Women on Boards of Directors

This research aims to measure the current gender representation in membership of boards of directors,and to study the factors affecting the presence of women on boards.The results of the study will support the decision makers and policy makers at all levels by providing knowledge that contributes to bridging the current gap in participation of women boards.The methodology used in this research is the descriptive analytical approach,which relies on quantitative methods in the process of collecting and analyzing data.This study represents the boards of directors in the three sectors(public,private,and non-profit)in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,The study sample contained 350 targets,where a random sample of 150 people in the public sector,100 people in the private sector,and 100 people in the non-profit sector were selected.The research result found that the majority of the responses believe that the lack of experience and training,and social factors,are the most impact areas of explaining the reasons for the existence of a gap in women’s membership in boards of directors in the three sectors.And the most important reasons for the existence of a gender gap in board membership are:there is no statutory minimum percentage for women’s representation on boards of directors,and scarcity of female competencies in general,and the lack of women occupying leadership positions.

Female directors in the boardroom and intellectual capital performance:Does the“critical mass”matter?

This research aims to investigate the influence of female directors on Intellectual Capital Performance(ICP)using a sample of manufacturing-listed companies in China.Our study investigates the link between having two or more female directors and the Modified Value-Added Intellectual Coefficient(MVAIC)methodology,employing the critical mass theory from 2004–2017.We find that having a critical mass of female directors(three or more)shows a significant positive impact on MVAIC and its components,including human capital efficiency,structural capital efficiency,relational capital efficiency,and physical capital efficiency,with physical capital being the critical driver.Our study reveals that the critical mass participation of female directors substantially influences the IC efficiency of privately owned companies compared to state-owned companies.Moreover,the number of female directors also affects the IC performance of manufacturing companies in multiple regions.Our findings support the validity of group classification identified by Kanter and Critical Mass Theory.To the best of our knowledge,this is one of the few pieces of research that studies the role of female board directors in IC performance and Chinese manufacturing firms using MVAIC as an IC measure.

On the Principle of Consistency of Rights and Obligations in the Constitution of PRC

“The Fundamental Rights and obligations of Citizens”, the title of Chapter II of the current Constitution of PRC, and the stipulation that citizens must fulfill certain obligations while enjoying rights have triggered many debates. Considering the historical origin, constitutional philosophy, and the text and structure of the Constitution, the special provisions of the current Constitution are influenced by the principle of consistency of rights and obligations. The principle of consistency of rights and obligations in the Constitution is of complex connotation. Therefore, although the principle of consistency of rights and obligations effectively connects the public and private spheres, it ignores the diversity and differences of the interests and elements contained in the Constitution, the asymmetry of the normative status of fundamental rights and fundamental obligations,and the right of citizens to self-determination of personal interests.The principle of consistency of rights and obligations should be purposefully narrowed and concretized: In the context of public-private integration and risk society prevention, the principle of consistency of rights and obligations can be used as a supplement to the functional system of the Constitution;in the field of fundamental political obligations, the principle of consistency of rights and obligations should be in line with the requirements of the state to respect and protect human rights;in the field of fundamental social obligations, the exercise of fundamental rights by individuals is protected by the Constitution as long as they comply with the law and do not infringe upon the interests of the social community. The principle of the consistency of rights and obligations is only used as the negative constituents of the determination of rights and the basis for the effect against a third party of fundamental rights.

The "Garden of Emeralds" Exhibition:Interview with Dr. EloÏse Gaillou,Director and Curator of the Mineralogy Museum of l'école des Mines de Paris(Mines Paris-PSL)

From May 25 to October 7,2024,L’éCOLE China,School of Jewelry Arts(supported by Van Cleef & Arpels) presents the "Garden of Emeralds" exhibition in its Shanghai campus.As part of the "Discover the Gemstones" series,the exhibition gives pride to this green precious mineral and explores its history in many regions of the world,from Asia to Europe including the Middle East.Gathering both raw stones and pieces of jewelry from museum collections and private lenders,it addresses the topic through the three main pillars of L’éCOLE:gemmology,savoir-faire and the history of jewelry.

Spring Festival Celebrations Fire Maltese Fascination with Chinese Culture--An Exclusive Interview with Director of the China Cultural Center in Malta Yuan Yuan

THRONGS of shoppers,in a department store adorned with colorful Spring Festival posters,vying to try their hand either at Chinese calligraphy or traditional Chinese lantern-making,might seem incongruous in a European setting.The background to this vibrant scenario was The Point,Malta’s largest shopping mall,as part of the island country’s 2023 Chinese New Year celebrations,courtesy of the China Cultural Center in Malta.

The Role of Library and Information Science Education in the Development of Community Health Information Services for People Living with HIV/AIDS: Perspectives of Directors and Managers of Public Libraries

This article identifies the role of library and information science (LIS) education in the development of community health information services for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Preliminary findings are presented from semi- structured qualitative interviews that were conducted with eleven directors and managers of local branches in the Knox County Public Library (KCPL) System that is located in the East Tennessee region in the United States. Select feedback reported by research participants is summarized in the article about strategies in LIS education that can help local public librarians and others in their efforts to become more responsive information providers to PLWHA. Research findings help better understand the issues and concerns regarding the development of digital and non-digital health information services for PLWHA in local public library institutions.

The Criterion of weighting the independence of non-executive directors

Non-executive directors are now very well established in Chinese business. The uniform and final criterion of weighting the independence of non-executive directors is not available. It will be valuable to draw an analogy with the criterion of weighting the independence of non-executive directors in the UK, where over a dozen different criterions are applied.

