Search Results (741)

This study examines both the linear and nonlinear relationship between overall Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance and firm market value, while also comparing the effects of the Environmental, Social, and Governance dimensions in publicly listed companies from the European Union. The analysis is based on an unbalanced panel of 1706 non-financial listed firms covering the period 2011–2025. Firm value is primarily measured by Tobin’s Q, with the Price-to-Book ratio and Return on Assets (ROA) used for robustness analysis. The results indicate a significant U-shaped relationship between overall ESG performance and firm value, suggesting that the value-enhancing effects of ESG emerge only after firms achieve sufficiently high sustainability performance. In contrast, the individual Environmental, Social, and Governance dimensions in most cases do not exhibit significantly different effects on firm market value. Additional subsample analyses reveal that the nonlinear relationship is more pronounced among Western European firms and companies with lower greenhouse gas emissions intensity. The findings suggest that investors primarily evaluate firms based on their overall sustainability profile rather than individual ESG dimensions. The study contributes to the ESG literature by providing further evidence of the nonlinear nature of the ESG–firm value relationship and by comparing the explanatory power of aggregated and disaggregated ESG measures within the European Union’s harmonized sustainability reporting environment. Full article

This study examines the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and investment efficiency and investigates whether board gender diversity moderates this relationship among Saudi listed firms. Using a sample of non-financial companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) with available ESG scores over the period 2015–2023, the study employs panel regression analysis to assess the impact of ESG performance on investment efficiency. The findings indicate that higher ESG performance is associated with a greater tendency toward overinvestment rather than improved investment efficiency. However, board gender diversity significantly weakens this relationship, indicating a moderating effect of female board representation. The results remain robust across alternative specifications. This study advances to the ESG and corporate governance literature by providing empirical evidence from Saudi Arabia, an emerging market undergoing significant institutional reforms under Vision 2030 and highlights the importance of board gender diversity in improving the effectiveness of firms’ sustainability strategies. Full article

The bicycle industry, despite its sustainable image, remains underrepresented in research on non-financial reporting. This study benchmarks the sustainability reporting practices of 19 global bicycle manufacturers and component manufacturers that publish dedicated reports in English. It draws on content analysis of each company’s most recent, or most complete, sustainability report to examine patterns consistent with institutional isomorphism. The results show strong convergence around the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, adopted by 68% of firms, and the Global Reporting Initiative Standards, adopted by 53%. This pattern is consistent with normative isomorphism. Similarities in multi-framework reporting may also indicate mimetic behaviour, although direct evidence of imitation is limited. European firms are overrepresented in the sample, and some company reports refer directly to EU reporting requirements. These findings suggest possible coercive influence from the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, although geographic concentration alone does not establish causation. Reporting practices vary across firms. Larger companies often use more comprehensive reporting systems, while some SMEs provide more limited disclosure. However, company size alone does not fully explain reporting maturity. Sustainability disclosure among the reporting firms is shaped by shared standards, institutional pressures, and differences in organisational capacity. Overall, the analysis provides insights into reporting practices among selected firms and highlights the need for practical support for smaller manufacturers. Full article

The global mining sector plays a vital economic role but frequently results in the displacement of communities, generating profound environmental, social, and cultural consequences. In South Africa mining remains a key economic driver. The literature on the sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) attests to the impact of mining on communities and the industry’s influence on the five capitals, namely social, physical, natural, financial and human. However, research on SLF offers a limited assessment of the long-term effectiveness of livelihood restoration initiatives directed at communities resettled elsewhere because of mining. The research gap in this study can be explained as the sparseness of research in clarifying and amplifying the voices of mining-resettled communities. Research, besides being limited, has focused on the activities of mining companies and their supposed economic benefit. Adopting a qualitative approach within an interpretivist paradigm, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with seven community leaders and activists from Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga. Contestations, inaccessibility and possibilities of victimisation by mining companies, and non-universality in interview sample numbers are some of the issues justifying those seven interviewees in this study. Additionally, the interviewees in this study are leaders, activists, and family and community members directly affected by mining resettlement. Based on the nature of the research inquiry, the number of interviewees is adequate and enabled the study to establish its findings as a multi-case study of the communities in the three provinces. Thematic analysis using ATLAS.ti revealed that resettlement significantly disrupted livelihoods through loss of productive land, diminished agricultural activities, and the erosion of social and cultural networks. Although mining companies provided compensation, housing, and skills training, these measures were largely fragmented, short-term, and insufficient to restore pre-displacement living standards. Weak governance and limited community participation further undermined outcomes. Although limited to seven participants doubling as activists, community leaders, and former farm owners, the study concludes that existing livelihood restoration efforts are largely unsustainable from the perspective of community leaders and activists based in three mining provinces of South Africa. The study proposes a sustainable livelihood framework that embraces justice and guarantees the socio-economic resilience of the resettled communities. Full article

