Determinants of corporate environmental and social disclosure in Chinese listed mining, electricity supply and chemical companies annual reports

As the environmental and social disclosing systems have been developed over decades, the climate of corporate environmental and social responsibility is becoming mature nowadays globally. What and how environment-sensitive companies (i.e. companies that are more likely to do environmental damages) disclose such information voluntarily are extensively concerned by the public, especially in China, where strong debatable issues constantly raise as a result of the rapid economic growth. Corporate environmental and social responsibility is no longer an international obligation but a domestic demand for China. This study will enhance our understanding of a very important issue in arguably the world\u27s most vibrant economy. The thesis has contributed the literature in a number of ways. First, this study aimed to measure the type and extent of both corporate environmental and social reporting across the Chinese environmental sensitive industries’ annual reports, which include mining, electricity supply, and chemical industries. A dichotomous method was employed and the Global Reporting Initiative third edition (G3) was selected as a benchmark. In addition, the characteristics of the companies that voluntarily disclose environmental and social information in their annual reports were to be examined under legitimacy theory. Seven hypotheses that developed seven predictor variables based on legitimacy theoretical framework with one of three industries examined each time. The variables were government ownership, management role, member of industrial association, profitability, operating leverage, company age, and firm size. Finally, results in differences across industries were to be discussed and compared. This study aimed to measure the type and extent of corporate environmental and social reporting across the Chinese mining, electricity supply, and chemical industries\u27 annual reports, using the Global Reporting Initiative third edition (G3) as a benchmark. In addition, the characteristics of companies that voluntarily disclose environmental and social information in their annual reports were to be examined under legitimacy theory. There are seven hypotheses that developed seven predictor variables based on legitimacy theoretical framework with one of three industries examined each time. The variables were government ownership, management role, member of industrial association, profitability, operating leverage, company age, and firm size. Finally, results in differences across industries were to be discussed and compared. There were a total of 193 sample companies selected from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange database, and content analysis was applied to review and examine their annual reports in 2010. The G3 guidelines were used to indicate the extent of environmental and social performances by the sample companies. Companies’ specific characters for the predictor variables were also obtained from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange database. In order to accomplish the first aim of the study, descriptive statistics were used to determine the type and extent of environmental and social disclosures in the sample industries\u27 2010 annual reports. In addition, to accomplish the second aim, which is to examine the determinants of corporate environmental and social disclosure under legitimacy theory, univariate statistics and multiple regressions analysis were adopted. The comparisons across the sample industries were conducted after the regression analysis. Research findings from environmental disclosure analysis showed that although mining industry disclosed slightly more information than electricity supply industry, the extent of environmental reporting for all three industries were typically low because information disclosed was limited to several categories. It was found that Chinese mining, electricity supply, and chemical industries are more likely to disclose information regarding energy and materials, which were the most concerned aspects in the Chinese society. Environmental disclosure regression analysis indicated that most of the predictor variables from legitimacy theory are able to explain the extent of environmental reporting in the sample industries. The results indicated that member of industrial association, company age, company size and profitability were significant to the extent environmental reporting across the three sample industries. However, government ownership was found to be insignificant in the study. Results from social disclosure analysis indicated that electricity supply industries disclosed slightly more information than mining and chemical companies in their 2010 annual reports. Interestingly, all of the sample companies disclosed at least one item from the G3 social guidelines; however, the information disclosed was narrow in only a few categories, and the extent of social disclosure in the sample industries was typically low. The disclosure analysis found that Chinese mining, electricity supply, and chemical industries were more likely to disclose labour practices and decent work, and human rights information. The regression analysis showed that company size, profitability, leverage and management role have become the most significant factors, whereas member of industrial association was found to be insignificant in the sample industries. This study concludes that on the basis of legitimacy theory, the amount of environmental and social information disclosed in the Chinese mining, electricity supply, and chemical industries’ annual reports was almost the same, and the firm specific predictor variables have similar influences across industries both environmentally and socially

The adoption of share-based compensation for executives in large German companies : the Americanisation of German executive pay?

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Entrepreneurship and heterogeneity among firms\u27 strategies: Three essays

