scholarly journals The Public Effect of Private Sustainability Reporting: Evidence from Incident-Based Engagement Strategy

Author(s):  
Natalia Semenova

AbstractThis study examines whether private information exchange between institutional investors and public companies in engagement dialogs on sustainability issues improves the publicly disclosed measurements of the target company’s financial and non-financial performance and transparency. It uses a unique dataset containing 326 private reports related to environmental, social, and anti-corruption recommendations to address material incidents among publicly traded MSCI World Index portfolio companies of Nordic institutional investors. The results indicate that target companies appear to have similar values with matched companies on sustainability performance and transparency ratings in the 3 years following the initiation of private reporting. Unexpected sustainability incidents are subsequently reflected in the next year’s fall in the market value of target companies relative to MSCI World Index. This paper provides empirical evidence for the legitimacy-based provision of private sustainability information used in a larger disclosure system of public companies.

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 545-557
Author(s):  
Nádia Sousa ◽  
Flávia Zóboli Dalmácio

This paper aims to study the influence of Corporate Governance practices in the institutional decision to invest. It was developed a Governance Index (iGov), a descending rank was prepared and a test was applied to check if the companies in the first 25% of this rank have the highest number of institutional investors among their biggest investors than the companies of the last 25%. For the validation of IGov it was tested if the companies with the best marks present highest Returns, lowest Capital Cost, highest Market Value, and highest Competiveness within the sector, lowest Beta, highest EVA® and lowest Share concentration. It has been proved that the best Corporate Governance practices do not have any statistical relation with the presence of more Institutional Investor.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurlan Orazalin ◽  
Monowar Mahmood

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and determinants of sustainability performance disclosures reported by publicly traded companies in Kazakhstan by using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. Among the different possible determinants, stand-alone sustainability reporting (SR), reporting language, leverage, cash flow capacity, profitability, size, age and auditor type were selected to investigate their impacts on the quality and scope of sustainability information. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzes data from publicly traded companies at the Kazakhstani Stock Exchange for the years 2013–2015. To investigate the extent, nature and quality of sustainability reports, the study measures and analyzes economic, environmental and social performance parameters, as suggested in the GRI guidelines. Findings The results indicate that determinants such as stand-alone reporting, reporting language, firm profitability, firm size and auditor type substantially influence the extent, nature and quality of sustainability-reporting practices of Kazakhstani companies. Practical implications The findings of the study suggest that managers, practitioners, regulators and policy makers in emerging economies should adopt the GRI guidelines to report sustainability performance disclosures and focus on specific factors to improve the quality of sustainability disclosures. Originality/value This study is one of the first studies to investigate the extent, nature and possible determinants of corporate SR in central Asian-emerging economies.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol A. Adams ◽  
Stephen Muir ◽  
Zahirul Hoque

Purpose – This article identifies current performance measurement practice within state, territory and federal government departments in Australia with a particular emphasis on the importance of sustainability performance measures. Whilst voluntary sustainability reporting by private sector organisations aligned, for the most part, with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines is growing, there is little sustainability reporting by organisations in the public sector. This raises questions as to the extent to which public sector sustainability performance is managed. This research aims to assess the use of sustainability performance measures for supporting organisational performance improvement. Design/methodology/approach – A mail out survey approach has been adopted within government departments. Findings – The performance measures utilised by organisations to a great extent were in the areas of cost efficiency and quality measures and those utilised to least extent were for learning and growth measures and to satisfy legislative requirements and manage programs. Sustainability, environmental or social responsibility measures are the least used performance measures, and those utilised are mainly measures of employee diversity and non-financial economic aspects that are identified. Practical implications – The public sector is unlikely to adopt comprehensive sustainability performance measures while they remain voluntary and while there is no perceived need to be competitive in these areas. Either mandatory reporting is required or some form of competitive process based on performance measures implemented. Originality/value – The findings make a contribution to the academic literature on sustainability performance measures in public sector organisations and point to policy measures that may lead to improvements in practice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1101-1120
Author(s):  
O.V. Shimko

