Socially Responsible Investment in Japan: Its Mechanism and Drivers

The paper explores the emergence and development of socially responsible investment (SRI) in Japan. SRI is a recent field in Japan. It is not clear which model it will follow: the European, American or its own model. Through the analysis of the historical roots of SRI, the key actors and motivations that have contributed to its diffusion, the paper provides explorative grounds to sketch the translation mechanisms of SRI in Japan and offers insight into its future path. Based on primary and secondary sources of information, the paper shows that although SRI in Japan holds some similarities with the U.S. and especially with the European model, it remains unique. It highlights the importance of translation and re-interpretation in adopting a practice in a new context. SRI in Japan is still in a dynamic construction process. Although we expect it to develop further, it is difficult to depict its future shape and form.     

The Heterogeneity of Socially Responsible Investment

Many writers have commented on the heterogeneity of the socially responsible investment (SRI) movement. However, few have actually tried to understand and explain it, and even fewer have discussed whether the opposite – standardisation – is possible and desirable. In this article, we take a broader perspective on the issue of the heterogeneity of SRI. We distinguish between four levels on which heterogeneity can be found: the terminological, definitional, strategic and practical. Whilst there is much talk about the definitional ambiguities of SRI, we suggest that there is actually some agreement on the definitional level. There are at least three explanations which we suggest can account for the heterogeneity on the other levels: cultural and ideological differences between different regions, differences in values, norms and ideology between various SRI stakeholders, and the market setting of SRI. Discussing the implications of the three explanations for the SRI market, we suggest that there is reason to be sceptical about the possibilities of standardisation if not standardisation is imposed top-down. Whether this kind of standardisation is desirable or not, we argue, depends on what the motives for it would be. To the extent that standardisation may facilitate the mainstreaming of SRI, it could be a good thing – but we entertain doubts about whether mainstreaming really requires standardisation.     

Investment with a Conscience: Examining the Impact of Pro-Social Attitudes and Perceived Financial Performance on Socially Responsible Investment Behavior

This article addresses the growing industry of retail socially responsible investment (SRI) profiled mutual funds. Very few previous studies have examined the final consumer of SRI profiled mutual funds. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to, in an exploratory manner, examine the impact of a number of pro-social, financial performance, and socio-demographic variables on SRI behavior in order to explain why investors choose to invest different proportions of their investment portfolio in SRI profiled funds. An ordinal logistic regression analysis on 528 private investors revealed that two of the three pro-social variables had a positive impact on how much the consumer invested in SRI profiled funds. Moreover, there was proof of a non-altruistic motive for investing in SRI as consumers who perceive that financial return of SRI is equal or better than “regular” mutual funds, invested a greater proportion of their portfolio in SRI profiled mutual funds. Furthermore, the results showed that women and better-educated investors were more likely to invest a greater proportion of their investment portfolio in SRI. Overall, the findings indicate that both financial perceptions and pro-social attitudes are connected to consumer investment in SRI.     

The Performance of European Socially Responsible Funds

Recent years have witnessed an increasing growth in mutual funds that invest according to social criteria. As a consequence, the financial performance of these portfolios has attracted the interest of academics and practitioners. This paper investigates the performance of a sample of socially responsible mutual funds from seven European countries investing globally and/or in the European market. Using unconditional and conditional models, we assess the performance of these funds in comparison to conventional and socially responsible benchmark portfolios. The results show that European socially responsible funds present in general neutral performance in relation to both conventional and socially responsible benchmarks. However, performance estimates seem to be slightly higher when funds are evaluated in relation to socially responsible indices. Our results also show that socially responsible funds are more exposed to conventional than to socially responsible indices. Furthermore, conventional benchmarks are better able to explain fund returns than socially responsible benchmarks. These findings are robust to both unconditional and conditional models of performance. We also observe that conditional models lead to a slight improvement of performance estimates and to the explanatory power of the models, both when conventional and socially responsible benchmarks are considered. This is consistent with most previous empirical findings on conditional performance evaluation. Our results show that investors who wish to hold European funds can add social screens to their investment choices without compromising financial performance.     

