Singapore Management University (SMU) held its inaugural Janice Bellace Professorship Lecture on Thursday, 15 November 2018 at the Mochtar Riady Auditorium.
Established in April 2018 by past and present members of SMU’s Board of Trustees in honour of SMU’s first President, Professor Janice Bellace, the Janice Bellace Professorship is awarded to faculty whose research has a meaningful impact on communities in the region and beyond.
During her term, Professor Bellace helped lay the foundation for the University to flourish, and continued to serve and contribute to SMU in many areas even after her tenure.
Welcome Remarks by Professor Steven Miller, Vice Provost (Research), SMU
In his welcome remarks, Professor Steven Miller said that Professor Janice Bellace had accepted the opportunity to serve as the first president of the university as she thought that so few people “ever get the opportunity to start something from scratch”. SMU was originally meant to be primarily a teaching university, catering to about 15,000 students. But Professor Bellace, who was from Wharton, put in place a hiring, tenure and remuneration policy that was in line with the practice of universities in the United States, and with a revision of the faculty hiring process, was able to recruit top faculty from around the world.
After Professor Bellace stepped down as President in 2001, she continued to be actively involved in the direction of the university as Vice-Chairperson (Academic Affairs), assumed the position of Chairperson of the Wharton-SMU Research Centre and served as a member of SMU’s Board of Trustees for 13 years, from 2001-2013. Throughout this period, she established a very close nexus between SMU and Wharton and this relationship has stood the test of time, for over 20 years.
He also mentioned the names of several donors – Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Mr Kuok Khoon Ean, Mr Sanjiv Misra, Mr Dilhan P Sandrasegara, Mr Robert Michael Tomlin, Mr Bobby Chin, and Mr John Niland – all current or former members of SMU’s Board of Trustees who have contributed to this professorship to honour the university’s first President.
The recipient of this Professorship will support SMU’s commitment to high-quality and focused research that helps address the needs of our society and makes special contributions to the intellectual advancement of the school, to the institution and Singapore as a whole. The recipient will leverage on SMU’s culture of collaboration to push the boundaries of their work beyond Singapore and engage in multi-disciplinary research across schools and with other universities.
Janice Bellace Professorship Lecture by Professor Wang Heli, Good Deeds Done in Silence: Legitimacy Management and Stakeholder Conflict
Professor Wang Heli, Janice Bellace Professor of Strategic Management and Area Coordinator of the Strategy & Organisation Group at Lee Kong Chian School of Business, is the first recipient of the Janice Bellace Professorship.
Speaking on the topic of Good Deeds Done in Silence: Legitimacy Management and Stakeholder Conflict, Prof Wang said that Corporate Philanthropy is often thought to help firms build image and reputation as well as acquire stakeholder cooperation and support. However, some firms choose to remain silent on their philanthropic acts. Why is this so?
Drawing on her research of 1530 Chinese firms (privately-owned public firms) over seven years from 2009 to 2015, Prof Wang examined the phenomena of “quiet giving”; when corporate donations might potentially cause backlash among its stakeholders, and conversely, when repercussions were less likely to occur.
Prof Wang elaborated on when primary stakeholders such as employee and investors felt that the firm was not meeting their legitimate claims or when their basic demands were not met (e.g. employees who are underpaid or shareholders are not getting dividends), they were more likely to react negatively to Corporate Philanthropy. This is when the firm is more likely to keep quiet about their philanthropic efforts.
However, Prof Wang said that this would not apply to community stakeholders, who were more likely to have positive perceptions of philanthropy that helped mitigate their existing concerns. For example, when a company pollutes the environment in the course of their business, they should donate more, to appease the community.
How do we know when companies intentionally keep quiet? In China, firms are obligated to disclose Corporate Philanthropy information in their Annual Report and this helps us to accurately identify their actual donations. In addition, some companies issue CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) reports in which information on Corporate Philanthropy is voluntary. Some firms choose not to issue CSR reports due to time and cost. However when they choose to issue a CSR report, there is no reason for them not to disclose Corporate Philanthropy information. Thus, Prof Wang argued that for those who engage in Corporate Philanthropy and issue CSR reports which omit information on Corporate Philanthropy, this was a good indicator of “quiet giving”.
In terms of practical implications, Prof Wang said that her research results suggest that managers should better understand potential stakeholder reactions before making decisions about philanthropy, as well as whether or how it should be communicated. Without these considerations, actively engaging in and advertising its Corporate Philanthropy may jeopardise its stakeholder relationships and lead to negative consequences. Prof Wang advocated that managers should actively monitor relationships with primary stakeholder groups. If managers do not meet their needs, their firms may encounter legitimacy threats, and in these situations, firms should either avoid donations or remain silent about them. But if a company is viable and able to meet stakeholder needs well, then it should engage in CSR activities as this would be good for its long term financial performance.
The lecture closed with a question and answer segment, moderated by Professor Janice Bellace herself. Issues raised included opinions on how quiet giving could mean that there was some “hanky panky” going on in the company and where good deeds done in silence could be a euphemism for large funds channelled to wrong purposes. There were also several in the audience who asked Prof Wang for follow-up research to include the non-profit sector and also on CSR sustainability.
In her closing remarks, Prof Bellace said that SMU in these 20 years had taken many steps and it was certainly on the right path to become a world class university. She thanked the donors for setting up the Professorship in her name and likened it to receiving a “diamond necklace” as “diamonds are forever”.
