responsibility (CSR), and then analyzes the intermediary effect of CSR between internal control and innovation performance. The results show that the improvement of the effectiveness of internal control has a significant promoting effect on innovation performance, and promotes enterprises to strengthen CSR performance. Meanwhile, CSR activities take a significant intermediary effect in the process of improving innovation performance through internal control. Finally, it is suggested that state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises should communicate and cooperate, strengthen the construction of internal control system, and improve innovation performance and CSR practices. Furthermore, the intermediary effect of CSR activities in the process of improving innovation performance through internal control should be brought into play, so as to return the expectations and demands of stakeholders.

The nexus between corporate governance, risk taking, and growth.

In this study we assess the impact of corporate governance on the risk investment behavior of firms and its implications on firms' growth rate. Using a sample of non-financial companies from 10 countries over a period leading to the recent global financial crisis, we documented that the corporate governance has a nonlinear (inverted U-shape) impact on the companies' investment risk, meaning that the investment risk is increasing up to a level of corporate governance of 0.61 (as measured by our comprehensive index), while at higher levels of corporate governance the investment risk is decreasing. For the models of sales growth and assets growth it is shown that predicted investment risk has a positive effect on firms' growth measures. Moreover, the two growth models are not moving independently and a shock to one of the growth measures (sales or assets) affects the other growth measure in the same direction. Additionally, we evaluated the effect of financial crisis on both the growth measures and the risk measure. The effect of financial crisis was captured in both measures in 2009, with higher impact on the growth of sales.

The changing face of veterinary practice.

This month, David Steer discusses the impact of practice expansion on long-standing clients.

Development of a community-academic collaborative pharmacy residency program.

PURPOSE: To describe the development of a collaborative community-academic postgraduate year 1 pharmacy residency program in San Diego that provides a hybrid experience of opportunities in community practice, ambulatory care, and teaching. SUMMARY: Residency training programs are being developed to better match the evolving role of the community pharmacist. In 2016, the University of California San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences partnered with Ralphs Pharmacy, a division of the Kroger Co., to launch a 1-year community residency to develop community-based pharmacists with diverse patient care, leadership, and education skills. Learning experiences include pharmacy operations, clinical services focusing on chronic disease management and education, teaching, and practice-based research. Training settings include community pharmacy, corporate pharmacy, ambulatory care, and academia. Graduates are prepared to work in these settings as well as capitalize on advanced training opportunities, including postgraduate year 2 residencies and professional certifications. The program has been successfully accredited, and graduates have completed the program: one completed a postgraduate year 2 residency, and both have obtained a management or clinical pharmacist position. CONCLUSION: An innovative community-academic residency program preparing postgraduate year 1 learners for careers in community-based pharmacy, corporate, ambulatory care, and academic settings was developed, with positive preliminary outcomes.

White Paper: Corporatization in Radiology.

Consolidation in health care has been widely recognized as having significant impact in the United States. A related trend is the corporatization of medical professional practices by companies in capital markets. Several medical subspecialties have been identified as attractive corporatization candidates, including radiology. The purpose of the white paper is to present information about the trend of corporatization in radiology. The real, recognized, and potential influences of capital investors in radiology need to be acknowledged as evolving and important considerations. Many radiologists and practices have already realized significant change as a result of corporatization. Corporatization presents significant practical, financial, ethical, and moral implications for those in and related to radiology.

Public health and the ultra-processed food and drink products industry: corporate political activity of major transnationals in Latin America and the Caribbean.

OBJECTIVE: To identify examples of the 'corporate political activity' (CPA) of the industry producing and selling ultra-processed food and drink products (UPP) in Latin America and the Caribbean. DESIGN: Searches were conducted on the national websites and social media accounts of large industry actors. Coding was deductive and based on a framework for classifying the CPA of the food industry. SETTING: Fifteen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.ParticipantsTwelve members of the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) and major trade associations and chambers of commerce in the region. RESULTS: During the current pilot study, more than 200 examples of CPA were found in Latin America and the Caribbean. The UPP industry lobbied governments during the development of national health policies. UPP companies tried to build alliances with health professionals, but also with communities where they operated and with policy makers. In addition, the UPP industry fought against regulation in court and proposed weaker alternatives to public health policies, such as self-regulation. CONCLUSIONS: Food systems in low- and middle-income countries, including in Latin America and the Caribbean, are increasingly penetrated by the UPP industry. These countries are at risk of being influenced by the CPA strategies described in the present study. There is a need to further identify, monitor and evaluate the impact of these CPA strategies on public health policies and public opinion in the region, in order to develop mechanisms to effectively prevent such interference.

Reducing Medical Admissions into Hospital through Optimising Medicines (REMAIN HOME) Study: protocol for a stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised trial.

INTRODUCTION: A model of general practitioner (GP) and pharmacist collaboration in primary care may be an effective strategy to reduce medication-related problems and provide better support to patients after discharge. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a model of structured pharmacist and GP care reduces hospital readmissions in high-risk patients. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This protocol details a stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised trial that will recruit participants over 9 months with a 12-month follow-up. There will be 14 clusters each representing a different general practice medical centre. A total of 2240 participants will be recruited from hospital who attend an enrolled medical centre, take five or more long-term medicines or whose reason for admission was related to heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.The intervention is a multifaceted service, involving a pharmacist integrated into a medical centre to assist patients after hospitalisation. Participants will meet with the practice pharmacist and their GP after discharge to review and reconcile their medicines and discuss changes made in hospital. The pharmacist will follow-up with the participant and liaise with other health professionals involved in the participant's care. The control will be usual care, which usually involves a patient self-organising a visit to their GP after hospital discharge.The primary outcome is the rate of unplanned, all-cause hospital readmissions over 12 months, which will be analysed using a mixed effects Poisson regression model with a random effect for cluster and a fixed effect to account for any temporal trend. A cost analysis will be undertaken to compare the healthcare costs associated with the intervention to those of usual care. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has received ethical approval (HREC/16/QRBW/410). The study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conferences and reports to key stakeholders. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12616001627448.