The risk impacts of global natural and technological disasters

This research develops an expected risk model and estimates risk impacts of single or multiple disasters in terms of human fatality, injury, affected, and economic damage for nearly 200 nations. Both natural hazards, including geophysical, meteorological, hydrological, and technological disasters, such as industrial, transport, and structural, are considered. Relevant measures of expected risk, such as standard deviation, coefficient of variance, range, and rank are also calculated to assess a country's overall risk. Social-economic-physical factors from the World Development Index developed by the United Nations (UN) are then regressed with occurrences and risks of natural and tech disasters to seek plausible associations. The results show that (1) the model performs reasonably well in fitting observed and modeled risks and risk impacts, relatively better for natural disaster and affected people and economic damage; (2) while natural disasters are far more risky than tech ones in total risk impacts; specific risks for subgroups of natural or tech disasters vary widely in magnitude and by country; (3) high natural and/or tech risks concentrate in a small number of countries, such as China, India, Bangladesh in Asia; U.S., Mexico, Canada in North America; Turkey, Russia, France, Germany in Europe, and Algeria, Egypt, and Ethiopia in Africa, which are relatively large in population, fast in development, or advanced in industrialization; yet (4) high risk deviations per unit risk impacts reveal that many small, developing, and tech backward countries need to prepare even more for both natural and tech disasters. Finally, (5) while many country-level development factors, together with disaster occurrence, are statistically significant, only some can provide weak predictability of disaster risk impacts under robust regression. The research findings provide useful risk references to countries for resilient national policies for disaster preparation, mitigation, and recovery.     

The effect of economic growth on banking system performance: An interregional and comparative study of Sub-Saharan Africa and developed economies

As an important part of the financial sector, banking systems play a critical role in economic development as well as in improving the quality of life of the people of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, little evidence exists in the literature about the performance of the banking systems in SSA compared with developed economies. This paper investigates the effects of economic development on banking performance across 23 SSA countries and 14 developed countries between 1981 and 2018. Using estimation models such as feasible general least squares, fixed-effects estimation with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors, and system and difference generalized method of moments, our findings show that in SSA as a whole, economic development has a positive impact on commercial bank lending, raises lending rates, increases the amount of domestic credit to the private sector (DCPS), and reduces the number of nonperforming loans (NPLs). In developed countries, economic development has a positive impact on lending rates, DCPS, and the number of NPLs. However, although economic development in developed economies has mostly positive effects on banking performance, SSA countries have more performance issues in banking as a whole and in regional pockets. A careful reassessment of SSA’s interregional banking system is therefore highly recommended. An increase in the number of NPLs in East and Southern Africa, a decline in deposit rates offered in Southern, West, and Central Africa, and increasing real interest rates in SSA despite economic growth are some of the concerns that require careful reassessment and policy adjustments.     

Do natural disasters and geopolitical risks matter for cross-border country exchange-traded fund returns?

This paper examines whether U.S. and home country geopolitical risks (GPRs) and disasters matter for the returns from cross-border trading of country exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by employing a quantile regression approach. Using monthly returns of 125 country-specific ETFs traded in the U.S. from 38 countries over the period 2004–2018, we find that the highest averages of total deaths, total damage values, total affected, and GPRs are all in developing countries. United States disasters have comparatively more significant impacts than home country disasters on ETF returns as does the salient influences of U.S. investor sentiments, supporting the market sentiment hypothesis. Moreover, U.S. and home country GPRs and disasters also have predictive power on returns. The contemptuous effects and predictive powers of GPRs and disasters are asymmetric across quantiles. The influences of home country GPRs are more salient than the GRPS of U.S., implying that ETFs can be a safe haven during U.S. geopolitical risks. Additionally, our results show that the impacts of disasters on returns can be negative and/or positive, implying the possibility of disasters exuding an impetus and/or risk to country ETFs.     

