Impact of Environmental Performance on Firm Value for Sustainable Investment: Evidence from Large US Firms

This research examines the impact of environmental performance on firm value, applying the event study methodology to Newsweek’s ‘Green Rankings’ announcement of 2012 for large US firms. Specifically, it analyzes the impact of the absolute green score and green rank of firms on their performance in the stock market. We found that investors perceive the announcement as positive news, leading to significant positive standardized cumulative abnormal returns (SCARs). After controlling for industry‐ and firm‐specific effects, we observed that firms with repeated green rankings for enhancing environmental performance showed significantly higher SCARs than those with either reduced or unchanged environmental performance. In addition, the environmental impact score measuring environmental damage from a firm's operational activities was found to be the most influential factor in improving the firm's value. Our findings are beneficial to managers in allocating resources to different types of environmental initiative, and provide valuable insight for sustainable environmental investment. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Great Places to Work®: Resilience in Times of Crisis

We study the resilience of the “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” in times of financial crisis by analyzing their long‐term financial performance. Apart from implementing methods that tackle the statistical problems of stock returns, we use a conditional model to measure financial performance in periods of market growth (bull markets) and market downturn (bear markets). We find that best places to work are indeed resilient in times of crisis since neither their financial performance nor their systematic risk are affected during bear markets: top companies continue to outperform the market during periods of crisis, and the performance of lower‐ranked great workplaces does not deteriorate. Moreover, we find that previous studies were overestimating performance, and only great workplaces on the top half of the rankings exhibit positive excessive returns. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Beyond profitability: effects of acquisitions on technical efficiency in the Italian pasta industry

Unlike traditional studies on the impact of ownership changes—which use either profitability measures or stock prices—this paper investigates the impact of acquisitions on acquired firms' technical efficiency. Using a panel of Italian firms in the pasta industry for the 1981–1997 period, I estimate a stochastic production frontier with exogenous factors affecting efficiency in a translog specification with non‐neutral technical progress. The main result is that acquired firms experience, within the 6 years period following the acquisition, an increase in technical efficiency of the order of 10%. This result is statistically significant and proves to be robust with respect to the inclusion of size and calendar year effects as explanatory variables of firms' inefficiency. These findings contribute to the debate on the welfare gains of ownership changes by providing evidence that mergers and acquisitions lead to cost savings, due to the reduction of acquired firms' X‐inefficiency. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Long-term valuation effects of stock splits

This study attempts to determine if stock splits affect the long-term stock performance of forms, and to explain cross-sectional variation in this performance proxy among firms. The consequences of both higher percentage transaction cost following a stock split and an investor overreaction hypothesis are expected to render negative effects on stock values. The consequences of any earnings and dividend signaling accompanying splits are expected to have a positive impact on stock values. The results of the analysis suggest that the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) are positive and statistically significant through the eleventh month after a stock split. The CARs then decrease nearly monotonically through the thirty-sixth month after the split (CAR=?8.23%). This indicates that initially the signaling effects dominate, but later the consequences of investors' downward revisions of previous expectations and the increase in percentage transaction cost dominate. The cross-sectional results indicate that firms with higher earnings-growth rates exhibit higher CARs, and firms with higher share prices just before the split exhibit lower CRRs.     

Partners of USEPA Climate Leaders: an Event Study on Stock Performance

This research utilized an event study method to assess how the stocks of publicly traded companies responded before and after announcing their partnership with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Climate Leaders program. Although the stocks exhibited an average non‐significant positive abnormal return of 0.56% on the day of the announcement, the cumulative abnormal returns for the stock prices of the firms for two of the three event windows showed statistically significant negative returns. These results suggest that these firms' public announcements of joining the USEPA Climate Leaders partnership did not have a positive impact on stock performance. While no immediate financial benefit was found in this research, the practices implemented by these firms to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions may still bode well for long‐term corporate earnings and attractiveness to investors. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Market Orientation and FIRMS' Environmental Innovation: The Moderating Role of Environmental Attitude

