Critically discuss why firms especially those firms committed corporate scandals engage in CSR practices?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received increasing attention from the general public, policy makers, and academic researchers in recent decades, and the discussion on why firms engage in socially responsible activities is ongoing. Some researchers argue that CSR engagement represents a sincere managerial commitment to ethical behaviors. Subsequently, socially responsible firms are less likely to manipulate earnings (Kim et al. 2012). However, Li et al. (2021) argue that fraudulent firms strategically adjust their CSR performance to cover up their fraudulent financial activities.

Required: Critically discuss why firms especially those firms committed corporate scandals engage in CSR practices? You should at least make reference to Li et al. (2021) paper.

Critically evaluate the role of institutional ownership in the occurrence of corporate scandals.

An increasingly important external control mechanism affecting corporate governance worldwide has emerged with the rise of the influence of institutional investors as equity owners (Huyghebaert & Wang, 2012). However, the recent empirical findings are mixed. On one hand, Pucheta‐Martínez & García‐Meca (2014) find that institutional directors are effective as monitors of management, which leads to higher corporate financial reporting quality. On the other hand, Burns et al. (2010) find that different types of institutional investors have different impact on the occurrence of financial misreporting.

Required: Critically evaluate the role of institutional ownership in the occurrence of corporate scandals. You should at least make reference to Pucheta‐Martinez & Garcia‐Meca (2014) paper.

Examine how different board characteristics affect the occurrence of corporate scandals.

Internal governance mechanisms including board of directors, board sub-committees, board of supervisors play an important role in mitigating the principal–agent conflicts (Hu et al., 2010). Previous corporate board studies have paid attention to the efficacy of boards of directors in fulfilling their monitoring and advisory roles and their influence on corporate governance. For instance, Uzun et al. (2004) find that board composition and the structure of a board’s oversight committees are significantly correlated with the incidence of corporate scandals. Xiang and Zhu (2020) highlight the important role played by academic independent directors on improving financial reporting quality. In addition, CEOs and other board members of firms committing scandals often receive lower compensation (Conyon & He, 2016).

Required: Examine how different board characteristics affect the occurrence of corporate scandals. You should make reference to the paper by Uzun et al. (2004).

Explore different types of fraudulent techniques/methods that firm managers may use to manipulate the firm’s financial reporting and mislead investors.

The U.S. Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 82 identifies two types of corporate fraud: financial reporting fraud and misappropriation of assets. In terms of financial reporting fraud, it refers to management behavior that seeks to inflate reported profits or other assets by deliberately overstating assets and revenues or understating expenses and liabilities in financial statements (Rezaee, 2005).

Required: Explore different types of fraudulent techniques/methods that firm managers may use to manipulate the firm’s financial reporting and mislead investors.

Evaluate the extent to which corporate governance reforms such as the UK Corporate Governance code 2018 influence corporate governance failure.

The Cadbury Code was introduced in the UK in 1992. Its subsequent evolution into the UK Corporate Governance Code has seen numerous changes encompassing aspects such as board and committee roles, executive remuneration, board diversity, and risk. Despite these changes, the UK has seen several high-profile corporate governance failures such as Carrillion, British Steel, and Patisserie Valerie. Failures such as these prompt debate about the nature of the corporate governance framework in the UK and the effectiveness of the Code.

Required: Evaluate the extent to which corporate governance reforms such as the UK Corporate Governance code 2018 influence corporate governance failure. You should make reference to the paper by Elsayed et al (2022).

Evaluate the role of family ownership in corporate governance failure

Corporate governance failure is an existential business risk. Recent decades have witnessed a number of high-profile corporate failures worldwide, such examples include Enron, Worldcom, Royal Bank of Scotland, Satyam. Causes of corporate governance failure are varied, yet the consequences have a far-reaching impact. In this assessment, you should reflect on the relationship between the aspects of corporate governance we have considered in this course, and their role in corporate governance failure. You are required to discuss and evaluate ALL of the following topics relating to corporate governance failure. In your answer you should make reference to academic journal articles and relevant case studies.