THE GROWTH AFTERMATH OF NATURAL DISASTERS

This paper traces the yearly response of gross domestic product growth—both aggregated and disaggregated into its agricultural and non‐agricultural components—to four types of natural disasters: droughts, floods, earthquakes, and storms. The paper uses a methodological approach based on pooling the experiences of various countries over time. It consists of vector autoregressions in the presence of endogenous variables and exogenous shocks (VARX), applied to a panel of cross‐country and time series data. The analysis finds heterogeneous effects on a variety of dimensions. First, the effects of natural disasters are stronger on developing than on advanced countries. Second, not all natural disasters are alike in terms of the growth response they induce, and some can even have positive effects on economic growth. Third, severe disasters often carry much worse effects than moderate effects do. Fourth, the timing of the growth response varies with both the type of natural disaster and the sector of economic activity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

工程项目自然风险管理研究

中国是世界上自然灾害最严重的国家之一,灾害的多发性决定了其对工程建设项目具有不可忽视的影响。并且,最近几年我国各种自然灾害、极端气候的发生更加频繁,范围更加广泛,影响更加严重,所以在进行项目的建设时有必要加强对自然风险的管理。本文,首先对自然风险和风险管理进行了简单的介绍,然后从项目的质量、成本、工期、安全的角度浅谈了自然风险对项目的影响;接着从风险管理的角度,用定量和定性的方法对风险的识别和估计、风险评价、风险应对、风险的决策等方面对自然风险的管理进行分析和说明,最后得出一些结论和看法。     

Does clean technology weaken the environmental impact on the financial performance? Insight from global oil and gas companies

This study aims to clarify the relationship between environmental performance and financial performance by introducing clean technology as the moderating variable. We contest two major theories, natural resource-based view theory and neoclassical theory, to reveal a comprehensive understanding of environmental performance's impact on financial performance. The hypotheses are tested on 111 global oil and gas companies using dynamic panel generalized method of moments (GMM). Our analysis reveals three key findings. First, lower environmental performance leads to lower financial performance confirming the natural resource-based view theory. Second, clean technology has no significant effect on financial performance, arguing the marginal abatement cost. Finally, our results report that clean technology has no impact on increasing financial performance during high waste spills or high emissions. Theoretical and practical implications resulting from the adoption of clean technology to moderate the environmental impact on financial performance are also discussed.     

CEO财务背景丰富度对成本粘性的影响研究

以2012—2021年沪深A股上市公司为研究样本，探讨CEO财务背景丰富度对成本粘性的影响。研究发现，CEO财务背景丰富度对成本粘性有抑制作用，CFO财务执行力在CEO财务背景丰富度对成本粘性的影响关系中具有正向中介作用，环境动态性和环境包容性具有负向调节效应。异质性分析发现，CEO财务背景丰富度对成本粘性的抑制作用在成长期企业中更加显著，但不存在企业规模异质性；CFO财务执行力对中位数以下规模企业和成长期企业的中介作用更加显著；环境动态性和环境包容性对中位数以下规模企业和成长期企业的负向调节效应更加显著。     

Dynamic and asymmetric effects between carbon emission trading,financial uncertainties,and Chinese industry stocks: Evidence from quantile-on-quantile and causality-in-quantiles analysis

This paper investigates the dynamic and asymmetric effects between carbon emission trading (CET), financial uncertainties, and Chinese stocks in different industries over the period from 19th December 2013 to 21st March 2022. We utilized a novel quantile framework including rolling window quantile regression method, quantile-on-quantile method, and causality-in-quantiles method to implement this research more comprehensively and accurately. Our contributions and findings, empirical in nature, are as follows: (i) In the early establishing stage of the carbon market, with a bullish market situation, carbon emission trading has a negative impact on most industry stocks. In the developing and improving stage of the carbon market, different industries have different impact situations. (ii) We find that the effects of financial uncertainty on stocks are stronger than CET on stocks. We also find that the dependence structures between CET, financial uncertainty, and industry stocks are asymmetric in most industries, and there are many mutation structures with significant risks in extreme situations. (iii) Carbon emissions trading, crude oil volatility, and US stock volatility all have strong causal relationships with Chinese industry stocks. (iv) We also provide policy suggestions to relevant countries to balance carbon market and stock markets and avoid risks from financial uncertainty in different industries.     