Business model adjustment is a critical capability for microenterprises operating in import-dependent industries within emerging markets, and is increasingly recognised in the sustainable business model literature as a mechanism through which firms build economic resilience under resource constraints and volatile operating conditions. This paper examines how a specialty coffee microenterprise in Almaty, Kazakhstan, has adjusted its business model to create, deliver and capture value in a non-producing, landlocked economy characterised by rapid demand growth, currency volatility and high import dependency. The study answers two research questions regarding this case using Osterwalder and Pigneur’s business model canvas as the main analytical framework: (1) How did the case company set up its business model to create, deliver, and capture value? (2) In the context of Kazakhstani specialty coffee roasting, what possibilities and challenges influenced this business model? The analysis combines secondary market data with qualitative evidence from a semi-structured interview conducted in autumn 2025 with the founder of a nine-employee microenterprise that has evolved from a mobile coffee bar into a hybrid B2B–B2C roaster, café operator and e-commerce subscription service. Although Kazakhstan is not a coffee-producing country, its retail coffee market expanded from USD 326.71 million in 2019 to an estimated USD 554.5 million in 2025, with the fresh-coffee share rising from approximately 30% to 37%. The interview account describes a business model centred on locally roasted, traceable specialty coffee delivered fresh to a young, urban customer base, supported by educational and community-building activities. As reported by the founder, the enterprise faces structural challenges including exposure to international green-coffee price spikes—such as the record nominal highs of 354.32 US cents/lb reached in February 2025—currency-related cost volatility, logistical complexity across Eurasian transit routes and constrained access to growth-stage financing. Because the evidence base is a single founder interview combined with secondary market data, the paper does not independently verify the firm’s resilience, viability or financial outcomes. The findings are presented in the form of analytical generalisations—that is, generalisations relating to theoretical conclusions drawn from this specific case, rather than from a broader set of companies—which illustrate, based on the founder’s own account, how this micro-enterprise pursued a targeted, phased adaptation of its business model rather than a radical overhaul; the study does not independently verify resulting sustainability or resilience outcomes. As this is a case study, the present analysis does not allow us to determine the extent to which this model is representative of other micro-enterprises involved in coffee production, or of other non-manufacturing sectors in developing economies; the contribution of this study is empirical and contextual rather than theoretical: it extends the scope of business model analysis to under-researched geographical and institutional contexts and lays the groundwork for future comparative studies. Full article

Strategic bidding in day-ahead electricity markets requires generation companies to maximize expected profits while managing financial risks arising from market uncertainty and competitors’ strategic behavior. This paper proposes a game-theoretic risk-aware strategic bidding framework based on a Supply Function Nash Equilibrium (SFNE) for dominant market operators in a uniform-pricing day-ahead market. Each operator strategically determines cluster-level bidding markups for its heterogeneous generation portfolio while anticipating competitors’ strategies. Demand uncertainty is represented by a finite scenario set, and Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) of profit shortfall is incorporated into each operator’s expected-profit objective. The resulting non-cooperative equilibrium is solved using a relaxed Nikaido–Isoda (NI) best-response algorithm with convergence criteria based on the relative NI gap, strategy variation, and utility variation. The framework is validated using publicly available Italian day-ahead market offer data, where technology-oriented clustering reduces the strategic decision dimension while preserving portfolio heterogeneity. The proposed algorithm satisfies all convergence criteria within approximately 54 iterations. Numerical results show that the proposed risk-aware SFNE reduces aggregate downside-profit risk by approximately 7% compared with the risk-neutral SFNE while maintaining comparable expected profitability and slightly lowering market-clearing prices and procurement costs. A realistic 24 h market simulation further confirms the robustness and applicability of the proposed framework under time-varying market conditions. Overall, the proposed framework provides an economically interpretable and computationally tractable benchmark for risk-aware strategic bidding in day-ahead electricity markets. Full article