Question 1
A large proportion of privately held companies have family involvement, in terms of both ownership and management. Some literature finds that family ownership helps to enhance monitoring mechanisms and consequently improves firm performance. Family firms are not motivated to pursue short-term objectives and tend to prioritize succession planning, thus implying that there is a positive relationship between family ownership and business ethical awareness (Arregle et al. 2007). However, despite the benefits of family ownership, problems may still exist. Family firms are characterized by trust among family members, and such trust can always be exploited by dishonest family members. Furthermore, trust may enable family firms to have less strict controls in place. In addition, as firms grow, there may be a need to bring in outside investors, this may result in conflicts of interest between family members and non-family shareholders. Similarly, conflicts may also arise between family members, for example, as a result of generational differences. Factors such as these, may contribute towards corporate governance failure (Sacristan-Navarro & Cabeza-Garcia, 2020)

Required: Evaluate the role of family ownership in corporate governance failure, you should make reference to Sacristan-Navarro & Cabeza-Garcia (2020) and the case of El Corte Ingles.

How do social definitions of behavior such as deviant and “sinful” affect the choice of policy to address those behaviors?

PADM 7213
Final Project

Note: this can be used as an artifact for NASPAA Competency 3: Analyze, synthesize, think creatively, solve problems, and make decisions.

This assignment is designed to demonstrate your ability to:
Analyze scholarly research aimed at informing public policy
Correctly interpret and synthesize results of complex statistical analysis
Think creatively about how changes to research design could impact findings
Discuss how research findings inform decision making and problem-solving
Please read the following article:
Houston, D. J., & Richardson Jr, L. E. (2004). Drinking-and-driving in America: A test of behavioral assumptions underlying public policy. Political research quarterly, 57(1), 53-64.
Analyze the Framework

What is the main question that the article is attempting to answer? USE YOUR OWN WORDS (1 paragraph please).

How do social definitions of behavior such as deviant and “sinful” affect the choice of policy to address those behaviors? USE YOUR OWN WORDS (1 paragraph).

 pick ONE of the following films and write an analysis essay based on the film. 

 pick ONE of the following films and write an analysis essay based on the film. 

1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 2. The Green Mile (1999) 3. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 4. The Intern (2015)
   Here is a helpful link on how to write the film analysis: How to Write a Film Analysis Essay
   This essay will be 2 – 3 pages, double-spaced, with MLA formatting. This is the only TW for this course. It will be timed at 3 hours and it is recommended that students write this essay in a Word document and cut and paste into the TW box. Keep a back-up copy for yourself in case there is a technical glitch.

Write A 3-6 page long paper about the foundations and practice of rehabilitation counseling. 

The Foundations and Practice of Rehabilitation Counseling Paper
A 3-6 page long paper about the foundations and practice of rehabilitation counseling.  Paper should be between 3-6 pages long and include references, citations, and an abstract. APA format

What are some examples of irony in this story?

“The Lottery” (1948)

by Shirley Jackson

The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o’clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 2th. but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.

The children assembled first, of course. School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play. and their talk was still of the classroom and the teacher, of books and reprimands. Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix– the villagers pronounced this name “Dellacroy”–eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys. The girls stood aside, talking among themselves, looking over their shoulders at rolled in the dust or clung to the hands of their older brothers or sisters.

Soon the men began to gather. surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes. They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed. The women, wearing faded house dresses and sweaters, came shortly after their menfolk. They greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip as they went to join their husbands. Soon the women, standing by their husbands, began to call to their children, and the children came reluctantly, having to be called four or five times. Bobby Martin ducked under his mother’s grasping hand and ran, laughing, back to the pile of stones. His father spoke up sharply, and Bobby came quickly and took his place between his father and his oldest brother.

The lottery was conducted–as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program–by Mr. Summers. who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. He was a round-faced, jovial man and he ran the coal business, and people were sorry for him. because he had no children and his wife was a scold. When he arrived in the square, carrying the black wooden box, there was a murmur of conversation among the villagers, and he waved and called. “Little late today, folks.” The postmaster, Mr. Graves, followed him, carrying a three- legged stool, and the stool was put in the center of the square and Mr. Summers set the black box down on it. The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool. and when Mr. Summers said, “Some of you fellows want to give me a hand?” there was a hesitation before two men. Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter. came forward to hold the box steady on the stool while Mr. Summers stirred up the papers inside it.

The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born. Mr.
Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box. There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village here. Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything’s being done.

The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained.

Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter, held the black box securely on the stool until Mr. Summers had stirred the papers thoroughly with his hand. Because so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips of paper substituted for the chips of wood that had been used for generations. Chips of wood, Mr. Summers had argued. had been all very well when the village was tiny, but now that the population was more than three hundred and likely to keep on growing, it was necessary to use something that would fit more easily into he black box. The night before the lottery, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves made up the slips of paper and put them in the box, and it was then taken to the safe of Mr. Summers’ coal company and locked up until Mr. Summers was ready to take it to the square next morning. The rest of the year, the box was put way, sometimes one place, sometimes another; it had spent one year in Mr. Graves’s barn and another year underfoot in the post office. and sometimes it was set on a shelf in the Martin grocery and left there.

There was a great deal of fussing to be done before Mr. Summers declared the lottery open. There were the lists to make up–of heads of families. heads of households in each family. members of each household in each family. There was the proper swearing-in of Mr. Summers by the postmaster, as the official of the lottery; at one time, some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory. tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; some people believed that the official of the lottery used to stand just so when he said or sang it, others believed that he was supposed to walk among the people, but years and years ago this p3rt of the ritual had been allowed to lapse. There had been, also, a ritual salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came up to draw from the box, but this also had changed with time, until now it was felt necessary only for the official to speak to each person approaching. Mr.
Summers was very good at all this; in his clean white shirt and blue jeans. with one hand resting carelessly on the black box. he seemed very proper and important as he talked interminably to Mr. Graves and the Martins.

Just as Mr. Summers finally left off talking and turned to the assembled villagers, Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square, her sweater thrown over her shoulders, and slid into place in the back of the crowd. “Clean forgot what day it was,” she said to Mrs. Delacroix, who stood next to her, and they both laughed softly. “Thought my old man was out back stacking wood,” Mrs. Hutchinson went on. “and then I looked out the window and the kids was gone, and then I remembered it was the twenty- seventh and came a-running.” She dried her hands on her apron, and Mrs. Delacroix said, “You’re in time, though. They’re still talking away up there.”

Mrs. Hutchinson craned her neck to see through the crowd and found her husband and children standing near the front. She tapped Mrs. Delacroix on the arm as a farewell and began to make her way through the crowd. The people separated good-humoredly to let her through: two or three people said. in voices just loud enough to be heard across the crowd, “Here comes your, Missus, Hutchinson,” and “Bill, she made it after all.” Mrs. Hutchinson reached her husband, and Mr. Summers, who had been waiting, said cheerfully. “Thought we were going to have to get on without you, Tessie.” Mrs. Hutchinson said. grinning, “Wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink, now, would you. Joe?,” and soft laughter ran through the crowd as the people stirred back into position after Mrs. Hutchinson’s arrival.

“Well, now.” Mr. Summers said soberly, “guess we better get started, get this over with, so’s we can go back to work. Anybody ain’t here?”

“Dunbar.” several people said. “Dunbar. Dunbar.”

Mr. Summers consulted his list. “Clyde Dunbar.” he said. “That’s right. He’s broke his leg, hasn’t he? Who’s drawing for him?”

“Me. I guess,” a woman said. and Mr. Summers turned to look at her. “Wife draws for her husband.” Mr. Summers said. “Don’t you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey?” Although Mr. Summers and everyone else in the village knew the answer perfectly well, it was the business of the official of the lottery to ask such questions formally. Mr. Summers waited with an expression of polite interest while Mrs. Dunbar answered.

“Horace’s not but sixteen vet.” Mrs. Dunbar said regretfully. “Guess I gotta fill in for the old man this year.”

“Right.” Sr. Summers said. He made a note on the list he was holding. Then he asked, “Watson boy drawing this year?”

A tall boy in the crowd raised his hand. “Here,” he said. “I’m drawing for my mother and me.” He blinked his eyes nervously and ducked his head as several voices in the crowd said thin#s like “Good fellow, lack.” and “Glad to see your mother’s got a man to do it.”

“Well,” Mr. Summers said, “guess that’s everyone. Old Man Warner make it?” “Here,” a voice said. and Mr. Summers nodded.
A sudden hush fell on the crowd as Mr. Summers cleared his throat and looked at the list. “All ready?” he called. “Now, I’ll read the names–heads of families first–and the men come up and take a paper out of the box. Keep the paper folded in your hand without looking at it until everyone has had a turn.
Everything clear?”

The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions: most of them were quiet. wetting their lips. not looking around. Then Mr. Summers raised one hand high and said, “Adams.” A man disengaged himself from the crowd and came forward. “Hi. Steve.” Mr. Summers said. and Mr.
Adams said. “Hi. Joe.” They grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously. Then Mr. Adams reached into the black box and took out a folded paper. He held it firmly by one corner as he turned and went hastily back to his place in the crowd. where he stood a little apart from his family. not looking down at his hand.