Chief executive officers' sustainability orientation and firm environmental performance: Networking and resource contingencies

Although the existing literature supports the relationship between chief executive officers' (CEOs') sustainability orientation (SO) and entrepreneurial behaviour, empirical studies exploring how SO drives firm environmental performance (FEP) are lacking. In addition, the potential moderating effects of firm-level factors on this relationship are less understood. We contribute to filling this gap by examining the moderating effects of political connections and financial slack on the relationship between SO and FEP. Using data obtained from 297 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana, our results reveal that SO is positively related to FEP. In addition, our results show that the effect of SO on FEP is negative when firms have stronger financial slack and when firms are highly politically connected.     

完善我国自然灾害应急体系

自然灾害作为突发公共事件的一种,对社会生命财产造成巨大损失,所以建立自然灾害应急体系显得尤为重要。本文通过借鉴发达国家自然灾害应急管理体系的经验,对完善中国自然灾害应急管理体系提出了几点建议,以便发挥更为积极的职责与作用,建立专门的自然灾害应急管理机构,使国家在突发事件中损失较小。     

Drivers to firm innovation and their effects on performance: an international comparison

This research aims to analyse the drivers to company innovation and their effects on the financial performance. This study is based upon a sample of companies, located in two neighbouring countries (Portugal and Spain). Linear regression was the methodology deployed to analyse the importance of innovation types (differences between Portugal and Spain). To analyse the extent to which the innovation capacity variables influence financial performance (turnover), we made recourse to Probit Regression models. Our results show significant differences in terms of both the drivers and inhibitors to innovation in these two countries. The introduction of products into new markets only proved significant at Spanish companies whilst innovations in both products and processes are significant in both sets of Iberian companies.     

Corporate Risk Disclosure and Audit Fee: A Text Mining Approach

The aim of this study is to introduce an innovative text mining approach to assess firms' risks using unstructured textual disclosure from annual reports. Specifically, we use Natural Language Processing techniques to extract firms' self-identified risks including financial, strategic, operational, and hazard risks based on an enterprise risk management framework. We examine the association between these four risk measures derived from the risk factor section in 10-K filings and audit fees. The results show that audit fees are significantly and positively related to firm-specific financial, strategic, and operational risks, indicating the informativeness of corporate textual risk disclosures. This study provides direct support for the recent US reporting regulatory requirement of adding a new section on risk factors in corporate annual reports.     

Micro- and small-sized enterprises’ willingness to borrow via internet financial services during coronavirus disease 2019

This paper explores the relationships among micro- and small-sized enterprises’ (MSEs) willingness to borrow from internet financial services (IFS) and the related impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and then analyses the mediating effects of their beliefs on the advantages and disadvantages of IFS. We further analyse the differences produced by the moderator effects of MSEs’ enterprise variables (sector, operating years, entrepreneur's education, profit margin, and employee number) on the above relationships. We collected 632 valid reports by developing an online questionnaire in China and employing judgement sampling of MSEs with fewer than 50 employees and annual operating income less than RMB 5 million. Then, we analysed the findings with partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results show that COVID-19 significantly impacted most Chinese MSEs and that most Chinese MSEs tend to borrow via IFS, but the amount and period of MSEs’ willingness to borrow should not be affected by the impacts of COVID-19 on MSEs. Rather, the explanation concerns the greater unfamiliarity or uncertainty concerning IFSs relative to traditional financial instruments. Moreover, MSEs' understanding of IFS's advantages and disadvantages has significant adverse mediating effects on the relationship between MSEs' willingness to borrow via IFS and the impacts of COVID-19. Furthermore, the enterprise variables of MSEs, namely, their industry type, entrepreneur’s education, number of employees, profit margin, and operating years, have significant moderating effects on these relationships. The results have implications for the government’s comprehensive supervision system for IFS risks, IFS firms’ enterprise performance, risk survey, and information disclosure systems, and the development of customer-specific and easy-to-use marketing strategies for IFS firms.

     

Earthquake triggered networked risk and response: based on relevant literature

Death, injury, conflict, and disorder caused by natural and man-made disasters have resulted in significant challenges to good governance and impeded the goal of achieving the benign development of society. This paper uses a particular method for analyzing the research situation and identifying current trends and focuses. It then proceeds to explore future research needs. The study finds that future researchers will shift their emphasis from the risks caused by natural disasters to those arising from man-made disasters; meanwhile, the study will consider the complex systems of interaction to understand causality. The objectives of management, hence, should change from investigating the impacts of risks to crisis control. Eventually, an evolutionary disaster-based social-risk framework is established, and some suggestions for future research are provided.     