Do Socially Responsible Fund Managers Really Invest Differently?

To date, research into socially responsible investment (SRI), and in particular the socially responsible investment funds industry, has focused on whether investing in SRI assets has any differential impact on investor returns. Prior findings generally suggest that, on a risk-adjusted basis, there is no difference in performance between SRI and conventional funds. This result has led to questions about whether SRI funds are really any different from conventional funds. This paper examines whether the portfolio allocation across industry sectors and the stock-picking ability of SRI managers are different when compared to conventional fund managers. The study finds that SRI funds exhibit different industry betas consistent with different portfolio positions, but that these differences vary from year to year. It is also found that there is little difference in stock-picking ability between the two groups of fund managers.     

A History of Scandinavian Socially Responsible Investing

This article contributes to the literature on national varieties of socially responsible investment (SRI) by demonstrating how Scandinavian SRI developed from the 60s and onwards. Combining findings on Scandinavian SRI with insights from previous research and institutional theory, the article accounts for the role of changes in societal values and norms, the mechanisms by which SRI practices spread, and how investors adopt and transform practices to suit their surrounding institutional contexts. Especially, the article draws attention to how different categories of investors act as institutional entrepreneurs during specific historical periods, and how these roles come to shift as institutional rule systems of varying societal levels change. Thus, the insights gained are useful in the future research agenda concerned with advancing knowledge on idiosyncrasies and commonalities of national SRI manifestations, and to understand the reasons underlying such characteristics.     

The Financial Performance of a Socially Responsible Investment Over Time and a Possible Link with Corporate Social Responsibility

This paper empirically examines the financial performance of a UK unit trust that was initially “conventional” and later adopted socially responsible investment (SRI) principles (ethical investment principles). Comparison is made with three similar conventional funds whose investment objectives remained unchanged. Analysis techniques employed in previous studies find similar results: mean risk-adjusted performance is unchanged by the switch to SRI, with no evidence of over-or under-performance relative to the benchmark market index by any of the four funds. More interestingly, changes in variability of returns over time are also modelled using generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity models, not previously applied to SRI funds so far as is known. Results show a temporary increase in variability of returns, followed by a return to previous levels after around 4 years. Evidence shows the increased variability to be associated with the adoption of SRI rather than with a change in fund management. Possible explanations for the subsequent reduction in variability include the spread of corporate social responsibility activities by firms and learning by fund managers. In addition to reporting on a previously unobserved phenomenon, this paper raises questions for further research.     

浅谈有限合伙型私募股权投资基金税务筹划

本文首先从我国现阶段私募基金占资管业务总规模的比重说明私募基金在我国资本市场的重要性,由此介绍有限合伙型私募股权基金定义和运作环节,通过详细阐述私募股权基金各环节的涉税业务及税收优惠政策,深入分析私募股权基金的税务筹划现状,并提出优化有限合伙型私募股权基金税务筹划策略,以期促进私募股权基金的长远发展。     

股权投资基金与企业实际投资的实证研究

股权投资基金与其他的融资方式相比有其独有的优势和特点,这种融资方式对于企业的投资决策和投资行为会产生其特有的影响。文章在综述国内外相关研究的基础上,以我国中小企业板上市公司为研究样本,构建实证模型,通过实证方法研究股权投资基金对企业实际投资的影响和作用。研究得出以下结论,中小企业板上市公司实际投资与股权投资基金的参与显著正相关,与公司成长性指标营业总收入增长率显著正相关,而实际投资与现金流指标和公司总资产负债率并不存在显著的相关性。     

浙江民间资本投资模式与制度构建研究

浙江民间资本丰富,但却存在民间资本投资难和中小企业融资难并存的"两难"困境。究其原因,主要是中小企业融资渠道单一,民间资本投资渠道狭隘,民间资本投资游离于实业之外,民间资本投资体系风险不断加大等。浙江省迫切需要从规范民间资本投资的基本运作模式入手,将民间资本有效转化成产业资本,积极促进小额贷款公司发展,提升民间借贷登记服务中心运行效率。同时还要加强民间资本投资监管的制度构建,从而促使民间资本投资阳光化、规范化、合法化。     