Drawing on market orientation theory, innovation theory and the theory of reasoned action, this paper integrates market orientation, environmental attitude and firms' environmental innovation into a model to establish a relationship among these three variables. By taking 247 manufacturing firms in China as the research sample and by analyzing the data using SPSS19.0, we found that customer and competitor orientation have a significant and positive impact on firms' environmental innovation, while the effect of inter‐functional coordination is not significant. Furthermore, environmental attitude plays a positive moderating role between customer orientation and firms' environmental innovation, as well as between competitor orientation and firms' environmental innovation. Finally, the results of the study are discussed, and the theoretical and practical significance of this study is clarified further. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The Impact of Corporate Environmental Violation on Shareholders' Wealth: a Perspective Taken from Media Coverage

This study provides empirical evidence of the way in which media coverage of corporate environmental violation events affects shareholders' wealth due to stock market reactions. Data relating to the media coverage of the environmental violations of 173 publically traded companies in China, gathered using web crawler technology, were analyzed through multi‐dimensional variables with the purpose of examining the impact of media coverage on stock market reactions in terms of cumulative abnormal return (CAR) under different event windows based on the methodology of event study. The variables include the intensity of media coverage, media information sources, disclosure mode, media newsworthiness, violation entity, whether the company is punished by the government, whether the company makes a clarification and whether the company is ISO 14001 certified. The results obtained reveal that media coverage affects the market values of the event companies to some extent, and that those companies that attract high levels of media attention generally see greater losses in their shareholders' wealth. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Do the best companies to work for provide better customer satisfaction?

Using data from both the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and Fortune Magazine's lists of Best Companies, we examine the relationship between making the ‘100 Best’ list and customer satisfaction. Based on a subset of the 100 Best in each year from 1994 to 2002, we find strong evidence that firms on the list earn higher customer satisfaction ratings than firms not on the list. This result is stronger for firms in the service sector than for those in the manufacturing sector. Our analysis also suggests that the increase in customer satisfaction resulting from Best Company status yields about a 1.6 percent increase in return on assets. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国行业层面研究与试验发展资本存量核算

研究目标：测算中国八大行业门类研究与试验发展（Research and Development,R&D）资本存量。研究方法：基于SNA2008的GDP核算框架,厘清R&D支出的资本化核算框架;再利用美国BEA方法测算R&D资本存量。研究发现：1990~2015年,中国R&D资本存量不到美国R&D资本存量的1/4;然而,自1994年后,中国R&D资本存量年均增长率达24.79%,而美国仅为4.86%,中美两国R&D资本存量差距呈逐渐缩小趋势;制造业R&D资本存量占全国R&D资本存量的比例呈上升趋势,从1990年的17.41%增长到2015年的68.08%,这与中国加快制造业转型升级的事实相符。研究创新：给出完整的R&D支出资本化核算过程,首次测算中国八大行业门类的R&D资本存量。研究价值：为分析技术进步对经济增长的影响提供了行业层面R&D投资和资本存量数据序列。     

Environmental Policies for Sustainable Development: An Analysis of the Drivers of Proactive Environmental Strategies in the Service Sector

This article examines the drivers of environmental proactivity in the service sector. Hypotheses were tested using multiple hierarchical regression analysis with data from a sample of 41 managers in Spanish environmental consulting companies. Results show statistically significant relationships between (1) managers’ attitude towards sustainable development, (2) positive short‐term firm performance and (3) the strategic attitude of environmental consulting firms and the adoption of proactive environmental strategies by the studied companies. This article is pioneering in the analysis of drivers of corporate proactive environmental strategies in the consultancy sector. The findings have practical implications for policy‐makers, investors and other agents interested in a better management of the environment. Economic incentives such as subsidies to environmental training programmes for managers can induce changes in cognitive components of managers’ attitudes. Education policies could also affect managers’ attitudes towards the environment. Companies may also encourage attitude change by providing their managers with financial assistance to receive environmental training. External assistance to develop a strategic attitude could be an interesting policy to encourage voluntary environmental initiatives. Finally, fiscal deductions, tax breaks or subsidies to those companies interested in managing the environment can be effective incentives for those firms facing a weak short‐term financial situation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Efficiency and stock returns: evidence from the insurance industry

This study investigates whether the capital market values the efficiency of firms. After tracing stock returns and efficiency changes of 399 listed insurance firms in 52 countries during the 2002–2008 period, the paper reports a positive and statistically significant relationship between profit efficiency change and market adjusted stock returns. However, there is no robust evidence that cost efficiency change is associated with stock returns.     

