Environmental,social and governance disclosure and default risk

We investigate whether environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure is related to default risk. Using a sample of US nonfinancial institutions from 2006 to 2017, we find that ESG disclosure is positively related to Merton's distance to default and is negatively related to the credit default swap spread, which suggests that firms with a higher ESG disclosure have lower default risk. Our analysis further indicates that the inverse effect of ESG disclosure on default risk is through increased profitability and reduced performance variability and cost of debt. We also document that the negative impact of ESG disclosure on default risk is existent only for mature and older firms. These results are important for all stakeholders of firms, including shareholders and bondholders to consider firm's ESG disclosure in conjunction with life cycle stage before making their investment decisions.     

环保支出信息披露与特殊行业公司价值相关性研究

以往许多学者研究逼信息披露与公司价值相关性问题，但是信息披露中很少涉及到环境支出。本文主要探讨环保支出信息披露与特殊行业公司价值是否具有相关性。采用事件研究法，以2005年11月13日“松花江污染”事件为案例，透视中国钢铁、火电、石化等高耗能、高污染项目特殊行业在未来应规范的环保信息披露内容。本研究结果启示，特殊行业公司可考虑积极充分揭露有关环境目标、策略、未来规划及过去环保规划的执行成效，使公司信息更具透明度，并对企业形象有所帮助。     

Sustainable development disclosure: Environmental,social, and governance reporting and gender diversity in the audit committee

This paper analyzes the link between female representation on audit committees (ACs) and specific information attributes of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures. We also examine whether the role of women is moderated by the busyness and intensity of the committee. Our results reveal a positive association between gender diversity in the AC and the quality of voluntary ESG reporting, which results in greater comprehensiveness and relevance. These findings extend the academic debate concerning the role of female directors on sustainability policies. Moreover, given the importance of ESG information in capital markets and its potential benefits for firms, this evidence may help regulators and owners to implement adequate corporate governance mechanisms. In addition, the busyness of the AC negatively moderates the influence of female AC members. Therefore, we highlight the need to consider the context in which women work in order to understand their influence on sustainability reporting.     

Environmental strategies in the paint and coatings industry

In general, a proactive strategy entails an anticipatory approach to problems. It is also associated with taking the initiative and doing more than is strictly needed. The nature of proactivity that businesses may display with respect to the environment is considered and also its meaning in terms of strategic behaviour and technological development. A conceptual framework is developed that differentiates between types of proactive strategies. This framework is based on a study of the paint and coatings industry in Great Britain and the Netherlands and is applicable to both countries. Even though the big international paint companies play a decisive role in the development and introduction of cleaner technologies, it is argued that the small- and medium-sized paint companies deserve special attention. Not only is proactive behaviour by the big companies important, but also proactive strategies by the small- and medium-sized companies, even if they are limited in scope, because the latter determine at national and local levels the pace and nature of the transformation that has to take place to produce a sustainable economy. This process is crucial to ecological modernization if it is intended not only to get rid of old-fashioned ways, but also to create new opportunities for economic upgrading and rejuvenation.     

Environmental reporting within the forest and paper industry

Research on environmental reporting within individual sectors and industries is limited. Generic studies have typically focused on the reporting practices of the world's largest corporates. Some industries and sectors are under‐represented within these studies, limiting the potential for industry‐ or sector‐specific analysis. Forest and paper is one industry frequently under‐represented. This study examines environmental reporting amongst the top 100 forest and paper companies. The scale of environmental report publication is investigated, and the breadth and depth of reporting on the key industry issues of forest management and fibre procurement examined. The results show reporting is more prevalent amongst larger corporates but marked regional variations are evident. Most noticeably, Scandinavian companies are reporting more extensively, both in terms of the number of levels at which they report and the depth of information included on forest management and fibre procurement. Reasons for the marked regional variations in reporting are considered and markets for forest products and preferences within those markets for specific certification schemes identified as potential influencing factors. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Environmental technical and administrative innovations in the Canadian manufacturing industry

This paper explores whether the adoption of an EMS and/or TQM, both administrative innovations, lead to the development of cleaner technological innovations. We draw on the stakeholder influence literature and Daft's (1978) dual core model of organizational innovation to determine the factors affecting a facility's decision to undertake cleaner technological innovations. Using Canadian facility level manufacturing data, we find that an EMS reduces the likelihood that a facility will implement environmental technologies that change the production process (clean technologies) while TQM increases the likelihood that the facility will implement clean technologies. We also find that administrative pressures (corporate headquarters and shareholders/investors) have no impact on technological innovations while external stakeholders such as regulators, community groups and environmental groups as well as customers and suppliers each increase the likelihood that facilities will use cleaner technologies. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