A Study of International Arbitrators' Substantive Ethical Obligations and Chinese Strategies

The increased complexity and scales of international arbitration cases require a larger roster of righteous and experienced international arbitrators. The difficulty to define ethics or ethical obligation in the area of international arbitration has caused increased discussion and confusion. As a result,the tendency towards codification of ethical obligations would provide a more precise and practical mean to regulate arbitrators' behavior. The legal sources of ethical obligations of international arbitrators contain international conventions,national laws,arbitral institutions' rules as well as institutional codes of ethics. The main substantive ethical obligations include disclosing,investigating,conducting the arbitration in accordance with the arbitration agreement,maintaining confidentiality,being competent and diligent. Chinese authorities and foreign-related arbitral institutions should enhance the codification and uniformity of the international arbitrators' ethical obligations. The relevant strategies for revising the Arbitration Lawand arbitrators' ethical codes,unifying the foreign-related arbitration institution ethical rules and joining the harmonious progress of international arbitration should be considered correspondingly.

Structural jump-diffusion model for pricing collateralized debt obligations tranches

This paper considers the pricing problem of collateralized debt obligations tranches under a structural jump-diffusion model, where the asset value of each reference entity is generated by a geometric Brownian motion and jump with an asymmetric double exponential distribution. Conditioned on the common factor of individual entity, this paper gets the conditional distribution, and further obtains the loss distribution of the whole reference portfolio. Based on the semi-analytic approach, the fair spreads of collateralized debt obligations tranches, i.e., the prices of collateralized debt obligations tranches, are derived.

Effects of Pilot Programs for China's Central SOE Board of Directors

Since June 2004, the State-Owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission(SASAC) has launched pilot programs for a board of directors(BoD) for central SOEs to establish and improve their governance structure and standardize their exercise of shareholder rights over state-owned listed companies. Based on this quasinatural experiment, this paper examines the BoD's effects on the agency cost of state-owned listed companies and their economic consequences. Using data of central SOE-controlled companies listed at Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges during 2002-2015, this paper finds that the pilot programs significantly reduced the two types of agency costs for the companies, and such effects primarily existed for listed companies with smaller central SOE shareholding ratios. Further test uncovers that, compared with central SOEs that did not carry out the pilot programs, those that did reported higher economic value-added and stock returns. Our conclusions offer a new interpretation of the BoD's governance effects from a controlling shareholder's perspective, and provide empirical evidence for the positive effects of the pilot programs for central SOE boards of directors. These findings have important policy implications for deepening SOE governance reforms.

Extraterritorial Application of International Human Rights Conventions——From the Perspective of States Regulating the Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations of Transnational Corporations

The extraterritorial application of international human rights conventions is the legal basis for states to regulate the extraterritorial human rights obligations of transnational corporations.In recent years,it has been increasingly challenged by the new trend of the United Nations governing the human rights responsibilities of transnational corporations.A study of existing international rules and practices shows that the extraterritorial application of international human rights conventions depends on the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the States Parties,which mainly includes the actual control over extraterritorial territories and individuals as well as the execution of authority outside the territories.In view of the above,if human rights violations by individuals or transnational corporations occur in areas outside their home territories or are authorized and orchestrated by the home state,the home state shall bear the corresponding human rights responsibilities.Given the restrictive scope of the abovementioned extraterritorial application of international human rights conventions,the international cooperation obligation and the"do no harm"principle may become a new legal basis for states to fulfill their extraterritorial human rights obligations in the future,thereby expanding the basis for the extraterritorial application of international human rights conventions to deal with more serious issues of human rights violations by transnational corporations.However,on the whole,the current identification and codification of states regulating the extraterritorial human rights obligations of transnational corporations should respect the existing rules of international human rights law and should not add any new human rights obligations on states.

Concerns Affecting Behaviors of Independent Directors

This paper tries to find out whether some individual concerns will affect the behaviors of independent directors, specifically voting against proposals during the board meeting.We analyze career concern,compensation concern,reputation concern and term concern.The results show that individual director with longer career horizon,who is better compensated,with less board seats in other firms,and whose term is earlier than that of the board chairman is more likely to dissent.

Lab Director and Division Directors,Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy

Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy （DNL）, based mainly in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics （DICP）, Chinese Academy of Sciences （CAS）, is looking for outstanding candidates for DNL director and directors for its nine research divisions： optimized utilization of fossil energy, low carbon catalysis and engineering, energy saving ＆ energy environment, fuel cell ＆ energy storage, hydrogen energy, biomass energy, solar energy, maritime renewable energy, basic ＆ strategic studies on energy, and service center for energy researches. More details about DICP can be found at http：//www.dicp.ac.cn/.

Implementation of SHRM in Organizations Through Strategic HR Directors

Aim of this study is to discuss implementation method of strategic human resource management(SHRM)in organizations.Study suggests strategic HR Director position in organizations to implement SHRM.Because personnel management(PM)and human resource management(HRM)are already implemented by firms,SHRM is not in practice yet.Strategic HR Director might be the methodology for implementation of SHRM.Methodology of this study is systematic review.Hence,study carefully scanned well-known field researches written by well-known HR scholars.In systematic review methodology,author posed out a research question and it answers this question by field studies and HR scholars.Main research question of this study is whether strategic HR Directors put SHRM into practice in organizations.Major defense is:Managers carry firms to organizational goals.Job responsibilities of strategic HR Directors are talent management and HRM systems.Target of talent management and HRM systems is star employees and talents in organizations because it is expected that stars may become managers in organizational hierarchy at the future.Furthermore,talent manager,PM division,and SHRM division are operated inside HRM department.If strategic HR Director position is set at top management,VENN relations between PM,HRM,and SHRM may be dispersed.Because SHRM activities would be tied to strategic HR Director,this study also explores VENN relations among three HR methodology.