Digital financial reporting depends on identity services, enterprise systems, cloud platforms, automated controls and system-generated evidence. Cybersecurity weaknesses therefore enter external audit when a governance condition or control deficiency affects a material reporting process, an assertion, a disclosure, an estimate or the reliability of audit evidence. This article develops a non-deterministic control-to-assertion framework through a structured integrative review. The search, completed on 16 July 2026, covered English-language journal work published from 2000 to 15 July 2026 through Google Scholar and publisher search services. The final analytic set contains 32 peer-reviewed journal articles, four institutional sources and two public company filings used for worked application. The revision separates organisation-level cybersecurity governance deficiencies from process-level cyber control deficiencies. It also locates the model against COSO, COBIT 2019, NIST CSF 2.0, IT general control methods and relevant International Standards on Auditing. Existing sources provide taxonomies for governance, internal control, security outcomes and audit procedures. The new framework supplies the missing translation route between those taxonomies: governance condition, control state, financial reporting dependency, assertion-level misstatement risk, audit-evidence reliability, audit response and reassessment. Compensating, detective and corrective controls might interrupt or reduce the route, so no governance deficiency automatically produces a control failure or a material misstatement. Two worked documentary applications, The Clorox Company and MGM Resorts International, show how public incident facts enter account, assertion, evidence and procedure analysis. The framework does not estimate incident probability, expected loss or a cyber risk score. It provides a file-ready reasoning structure for entity-specific risk assessment under the auditing standards. Its main contribution lies in the separate treatment of misstatement risk and evidence reliability, followed by a traceable link to accounts, assertions, evidence sources, specialist input and audit procedures. Full article

The paper aims to investigate whether regional innovation subsidies have a relevant effect for beneficiary firms, taking into account a couple of different regions in Italy, namely Lombardy and Sicily, characterized by different subsidy rules and local productive structures. The financial statements of beneficiary companies—analysed as two separate regional samples, 60 firms in Lombardy and 69 in Sicily—before the innovation program (2010) and after its fulfilment (2018) were compared and related to the obtained grant, separately within each region, in order to verify if a significant relationship exists. The two regional samples are analysed separately. The analysis includes beneficiary firms and contains neither rejected applicants nor non-beneficiary firms. Actually, in Lombardy, higher subsidy intensity is positively associated with revenue growth, personnel-cost growth, and intangible-asset growth, with the latter concentrated in manufacturing; in Sicily, no linear pattern emerges within the common intensity range. The main reasons of this contrast are discussed in the paper and have to be mainly associated with the different productive structures in the two regions and with the rules and procedures of the subsidy programs. Full article

Existing research lacks consensus on how digital transformation affects financial distress, and traditional linear models struggle to capture complex variable dynamics. This study examines the link from prediction and association perspectives by constructing a high-precision financial risk prediction model and using explainable methods to explore feature contributions. Using 2010–2024 data from Chinese A-share listed companies, we apply Logit regression to assess the association between digital transformation and financial distress, and introduce an XGBoost model with SHAP for prediction and interpretability. Results show that XGBoost outperforms Logit (AUC, PR_AUC). Logit regression reveals a negative correlation between digital transformation and distress probability, which SHAP further supports. Higher digitalization corresponds to lower predicted risk, with non-linear characteristics: at low levels, marginal contributions fluctuate; beyond a threshold, the mitigation effect stabilizes. Feature importance identifies the asset-liability ratio as the top risk factor, while digital transformation and operating profit margin serve as key protective features. This paper contributes by constructing a digital transformation index and integrating it into the financial distress prediction model, comparing traditional econometric models with machine learning models, and using SHAP to provide an interpretable framework for understanding the digital transformation–financial distress association. Full article