有限合伙制私募股权投资基金所得税问题探讨

自然人合伙人个人所得税税率偏高;法人合伙人分得的私募股权投资基金基金取得的投资性收益是否免税以及企业法人缴纳企业所得税时合伙企业的股权投资损失是否可以抵减其盈利等,这些问题在新的合伙企业法中既有不合理之处,也有不确定因素。建议:自然人合伙人个人所得税税率标准统一定为20%;法人合伙人分得的私募股权投资基金基金取得的股息等投资性收益,应该享受免税待遇,法人合伙人可以在计算其缴纳企业所得税时,扣除合伙企业股权投资损失。     

私人股权基金投资业绩研究

私人股权投资已经成为近几年资本市场上最具争议的投资明星,然而在本轮东亚地区尤其是中国的私人股权投资的热潮中,并非所有的私人股权基金都取得了满意的业绩。利用来自Private Equity Intelligence的基金业绩数据,对目前投资于中国及周边地区的私人股权基金的表现进行实证分析,研究影响私人股权基金业绩的主要因素,并对其中的因素之——投资期和退出期的划分情况进行确定。     

Approaching Socially Responsible Investment with a Comprehensive Ratings Scheme: Total Social Impact

The socially responsible investment industry (SRI) is slowly changing from a screening, avoidance paradigm to a comprehensive paradigm that seeks to affect corporate behavior. Credible rating systems are a key component of this sea change. Reliable and recognizable social and environmental metrics are critical to this progress. The Total Social Impact (TSI) rating approach is a new social metric scheme based on a comprehensive rating of stakeholder issues. This paper describes the evolution of SRI ratings and the role that TSI hopes to play in affecting business behavior by promoting principled business leadership.     

The Investment Performance of Socially Responsible Investment Funds in Australia

Interest in the notion of the possible financial sacrifice suffered by socially responsible investment (SRI) fund investors for considering ethical, social and environmental issues in their investment decisions has spawned considerable academic interest in the performance of SRI funds. Both the Australian and international research literature have yielded largely mixed results. However, several of these studies are hampered by methodological problems which can obscure the significance of reported results, such as the use of small sample sizes, inconsistencies in the time frames selected to analyse performance and different modelling frameworks used to estimate investment returns. This study attempts to redress some of these issues by investigating the returns performance of 89 ethical funds in Australia over the period 1986–2005. Using a multi-factor CAPM model [Fama, E. F., and K. R. French (1996) J. Finance 51(1), 55] (which controls for factors such as size, book-to-market value and momentum) we find that ethical funds significantly under-perform the market in Australia, particularly in the most recent 5 years of our sample period (2000–2005). Risk adjusted returns (using Jensen’s alpha) indicate that average annual underperformance is around 1.52% in the 2000–2005 period for our sample and .88% over the whole sample period. Our results contrast with many previous studies (both Australian and international), which have not found statistically significant differences in the performance of ethical funds relative to market benchmarks and/or a matched sample of conventional funds. Stewart Jones is a Professor of Accounting with the University of Sydney, appointed in 2001. His research interests embrace credit risk modelling, capital markets research, standard setting and accounting theory. Sandra van der Laan is a lecturer in the Discipline of Accounting at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on accounting as a social discourse and accounting as a mechanism to discharge a broad range of corporate accountabilities. Geoff Frost is an Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of Sydney. His research interests include corporate social responsibility and ethical investment. Janice Loftus is a senior lecturer in accounting at the University of Sydney. Her current research interests include financial accounting and corporate social responsibility reporting.     