信息技术行业上市公司研发费用披露探讨

本文对我国信息技术行业上市公司2003-2005年年报中所披露的研发费用信息进行分析，揭示出我国上市公司在研发费用披露方面存在的不足，并结合新会计准则就我国上市公司研发费用的披露提出一些建议。     

国内外社会责任会计信息披露研究

文章主要介绍了国内外社会责任会计信息披露概况、社会责任会计信息披露的主要内容和常见形式,并在此基础上对社会责任会计信息披露的发展作简单评述。     

Exploring environmental,social, and governance disclosure effects on the S&P 500 financial performance

Much of the literature measuring the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores and firm performance treats the score as a measure of sustainability performance. In this study, we treat a firm's ESG score as a demonstration of strategic choice in the level of transparency that results in increased firm performance as measured by Tobin's Q and return on assets. Performance differences are a result of choice moderated by the size of the firm as measured by employees and sales. We analyze 467 firms in the S&P 500 from 2009 to 2015. Applying legitimacy and stakeholder theory, we find that there is significant difference between groups with respect to disclosure and performance. The results of quartile analysis by sales, capitalization, and Tobin's Q are relevant to understand the influence that the ESG score has on financial performance. ESG influences on Tobin's Q are greatest for large firms as measured by sales, as opposed to the ESG affects on Tobin's Q and return on asset for smallest firms as measured by market capitalization.     

Environmental performance and competitive advantage in Canada's paper industry

A new environmental performance model is developed, explained and subsequently applied to a study of the Canadian recycled paper industry. The strategic position of the industry is explored as it takes the progressive steps needed to improve its environmental performance and competitive advantage in response to this rising regulatory agenda. Three policy options facing the Canadian pulp and paper industry are examined: the status quo, process technology innovation and product development. The strategic position of the industry is also examined using measurement of stance, attitude, government response, values, planning horizon and environmental integration. The supplier-consumer relationship, capital-technology and locational factors are also used to further discuss the links between competitive advantage and environmental performance. From this discussion, conclusions are drawn on competitive environmentalism: ethics and profit are compatible; newsprint mills must improve their locational, technology and market actions; the industry must proactively seek out environmental market and stakeholder opportunities and; further management research is needed to demonstrate the links between environmental performance, innovation and competitiveness.     

The impact of sustainability (environmental,social, and governance) disclosure and board diversity on firm value: The moderating role of industry sensitivity

Using a large panel data set comprising 812 listed European firms, this study investigates whether sustainability disclosure (environmental, social, and governance) and female representation on boards affect firm value. We observe a positive impact of sustainability disclosure and board gender diversity on firm value, suggesting that the best management practices, enhanced stakeholder trust, and female representation on boards improve firm value. We observe that the firms in sensitive industries achieve superior social and governance performance. We also observe that the firms with higher female representation on their boards present significantly superior environmental, social, and governance performance. Our results are robust to different firm and country specific control variables and to year‐ and country‐fixed effects.     

Environmental regulation and innovation driving ecological design in the UK automotive industry

The theory of ecological modernization asserts that economic and environmental goals can be integrated within a framework of industrial modernity. Its central tenet is that environmental regulation can stimulate the application of ‘clean’ technologies or techniques. Ecological modernization also contends that environmental regulation can offer business benefits from innovation through improved product design and economic performance. The EU End of Life Vehicles Directive (ELVD) reflects many of these principles, as it compels all car manufacturers to ‘take back’ and dismantle vehicles at the end of their useful lives and to remove the hazardous substances from the production process. Each component will then be either reused or recycled. The legislation forces designers to introduce ‘clean design’ and ‘design for disassembly’ practices. In light of this, we examine the impact of the directive on UK automotive component manufacturers. We find limited evidence that the EU ELVD Directive has driven product innovation beyond short‐term, incremental technological trajectories. We therefore conclude that a more radical approach, in line with the ‘dematerialization’ thesis by Dobers and Wolff (1999), is needed to generate more radical, ecological design solutions within the UK automotive industry. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Power and decision making in the workplace: a study in the coal mining industry*

Here the author illustrates the importance of methodology in industrial relations research to an empirical study of workplace power. It is hoped to convince industrial researchers of the need for a more rigorous examination of the methods of investigation from which so many ‘interesting’ and ‘relevant’ findings result.     