Subject. The article investigates key figures disclosed in consolidated cash flow statements of 25 leading publicly traded oil and gas companies from 2006 to 2018. Objectives. The focus is on determining the current level of values of the main components of consolidated statement of cash flows prepared by leading publicly traded oil and gas companies, identifying key trends within the studied period and factors that led to any transformation. Methods. The study draws on methods of comparative and financial-economic analysis, as well as generalization of materials of consolidated cash flow statements. Results. The comprehensive analysis of annual reports of 25 oil and gas companies enabled to determine changes in the key figures and their relation in the structure of consolidated cash flow statements in the public sector of the industry. It also established main factors that contributed to the changes. Conclusions. In the period under study, I revealed an increase in cash from operating activities; established that capital expenditures in the public sector of the industry show an overall upward trend and depend on the level of oil prices. The analysis demonstrated that even integrated companies’ upstream segment prevail in the capital expenditures structure. The study also unveiled an increase in dividend payments, which, most of the time, exceeded free cash flows thus increasing the debt burden.


2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Opschoor ◽  
Michel van der Wel ◽  
Dick J. C. van Dijk ◽  
Nicholas Taylor

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huong Giang (Lily) Nguyen ◽  
Xiangkang Yin ◽  
Luong Hoang Luong

Author(s):  
Joseph K. Tanimura ◽  
Eric W. Wehrly

According to many business publications, firms that experience information security breaches suffer substantial reputational penalties. This paper examines incidents in which confidential information, for a firms customers or employees, is stolen from or lost by publicly traded companies. Firms that experience such breaches suffer statistically significant losses in the market value of their equity. On the whole, the data indicate that these losses are of similar magnitudes to the direct costs. Thus, direct costs, and not reputational penalties, are the primary deterrents to information security breaches. Contrary to many published assertions, on average, firms that lose customer information do not suffer reputational penalties. However, when firms lose employee information, we find significant reputational penalties.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 825
Author(s):  
Jonas Ammenberg ◽  
Sofia Dahlgren

This article departs from the perspective of Swedish regional transport authorities and focuses on the public procurement of bus transports. Many of these public organizations on the county level have the ambition to contribute to a transition involving the continued marginalization of fossil fuels and improved sustainability performance. However, there are several renewable bus technologies to choose between and it can be difficult to know what alternative (or combination) is preferable. Prior research and the authors’ experiences indicate a need for improved knowledge and supportive methods on how sustainability assessments can support public procurement processes. The purpose of this article is to develop a multi-criteria assessment (MCA) method to support assessments of public bus technologies’ sustainability. The method, which was established in an iterative and participatory process, consists of four key areas and 12 indicators. The article introduces the problem context and reviews selected prior research of relevance dealing with green or sustainable public procurement and sustainability assessments. Further on, the process and MCA method are presented and discussed based on advice for effective and efficient sustainability assessments. In the companion article (Part II), the MCA method is applied to assess several bus technologies involving biodiesel, biomethane, diesel, electricity, ethanol and natural gas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Kärnä

AbstractIncomplete capital markets and credit constraints for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often considered obstacles to economic growth, thus motivating government interventions in capital markets. While such policies are common, it is less clear to what extent these interventions result in firm growth or to which firms interventions should be targeted. Using a unique dataset with information about state bank loans targeting credit-constrained SMEs in Sweden with and without complementary private bank loans, this paper contributes to the literature by studying how these loans affect the targeted firms for several outcome variables. The results suggest that the loans create a one-off increase in investments, with long-term, positive effects for sales and labor productivity but only for firms with 10 or fewer employees. Increased access to capital by firms can therefore produce increases in economic output but only in a specific type of firm. This insight is of key importance in designing policy if the aim is to increase economic growth.


Author(s):  
Hua Li ◽  
Qingqing Lou ◽  
Qiubai Sun ◽  
Bowen Li

In order to solve the conflict of interests of institutional investors, this paper uses evolutionary game model. From the point of view of information sharing, this paper discusses four different situations. Only when the sum of risk and cost is less than the penalty of free riding, the evolution of institutional investors will eventually incline to the stable state of information sharing. That is, the phenomenon of hugging. The research shows that the institutional investors are not independent of each other, but the relationship network of institutional investors for the purpose of information exchange. The content of this paper enriches the research on information sharing of institutional investors.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document