Carbon performance and corporate financial performance: The moderating role of consumer awareness of corporate social responsibility

The paper detects the association between carbon performance (CP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) and the moderating role of consumer awareness (CA) of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We find that CP has consistent positive impacts on CFP in the short and long term, whereas CA has opposite moderating effects on CFP. These results indicate that companies should increase corporate value by improving CP. In addition, improving CA of CSR is an effective way to promote CFP.     

Does the Natural‐Resource‐Based View of the Firm Apply in an Emerging Economy? A Survey of Foreign Invested Enterprises in China*

abstract This study explores whether enterprises operating in China benefit from the practice of the tenets of the natural‐resource‐based view of the firm (NRVF). To this end, a conceptual model is proposed that depicts the major determinants and consequences of the practice of NRVF. By and large, the survey data collected from foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) in China confirm the validity of the proposed model, and suggest that the NRVF is applicable in the world's largest and fastest‐growing emerging economy. These results remind FIEs in China of the opportunities to enhance corporate environmental and financial performance through the adoption of environmental strategies. Various regression and multi‐group analyses conducted in this study further reveal significant moderating influences of perceived environmental uncertainties, operating mode, and firm size on the process of achieving company‐wide ecological sustainability.     

变电站危险点分析与布控

安全来自预防,危险在于控制,事故发生在失控之中。我们相信,除人力不可抗拒的自然灾害外,通过我们的努力,所有事故都应当可以预防,任何隐患都应当可以控制。     

Financial globalization and technological innovation: International evidence

Country’s technology progress and innovation development not only depends on internal knowledge stock and human capital, but also external financial resources. This paper explores the effect of financial globalization on technological innovation through empirical investigations by using the system generalized method of moment method and panel data from 110 countries over the period of 1985–2015. Our empirical results suggest that financial globalization exerts a significant enhancing effect on technological innovation and this effect becomes stronger for countries with better institution quality. A one unit change of financial globalization can bring about a 0.6 % increase in patent applications. The comprehensive evidence shows that financial development, not trade integration, is the main channel through which financial globalization promotes national innovation. Subsample analysis shows that financial globalization only promotes innovation development of Non- Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Our findings offer new insights into the influence of financial openness on technology progress.     

Exploring the role of technology,tourism and financial development: an empirical study of Vietnam

Vietnam is one of the emerging and industrializing developing countries in East Asia that has experienced a growth in tourism, information and communications technology (ICT) and financial development over the last three decades largely supported by significant structural reforms to escalate its path towards modernization and industrialization by 2020. In this paper, we explore the short-run and long-run effects of tourism, ICT and financial development over the period 1980–2010. Further, we examine the causation between these contemporary drivers of growth. The results show tourism has a positive and statistically significant effect in the short-run whereas ICT and financial development have a momentous positive and significant effect in the long-run. The causality results show unidirectional causation from capital per worker, ICT and financial development to output per worker; from ICT and financial development to capital per worker; and from capital per worker to tourism. Further, we also note a bi-directional causation between tourism and output per worker indicating their mutually reinforcing effect in the economy.     

The effect of environmental dynamism on returns to inventory leanness

This paper adds to the empirical inventory management literature by examining the moderating effects of environmental dynamism on the relationship between inventory leanness and financial performance. While the financial implications of inventory management practices have been extensively studied in the literature, it is clear that lean inventory strategies may not have the same payoff for all firms in all industries. Grounded in inventory theory, this study explores how firm characteristics and environmental dynamism—measured in terms of innovative intensity, demand uncertainty and competitive intensity—moderate the inventory leanness–performance link. We use hierarchical linear modeling to analyze a data set of 5749 firm-year observations from 123 U.S. manufacturing industries. In line with the hypotheses set forth, the results indicate that innovative intensity in an industry increases the effect of inventory leanness on firm performance while competitive intensity has the opposite effect. The hypothesis with respect to the moderating role of demand uncertainty is not supported. Another interesting and important finding is that inventory leanness accounts for nearly one third of the variation in firm performance after controlling for firm size and growth, thus underlining the importance of efficient and effective inventory management for overall firm success.