Meta-organizing for open innovation under environmental and social pressures in the oil industry

Scholars have yet to address why and how open innovation model can be applied effectively within industries while diminishing its potential cost and challenges. In this paper, we extend open innovation model both theoretically and practically by identifying a) the boundary conditions that motivate firms within resource-based industries to apply the model and b) the approaches that have been implemented in practice in applying the model. In this multiple-case study, we explore why and how firms within the upstream Canadian oil industry have evolved to apply open innovation model over time to deal with the industry's challenges. First, our findings show that institutional forces, both normative and coercive—such as social and environmental pressures, were the primary drivers for adopting open innovation. Second, by building on the taxonomy of meta-organizations, we demonstrate that an industry-founded and not-for-profit innovation intermediary, as a meta-organization, is a necessary tool to address problems of adopting open innovation. We argue that the experiments of the upstream oil industry to develop a suitable organizational design for such innovation intermediaries suggest that a moderate level of stratification accompanying either close or open membership is the most suitable design. The findings from this study can be helpful to other industries, particularly other resource- based industries, which seek to effectively employ the open innovation model through innovation intermediaries.     

Environmental information disclosure and firm production: evidence from the estimated efficiency of publicly listed firms in China

Journal of Productivity Analysis - This study employs the recently developed conditional nonparametric frontier approach to assess the impact of environmental expenditures associated with...     

Measuring social entrepreneurship and social value with leakage. Definition,analysis and policies for the hospitality industry

The aim is to analyze, define and examine the connections between social entrepreneurship and the generation of social value, considering the concept of leakage as a measure of social value creation and distribution for the hospitality industry. The paper also proposes an exploratory-theoretical framework of policies to promote social entrepreneurship in hospitality, reduce leakage, and increase the generation of social value. Firstly, the paper concentrates on the figure of the social entrepreneur as a promoter of social value creation. Secondly, it analyzes social value creation in hospitality and its measurement. Then, the article studies and presents leakage as an instrument to monitor social value created by social entrepreneurship in hospitality. Finally, the paper proposes a wide framework of policies to enhance social value creation in hospitality, through the reduction of leakage and reinforcement of social entrepreneurship. Leakage is a useful indicator to monitor social value creation in the hospitality industry. The reduction of leakage can gauge the success of policies promoting social entrepreneurship activities which improve social value creation for the host society. The paper proposes proper and idiosyncratic measures of social value creation in hospitality. It also provides a mechanism to measure the effectiveness of the actions designed to generate social entrepreneurship and social value, at a destination and also at firm or hotel level. A complete framework of actions and policies addressed to increase social entrepreneurship and social value is also proposed.     

Policies to enhance social development through the promotion of SME and social entrepreneurship: a study in the Colombian construction industry

Abstract

The intent of this research is to propose and analyse a set of policies in the construction industry to enhance social development. First, the paper shows the connections between the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and social entrepreneurship (SE), the reduction of the leakage, and then the generation of social value (SV) for sustainable regional development. For that, the article analyses briefly the literatures on SE and leakage, and focuses on the relevance of SME and social entrepreneurs as promoters of SV creation and development. Second, the paper proposes a framework and proposes a set of 20 policies aimed to reduce leakage, reinforce SMEs and entrepreneurship and also to promote SE behaviour by the diverse economic agents in the construction industry, in order to increase the generation of SV and sustainable development. Then, the paper analyses the acceptability, feasibility and viability of these proposed polices, which can be useful for academics and practitioners. For that, the study uses the Delphi methodology, applied to an expert-group of 23 professionals (representatives of the private and public sector) belonging to the Colombian construction industry. The results emphasize the relevance of the development of local incumbents and the social focus of firms to increase the generation of SV. Oppositely, policies interfering economic freedom and free trade receive the lowest rates in the three criteria considered.     

国外物流业在经济和社会发展中的地位和作用

通过实例分析，阐明了物流业在经济和社会发展中的地位和作用。现代物流是现代经济增长的新的利润源，对国民经济增长发挥支持和带动作用，地位日益突出，已成为发达国家经济的重要组成部分。     

Board gender diversity and transparency of environmental,social and governance disclosure: Evidence from Malaysia

This study aims to investigate the effect of board gender diversity on the transparency of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures in an emerging market such as Malaysia. Dataset is comprised of 568 firm-year observations from 78 firms listed on the Bursa Malaysia. Ordinary least squares regression analysis of the data shows that ESG disclosure scores are significantly improved with the increasing presence of women directors on corporate boards. However, when the individual components are studied, the impact of board gender diversity varies. This study contributes to the limited but growing literature on ESG reporting quality and board gender diversity especially in emerging economies.