Labor market reputation and the value of the firm

This study examines the stock market reaction to announcements that should contribute to the positive reputation of firms' human resource management practices. Announcements consist of the annual release of the list of 'best' employers by Working Mother magazine. We hypothesize that these announcements positively contribute to the firms' labor market reputation, thereby improving a firm's ability to attract, retain and motivate good employees. We find a small but statistically significant increase in firms' stock prices following the release of the list. The effect is larger, the first time a firm appears on the list relative to subsequent appearances.     

Does it pay to be green? A disaggregated analysis of U.S. firms with green patents

The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between environmental performance and financial performance on a sample of 361 U.S. firms over the 2007–2016 period. We contribute to the literature by considering firms active in sustainable innovations by obtaining green patents. We also contribute to the literature by using disaggregated measures of environmental performance collected from the Bloomberg ESG database, including environmental disclosure score, greenhouse gas emissions, waste emissions and water use. Panel data regressions' results show that environmental transparency positively influences current accounting and stock market performance, but negatively influences the return on capital employed. Furthermore, lower pollution emissions tend to improve the current return on assets, while being harmful for the efficiency of long‐term capital employment at the same time. The empirical results also indicate that the Global Financial Crisis (2007–2010) increased the environmental transparency of firms with green patents but negatively impacted their price to earnings ratio. At the same time, lower waste disposal diminishes stock valuation while the opposite is true with water use. Taken together, our results suggest that environmental transparency and greenhouse gas emissions generally appear to be the most important environmental variables influencing financial performance, with increasing importance attributed to them by the market after the global crisis period.     

Globalisation,industrial diversification and productivity growth in large European R&D companies

This paper aims to assess the impact of both geographic and industrial diversification of economic activities on the productivity performance of large European R&D Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). Based on the worldwide subsidiaries of these firms, we measure the performance of the firms according to their level of industrial diversification and globalisation that we proxy with the presence and importance of subsidiaries in the EU, North America and Asia–Pacific regions. The sample consists of large R&D firms that represent about 80 % of total European R&D. In general, the results indicate a positive impact from globalisation on firms’ R&D productivity, especially in the US, while a negative impact for industrial diversification is found.     

The product‐market performance benefits of environmental policy: Why customer awareness and firm innovativeness matter

Researchers have widely studied the nexus between corporate environmental (“green”) policy and its green performance and firm financial performance, but with mixed findings. A potential explanation for these mixed findings is the focus of extant studies on the direct and immediate impact of environmental performance on financial performance to the exclusion of firm‐specific boundary conditions. Furthermore, all prior research study the effect of environmental performance on either stock market‐based performance measures (i.e., stock return) or accounting‐based performance measures (i.e., return on assets). A missing third dimension of firm performance, product–market‐based performance (i.e., market share), has so far remained unexplored despite representing a crucial objective when innovating. Using Newsweek's annual green ranking as a novel measure of environmental performance for a panel of U.S. firms from 2010 to 2015, this paper attempts to fill these voids in the literature. The results show a positive relationship between firms' environmental performance and market share as a measure of product–market‐based performance. The findings further demonstrate that this relationship is positively moderated by the level of customer awareness and innovativeness of the firm: The higher the level of awareness of a firm's environmental credentials and innovativeness, the stronger the effects of environmental performance on market share. Our results are robust against endogeneity concerns and alternative measures of firm financial and environmental performance.     