“Allen.” Mr. Summers said. “Anderson…. Bentham.”

“Seems like there’s no time at all between lotteries any more.” Mrs. Delacroix said to Mrs. Graves in the back row.

“Seems like we got through with the last one only last week.” “Time sure goes fast.– Mrs. Graves said.

“Clark…. Delacroix”

“There goes my old man.” Mrs. Delacroix said. She held her breath while her husband went forward.

“Dunbar,” Mr. Summers said, and Mrs. Dunbar went steadily to the box while one of the women said. “Go on. Janey,” and another said, “There she goes.”

“We’re next.” Mrs. Graves said. She watched while Mr. Graves came around from the side of the box, greeted Mr. Summers gravely and selected a slip of paper from the box. By now, all through the crowd there were men holding the small folded papers in their large hand. turning them over and over nervously Mrs. Dunbar and her two sons stood together, Mrs. Dunbar holding the slip of paper.

“Harburt…. Hutchinson.”

“Get up there, Bill,” Mrs. Hutchinson said. and the people near her laughed. “Jones.”
“They do say,” Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who stood next to him, “that over in the north village they’re talking of giving up the lottery.”

Old Man Warner snorted. “Pack of crazy fools,” he said. “Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live hat way for a while. Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’ First thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There’s always been a lottery,” he added petulantly. “Bad enough to see young Joe Summers up there joking with everybody.”

“Some places have already quit lotteries.” Mrs. Adams said.

“Nothing but trouble in that,” Old Man Warner said stoutly. “Pack of young fools.” “Martin.” And Bobby Martin watched his father go forward. “Overdyke…. Percy.” “I wish they’d hurry,” Mrs. Dunbar said to her older son. “I wish they’d hurry.” “They’re almost through,” her son said.
“You get ready to run tell Dad,” Mrs. Dunbar said.

Mr. Summers called his own name and then stepped forward precisely and selected a slip from the box. Then he called, “Warner.”

“Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery,” Old Man Warner said as he went through the crowd. “Seventy-seventh time.”

“Watson” The tall boy came awkwardly through the crowd. Someone said, “Don’t be nervous, Jack,” and Mr. Summers said, “Take your time, son.”

“Zanini.”

After that, there was a long pause, a breathless pause, until Mr. Summers. holding his slip of paper in the air, said, “All right, fellows.” For a minute, no one moved, and then all the slips of paper were opened.
Suddenly, all the women began to speak at once, saving. “Who is it?,” “Who’s got it?,” “Is it the Dunbars?,” “Is it the Watsons?” Then the voices began to say, “It’s Hutchinson. It’s Bill,” “Bill Hutchinson’s got it.”

“Go tell your father,” Mrs. Dunbar said to her older son.

People began to look around to see the Hutchinsons. Bill Hutchinson was standing quiet, staring down at the paper in his hand. Suddenly. Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summers. “You didn’t give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn’t fair!”

“Be a good sport, Tessie.” Mrs. Delacroix called, and Mrs. Graves said, “All of us took the same chance.” “Shut up, Tessie,” Bill Hutchinson said.
“Well, everyone,” Mr. Summers said, “that was done pretty fast, and now we’ve got to be hurrying a little more to get done in time.” He consulted his next list. “Bill,” he said, “you draw for the Hutchinson family. You got any other households in the Hutchinsons?”

“There’s Don and Eva,” Mrs. Hutchinson yelled. “Make them take their chance!”

“Daughters draw with their husbands’ families, Tessie,” Mr. Summers said gently. “You know that as well as anyone else.”

“It wasn’t fair,” Tessie said.

“I guess not, Joe.” Bill Hutchinson said regretfully. “My daughter draws with her husband’s family; that’s only fair. And I’ve got no other family except the kids.”

“Then, as far as drawing for families is concerned, it’s you,” Mr. Summers said in explanation, “and as far as drawing for households is concerned, that’s you, too. Right?”

“Right,” Bill Hutchinson said.

“How many kids, Bill?” Mr. Summers asked formally. “Three,” Bill Hutchinson said.
“There’s Bill, Jr., and Nancy, and little Dave. And Tessie and me.”

“All right, then,” Mr. Summers said. “Harry, you got their tickets back?”

Mr. Graves nodded and held up the slips of paper. “Put them in the box, then,” Mr. Summers directed. “Take Bill’s and put it in.”

