Recent downward trends in corporate giving have renewed interest in the factors that shape corporate philanthropy. This paper examines the relationships between charitable contributions, firm size and industry. Improvements over previous studies include an IRS data base that covers a much broader range of firm sizes and industries as compared to previous studies and estimation using an instrumental variable technique that explicitly addresses potential simultaneity between charitable contributions and profitability. Important findings provide evidence of a cubic relationship between charitable giving and firm size and evidence of strong industry effects. The plus-minus-plus regression coefficient sign pattern for the cubic firm size model suggests that small and large firms give more relative to total receipts with lower giving ratios among medium size firms. One interpretation for this finding is that small firms are close to the communities they serve while high visibility creates a need for large firm philanthropy. Strong industry effects provide evidence of inter-industry differences in giving culture and/or different public relations requirements across industries. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007charitable contributions, corporate philanthropy, firm size, industry effects, social responsibility,

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This article investigates the effects of firm size, profitability, industry affiliation, and the business cycle on retailer philanthropy. The importance of industry and firm effects on giving was analyzed with regression models using industry-fixed effects as well as firm strategy variables. The analysis included instrumental variables methodology to account for simultaneity in the charitable giving-profits relationship. Data were gathered from the IRS Corporate Statistics of Income Sourcebook, data that provide firm size class measures covering the entire firm size distribution ranging from small retailers up to large multi-national retail firms. Retailer philanthropy was measured as the ratio of charitable contributions to total receipts. Important findings include a cubic relationship between retailer philanthropy and firm size; industry effects stronger than those observed for retail profit; and the absence of business cycle effects. The empirical research relating retail charitable giving to firm attributes including firm size and advertising, industry and business cycle factors are unique in the business ethics literature. Prior studies regarding the importance of industry on charitable giving utilized data across broad sectors of the economy. Firms from different sectors could be expected to differ in philanthropic approach due to differences in public contact as well as differences in public relations exposure. The strong industry effects reported for this sample of exclusively retail firms, with similar public contact, provide strong evidence for the importance of industry in determining firms' charitable strategies.

This article examines the relationship between student perceptions of team learning experience and communication style. Student group learning perceptions were evaluated and team communication style was measured using dyads derived from Myers-Briggs personality profiles. Groups containing similar personalities were classified as compatible, whereas groups that blend individuals with different talents and preferences were deemed complementary. Our sample included two sections of Marketing Strategy and one Principles of Macroeconomics section. Macroeconomics students reported greater satisfaction when the group is compatible, whereas Marketing Strategy students preferred complementary groups. The number of group learning experiences and differences in group homogeneity provides likely explanations. Principles of Macroeconomics students, with little or no prior group experience, preferred the comfort of a compatible group. Alternatively, drawing on their considerable group experience, Marketing Strategy students preferred to blend the diverse talents available in a complementary group.

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