Does it pay to venture abroad? Exporting behavior and the performance of firms in Indian industry

Using contemporary data for a firm-level sample of over 600 Indian firms, this paper investigates the impact that an export-orientation has on the profitability of the firms studied. The results, based on a two-stage least squares method, establish a positive and significant relationship between firms' levels of exports and profitability. For firms from developing and transition economies like India it does pay to venture abroad, and the ability to sell goods overseas has a significant impact on firms' economic performance. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Corporate environmentalism strategy in the Spanish consumer product sector: a typology of firms

In recent years, the protection of the environment has gained a growing importance. Accordingly, small and large firms have become aware of their responsibility and begun to develop environmental strategies as an enterprising challenge. In such a situation, this study describes firms' environmental orientation and its impact on the design of corporate and marketing strategies in the Spanish consumer product sector. The purpose of this paper is to identify different groups of firms according to their environmental behaviour. The information was obtained through 81 personal interviews with firms in the final consumer product sector. With the data obtained we have conducted several exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and a cluster analysis. Findings have proved that there is a specific firm type characterized by certain variables: influence of external forces; environmental orientation; corporative and marketing strategies; size; macro‐sector and, if existing, the environment department. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

竞争对手的负面盈余意外：一损俱损还是此消彼长?

以2011—2021年A股上市公司为研究样本，聚焦高集中度的垄断行业，以负面盈余意外作为关键事件，以事件公司同行业其他公司作为焦点公司，采用事件研究法探究竞争对手负面盈余意外对焦点公司市场反应的影响。研究发现，在垄断行业中，竞争对手发生负面盈余意外的两天内(竞争对手发布盈余公告的当天和接下来一天),焦点公司的累计超额收益显著为正，且竞争对手的负面盈余意外程度越大，焦点公司的累计超额收益越高，说明竞争对手负面盈余意外在行业内产生了显著的竞争效应。进一步研究发现，产品可替代性以及焦点公司与竞争对手的相似度均会加剧正面溢出，而行业增长对正面溢出具有显著的缓解作用。     

Why does firm reputation in human resource policies influence college students? The mechanisms underlying job pursuit intentions

Business periodicals, such as Fortune magazine, rank organizations in lists such as the “Best Companies to Work For,” providing applicants with information about firms' human resource practices, including pay, benefits, work‐life, and diversity practices. It is not clear what influence this reputational information about HR practices has on applicant interest in pursuing employment or, more important, why it does so. Given that firms invest substantial resources in HR practices to vie for positions on these lists, the current study sought to fill these gaps in the literature. In the 2 (compensation) × 2 (work‐family) × 2 (diversity) factorial design, 232 college students read about magazine rankings in which a firm's reputation in each HR practice was manipulated as ranking either high or low relative to competitors. We examined perceptions of organizational prestige, anticipated organizational support, and anticipated role performance as mechanisms that explain the influence of HR practice reputation on job pursuit intentions. Our results indicate that a firm's reputation in compensation, work‐family, and diversity efforts increase college students' intentions to pursue employment with a firm. They do so because college students perceive that the organization is prestigious, will be supportive, and will foster their job performance. Our results suggest that a strong employer brand derived from employee‐centered HR practices is important for recruiting college students. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

雾霾污染对审计费用和审计质量的影响研究

以2013—2017年沪深两市A股上市公司为研究样本,实证分析了雾霾污染对会计师事务所审计费用和审计质量的不同影响。研究结果表明：雾霾污染会导致审计费用增加和审计质量下降。这一结论在替换雾霾污染指标、改变雾霾污染衡量方式、替换雾霾污染数据、替换审计质量指标、替换控制变量、采用极端天气比例、考虑雾霾污染的预期效应和采用倾向得分匹配方法等稳健性检验后依然成立。进一步分析发现：雾霾污染会通过增大企业经营风险和企业问题曝光风险来提高审计费用;雾霾污染会通过减少审计师的审计时间来降低审计质量;审计费用溢价增强了雾霾污染对审计质量的负向影响;雾霾污染对审计费用的正向影响和对审计质量的负向影响仅在非重污染企业样本中和非重污染地区样本中显著成立。研究结论有助于厘清雾霾污染影响审计行为的作用机制,为主管部门在雾霾污染环境中加强审计市场监管提供理论依据。