“I think we ought to start over,” Mrs. Hutchinson said, as quietly as she could. “I tell you it wasn’t fair. You didn’t give him time enough to choose. Everybody saw that.”

Mr. Graves had selected the five slips and put them in the box. and he dropped all the papers but those onto the ground. where the breeze caught them and lifted them off.

“Listen, everybody,” Mrs. Hutchinson was saying to the people around her.

“Ready, Bill?” Mr. Summers asked. and Bill Hutchinson, with one quick glance around at his wife and children. nodded.

“Remember,” Mr. Summers said. “take the slips and keep them folded until each person has taken one. Harry, you help little Dave.” Mr. Graves took the hand of the little boy, who came willingly with him up to the box. “Take a paper out of the box, Davy.” Mr. Summers said. Davy put his hand into the box and laughed. “Take just one paper.” Mr. Summers said. “Harry, you hold it for him.” Mr. Graves took the child’s hand and removed the folded paper from the tight fist and held it while little Dave stood next to him and looked up at him wonderingly.

“Nancy next,” Mr. Summers said. Nancy was twelve, and her school friends breathed heavily as she went forward switching her skirt, and took a slip daintily from the box “Bill, Jr.,” Mr. Summers said, and Billy, his face red and his feet overlarge, near knocked the box over as he got a paper out. “Tessie,” Mr.
Summers said. She hesitated for a minute, looking around defiantly. and then set her lips and went up to the box. She snatched a paper out and held it behind her.

“Bill,” Mr. Summers said, and Bill Hutchinson reached into the box and felt around, bringing his hand out at last with the slip of paper in it.

The crowd was quiet. A girl whispered, “I hope it’s not Nancy,” and the sound of the whisper reached the edges of the crowd.

“It’s not the way it used to be.” Old Man Warner said clearly. “People ain’t the way they used to be.” “All right,” Mr. Summers said. “Open the papers. Harry, you open little Dave’s.”
Mr. Graves opened the slip of paper and there was a general sigh through the crowd as he held it up and everyone could see that it was blank. Nancy and Bill. Jr.. opened theirs at the same time. and both beamed and laughed. turning around to the crowd and holding their slips of paper above their heads.

“Tessie,” Mr. Summers said. There was a pause, and then Mr. Summers looked at Bill Hutchinson, and Bill unfolded his paper and showed it. It was blank.

“It’s Tessie,” Mr. Summers said, and his voice was hushed. “Show us her paper. Bill.”

Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up, and there was a stir in the crowd.

“All right, folks.” Mr. Summers said. “Let’s finish quickly.”

Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. “Come on,” she said. “Hurry up.”

Mr. Dunbar had small stones in both hands, and she said. gasping for breath. “I can’t run at all. You’ll have to go ahead and I’ll catch up with you.”

The children had stones already. And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson few pebbles.

Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. “It isn’t fair,” she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying, “Come on, come on, everyone.” Steve Adams was in the front of the crowd of villagers, with Mrs. Graves beside him.

“It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Discussion Questions:

Were you surprised by the ending of the story? If not, at what point did you know what was going to happen? How does Jackson start to foreshadow the ending in paragraphs 2 and 3? Conversely, how does Jackson lull us into thinking that this is just an ordinary story with an ordinary town?

Where does the story take place? In what way does the setting affect the story? Does it make you more or less likely to anticipate the ending?

In what ways are the characters differentiated from one another? Looking back at the story, can you see why Tessie Hutchinson is singled out as the “winner”?

What are some examples of irony in this story? For example, why might the title, “The Lottery,” or the opening description in paragraph one, be considered ironic?

Jackson gives interesting names to a number of her characters. Explain the possible allusions, irony or symbolism of some of these:

Delacroix
Graves
Summers
Bentham
Hutchinson

Warner
Martin

Take a close look at Jackson’s description of the black wooden box (paragraph 5) and of the black spot on the fatal slip of paper (paragraph 72). What do these objects suggest to you? Why is the black box described as “battered”? Are there any other symbols in the story?

What do you understand to be the writer’s own attitude toward the lottery and the stoning? Exactly what in the story makes her attitude clear to us?

This story satirizes a number of social issues, including the reluctance of people to reject outdated traditions, ideas, rules, laws, and practices. What kinds of traditions, practices, laws, etc. might “The Lottery” represent?

This story was published in 1948, just after World War II. What other cultural or historical events, attitudes, institutions, or rituals might Jackson be satirizing in this story?