Based on agency theory, this study examines the association between the optimistic tone of earnings conference calls and the cost of equity capital using an unbalanced panel of 342 non-financial FTSE All-Share companies (987 firm-year observations) over the period 2010–2024. Earnings conference call tone is measured using the financial sentiment dictionary and analysed using NVivo 14 software. The cost of equity capital is estimated using an implied cost of equity model. Panel specification is determined using appropriate panel-data diagnostic tests, while robustness is assessed through lagged-tone regressions, an alternative cost of equity measure, and two-stage least-squares (2SLS) estimation to address potential endogeneity. The results show a significant negative association between optimistic earnings conference call tone and the cost of equity capital (β = −7.787, p < 0.01). A statistically significant reverse association is also documented: A statistically significant reverse association is also documented: a lower cost of equity is associated with a more optimistic tone in subsequent conference calls (β = −0.001, p < 0.01). This result is interpreted as evidence of an association rather than a causal effect. Both results remain robust across alternative model specifications, lagged-tone analyses, alternative cost of equity measures, and endogeneity controls. The findings indicate that positive and transparent voluntary communication, particularly through earnings conference calls, is associated with lower information asymmetry and a lower cost of equity capital. Firms that have not yet adopted this communication channel may consider incorporating earnings conference calls into their investor-relations strategies to enhance voluntary communication with investors. This study contributes to the disclosure literature by documenting statistically significant associations between earnings conference call tone and the cost of equity capital under two model specifications in the UK market and by providing comprehensive robustness evidence supporting the stability of the reported associations. Full article

Traditional financial distress early-warning models mostly rely on lagged structured financial indicators, which fail to capture the potential credit risks associated with the climate transition of green enterprises. Taking A-share listed green companies from 2015 to 2024 as research samples, this paper centers on the core research question of whether mandatory climate narratives in annual reports can deliver incremental risk warning information beyond accounting indicators. Based on textual data from annual reports, this study constructs a corporate climate resilience indicator by integrating word frequency statistics and sentiment analysis. Two data-partitioning schemes (random sampling and time-series extrapolation) are adopted to compare the predictive performance of four ensemble learning models. Extended tests are further conducted via SHAP values, partial dependence plots, polynomial Logit regression, interaction effect regression and grouped regression. The results indicate that the climate resilience indicator carries incremental information supplementary to financial indicators and possesses predictive power for financial distress. XGBoost demonstrates optimal adaptability to the hybrid feature framework, combining financial data and climate textual features. The climate resilience indicator exerts synergistic effects with financial variables and presents a non-linear statistical correlation with default probability. This study verifies that climate narratives disclosed in annual reports can serve as valid early-warning signals for credit risks. The conclusions provide empirical evidence for financial risk control, corporate disclosure management and the formulation of climate regulatory policies. Full article

This study examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance (FP), measured by return on equity (ROE), and evaluates the moderating role of intellectual capital components, human capital efficiency (HCE), structural capital efficiency (SCE), and capital employed efficiency (CEE), in Philippine-listed firms. A longitudinal panel design was employed using 138 firm-year observations from Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) companies from 2019 to 2024. CSR was measured through an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure index based on sustainability and governance reports. Intellectual capital (IC) was operationalized using the value-added intellectual capital (VAIC) framework. Hierarchical moderated panel regression was conducted, with robustness checks using fixed- and random-effects models, Hausman tests, and cluster-robust standard errors. CSR shows a negative but non-robust association with ROE, indicating short-term cost implications in an emerging market context. Among IC components, although CEE exhibited the largest interaction effect in the pooled regression models, its moderating effect was not supported by the panel robustness analyses. HCE shows a positive but less stable effect, while SCE is not significant. Moderation results are limited; HCE weakens the negative CSR–ROE relationship in baseline models but loses significance under robust estimation. CEE shows inconsistent moderation, and SCE has no moderating effect. Disaggregated analysis indicates that environmental and social disclosure dimensions drive the negative association between ESG disclosure and ROE., whereas governance is neutral to slightly positive. Firms should align CSR with resource capabilities, emphasizing capital efficiency and human capital to mitigate costs. Policymakers should support firms beyond disclosure mandates. This study provides longitudinal evidence from an emerging market, showing that CSR value is conditional on resource efficiency rather than inherently beneficial. Full article