货币政策对资本市场的非线性效应——基于自私募股权投资经验证据的分析

私募股权投资是资本市场的重要组成部分,而资本市场波动对宏观经济周期有重要影响。通过构建非线性计量经济模型,本文从不同期限结构和类型的政策模式角度探索货币政策对私募股权投资的非线性影响。研究发现,短期数量型货币政策在经济高涨时期对私募股权投资的调控效果更佳,而长期数量型货币政策在经济平稳时期对私募股权投资的调控效果更佳,数量型货币政策对私募股权投资的影响在时间维度呈现递减趋势;短期价格型货币政策在经济萧条时期对私募股权投资的调控效果更佳,而长期价格型货币政策在经济平稳时期对私募股权投资的调控效果更佳,价格型货币政策对私募股权投资的影响在时间维度呈现递增趋势。因此,长期价格型货币政策是我国进入经济新常态时期后的主要选择。     

Costly Signaling: Asian Americans and the Role of Ethnicity in the Willingness to Pay More for Socially Responsible Products

The present study applies motivated reasoning and costly signaling theory to examine whether consumers transfer stereotypical race-related attributes to their evaluations of companies' socially responsible advertisements. The study compares corporate socially responsible advertisements featuring different model races and cultural cues in order to meet consumers' motives to impress others by supporting CSR initiatives. Results (N = 754) of a 2 × 2 × 4 experiment reveal that strong ethnic identifiers among Asian Americans are more likely to make a costly signaling behavior when ads feature a white model with white cultural cues by attributing higher social status to whites' images, which is mediated by conspicuous consumption motives. Interestingly, ethnic identification among white Americans is also a strong predictor in making costly signaling behavior with socially responsible products.     

Varieties of CSR: Institutions and Socially Responsible Behaviour

A central concern within contemporary socio-economics has been on the relationship between national institutional configurations and societal outcomes. In this paper, we assess the relationship between legal origin and a range of correlated indicators of social responsibility, focusing on socially responsible investing and voluntary charitable giving. We found that in Common Law contexts, lower levels of social responsibility than in Civil Law contexts, other than in the area of charitable giving, where the converse was the case. We explore the reasons for this distinction, and for the different patterns encountered in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. Based on the findings, we identify directions for future research.     

The Role of Idealism and Relativism as Dispositional Characteristics in the Socially Responsible Decision-Making Process

This study investigated how decision-makers differ in processing their organizational environment (peers and organizational control systems), depending on the levels of their idealism and relativism. Focusing on socially responsible buying/sourcing issues, responses from buying/sourcing professionals from U.S. apparel and shoe companies were analyzed, using a series of regression analyses. The results generally supported the proposition that the degrees of idealism and relativism determine involvement levels that, in turn, result in varying levels of reactions to the organizational environment and corresponding amounts of information processing. Highly idealistic (relativistic) individuals were influenced by only idealistic (relativistic) signals of organizational environment. Further analysis showed highly idealistic and relativistic individuals were more likely to evaluate the organizational environment in terms of its business merit. The results suggest that organizations need to carefully plan how to communicate underlying meanings of organizational initiatives with their employees, knowing that individuals who have strong ethical opinions will only react to what they believe and elaborate its value for business. Further theoretical and practical implications and suggestions are discussed.Haesun Park is Assistant Professor in the School of Human Ecology at Louisiana State University. She received her Ph.D. from the Dept. of Consumer and Textile Sciences, the Ohio State University in 2001. Her research interests include fair labor management and international sourcing in the textiles and apparel industries.     

Researching the Drivers of Socially Responsible Purchasing: A Cross-National Study of Supplier Diversity Initiatives

What drives organisations to engage in socially responsible purchasing initiatives? To investigate this important question, this article uses a case-study approach to examine the context within which supplier diversity programmes have emerged in both the U.S. and U.K. The analysis identifies legislative and policy developments, economic imperatives, stakeholder pressures and ethical influences as forces shaping organisational responses. It reveals important contextual differences between U.K. and U.S. experience and offers an empirical and theoretical explanation of corporate behaviour.     

关于本土私募股权基金参与产业结构调整的思考

发达国家在经济危机中受到重创,原有的世界格局即将被重新洗牌。为使我国经济在全球经济调整期间迅速脱胎换骨,一场大规模的产业结构调整势在必行。产业结构调整需要巨大的资金支持,如何组建本土私募股权投资基金,合理利用好巨额储蓄与外汇储备,让其为产业结构调整服务成为当前人们研究的热点。从本土私募股权基金参与产业结构调整的必要性、优势以及如何深度结合等方面进行了相关研究。