This study examines the relationship between financial flexibility and firm performance, and the moderating role of corporate-governance mechanisms, using a large panel of Chinese A-share non-financial listed companies over 2017–2024. Financial flexibility reflects a firm’s capacity to access and deploy financial resources under uncertainty and is increasingly viewed as central to corporate resilience and value creation. Employing panel regressions with firm and year fixed effects, this study finds that financial flexibility is positively and significantly associated with Tobin’s Q and return on assets as measures of firm performance. Further analysis shows that this relationship is contingent on governance structures: ownership concentration and CEO duality weaken the positive association, while board independence is associated with a marginally significant strengthening of it. Marginal-effect analyses indicate that governance mechanisms systematically condition the value of financial flexibility. A dynamic system-GMM specification qualifies these findings: once persistence and reverse causality are modeled, the unconditional flexibility coefficient turns negative, underscoring that the fixed-effects estimates should be read as associations whose sign and magnitude depend on governance and on how endogeneity is treated. These findings contribute to the literature by integrating financial flexibility and corporate governance in a single analytical framework, highlighting governance as a key boundary condition for the effective use of financial slack. The results carry implications for managers, investors, and policymakers, emphasizing balanced ownership structures, leadership separation, and independent boards in enhancing the performance benefits of financial flexibility in emerging markets. Full article

As sustainability reporting increasingly supports financial innovation by facilitating ESG-oriented investment, sustainable finance, and more informed capital allocation, understanding the governance factors associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure has become increasingly important. This study examines the association between board of directors’ foreign experience and CSR disclosure among non-financial listed firms in Vietnam. Drawing on Upper Echelons Theory and Legitimacy Theory, the study argues that directors with international education and/or professional work experience possess broader governance perspectives, greater familiarity with global sustainability practices, and stronger awareness of stakeholder expectations, which may be associated with more transparent CSR disclosure. The study is based on a sample of 499 non-financial firms listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) and the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) during the 2015–2019 period, comprising 1185 firm-year observations. Information on board of directors’ foreign experience was manually collected from annual reports, corporate governance reports, and company websites. The findings indicate that board of directors’ foreign experience is positively associated with both the extent and quality of CSR disclosure. The study contributes to the corporate governance, sustainability, and financial innovation literature by providing one of the first empirical examinations of the relationship between board of directors’ foreign experience and CSR disclosure in Vietnam. The findings also offer practical implications for firms, investors, and policymakers seeking to strengthen sustainability reporting, improve transparency, facilitate access to sustainable finance, and promote innovative governance practices in emerging and transition economies. Full article

Environmental uncertainty (EU) has become one of the key determinants influencing corporate decision-making, yet the existing literature has not sufficiently explored its effects. Based on the data from Chinese non-financial public companies during the period from 2010 to 2023, we examine the impact of EU on carbon emission. The empirical results show that EU has a significant negative impact on corporate carbon emission. Specifically, a one-unit increase in EU leads to approximately a 9.13 percent decline in carbon emission. Furthermore, we find that EU increases firms’ financing constraints, thereby reducing capacity-utilization and carbon emission. Meanwhile, EU can spur innovation, resulting in active decarbonization. Finally, the finding is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises (N-SOEs). The above findings shed light on promoting carbon reduction for policymakers and corporate operators. Full article