The first essay of this dissertation focuses on the entrepreneurship survival in the early stage, during which time an entrepreneur plays the game at the edge of chaos and improvises in real-time to learn the strategic playing field. It examines the social networks of entrepreneurs and the impact on new venture survival. Specifically, it explores how the entrepreneurs\u27 social connections with other entrepreneurs and their types of employment differentially affect survival during the different stages of the entrepreneurial journey in the United States and India. Using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) dataset, this study documents not only how the social connections differentially impact survival in the U.S. and India during the early and later stages, but also the differences between the importance of full-time and hybrid entrepreneurship across regions. It thus sheds light on the challenges faced by early-stage entrepreneurship in both developed and developing economies, as well as the effect of these differences on venture survival. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. The second essay looks at growth of entrepreneurial ventures. Despite prior entrepreneurship research highlighting the role of access to resources, the experience of founders, and new ventures\u27 innovation in a startup\u27s growth, researchers are yet to explore how some startups achieve unicorn status, i.e., get to a one-billion dollar in valuation. This study examines how the founders\u27 prior entrepreneurial experience, the venture\u27s intellectual property (IP), and access to corporate venture capital (CVC) influence a startup\u27s likelihood of becoming a unicorn venture. It is found that IP partially mediates the relationship between the founders\u27 prior entrepreneurial experience and the likelihood of becoming a unicorn venture and that the presence of CVC investors negatively moderates the effect of founders\u27 prior entrepreneurial experience on the venture\u27s IP. Surprisingly, the results suggest that that the presence of CVC does not impact the relationship between founders\u27 prior entrepreneurial experience and the likelihood of becoming a unicorn venture. Implications for the theory and practice of entrepreneurship are discussed. The third essay investigates how a unicorn venture\u27s strategic decisions regarding diversification and acquisition affect its likelihood of an IPO and how these relationships can vary depending on firm age. Using data on unicorn ventures founded in the United States between 1983 and 2021, this study finds that a unicorn venture\u27s likelihood of an IPO has an inverted-U relationship with its age. It is also revealed that younger unicorn ventures are more likely to go public with less diversification and more acquisitions, whereas older unicorn ventures are more likely to go public with greater diversification and fewer acquisitions. The findings suggest that unicorn ventures have a window of opportunity to go public. This work contributes to both entrepreneurship literature and population ecology research by bringing the two literature together to explore how firm age and ventures\u27 strategic decisions influence the IPO exit of a unicorn venture

Effects of functional background in human resources on employee outcomes

The purpose of this study was to explore a Human Resources (HR) leader\u27s functional background and how it may influence performance outcome such as job satisfaction, attrition, and satisfaction with HR processes

Internal Corporate Governance Mechanisms and the Performance of Firms in the Context of the Recent Financial Crisis: Evidence From the UK

Various theories that underpin corporate governance research predict that strong internal corporate governance mechanisms enhance the operating and financial performance of firms. These theories also predict that strong internal corporate governance mechanisms would increase firms’ chances of survival during a financial crisis. This thesis tests these theoretical claims and makes a contribution by analysing the underlying governance-performance relationship from multiple theoretical perspectives (i.e. agency theory, stewardship theory and resource dependence theory) across three time periods. Adopting an index-based approach, the thesis investigates the impact of non-compliance with the UK corporate governance code on the performance of firms. The thesis also contributes to methodological approaches in this context by investigating the impact of non-compliance on the survival of firms during the financial crisis. Applying fixed and random effects models, a sample of 274 UK listed firms is analysed for the period 2003-2010. The results show that non-compliance is, unexpectedly, positively associated with the performance of non-financial firms. This indicates that non-compliant firms outperformed compliant firms. However, although statistically not significant, the results also show that for non-financial firms, non-compliance decreases a firm’s chances of survival during the financial crisis. For financial firms the results are mixed for different measures of performance and across different time periods. The thesis extends knowledge of the governance-performance relationship by showing that non-compliance has different implications for firms across different time periods and industries. The thesis makes another contribution to knowledge by investigating the. relationship between individual corporate governance mechanisms and performance. In this regard, it makes three contributions. First, it shows that board independence is negatively associated with performance, which supports the stewardship theory. For non-financial firms as predicted by resource dependence theory board independence is positively associated with performance only in the crisis period. Second, it provides evidence that extra board committees are negatively associated with the performance of firms and renders support to the agency theory. Third, it shows that internal control mechanisms are positively associated with performance in the period before the financial crisis, but during the financial crisis they negatively affect the performance of firms in both financial and non-financial sectors. This finding supports the two alternative views from the agency theory perspective in this context. These results demonstrate the benefits of the ‘comply or explain’ principle of corporate governance which provides firms with a choice either to comply with the recommended codes or explain their non-compliance. The results also imply that the effect of various corporate governance mechanisms on the performance of firms varies between the financial and non-financial sectors. Finally, the results imply that the governance-performance relationship is very complex and could be better explained by adopting multiple theoretical perspectives rather than using a single theory to understand it

Modularity and the impact of buyer-supplier relationships on the survival of suppliers

Modularity in product design and flexible supply chains is increasingly common in buyer-supplier relationships. Although the benefits of supply chain flexibility and component modularity for end-product manufacturers are accepted, little is known about their impact on suppliers. We advance the literature on modularity by exploring how three aspects of a supplier's relationships with its customers affect the supplier's survival: duration of buyer-supplier relationships, autonomy from customers, and links to prominent buyers. We compared the effects of these aspects of buyer-supplier relationships for low- and high-modularity components. Using data on U.S. carburetor and clutch manufacturers from 1918 to 1942, we found that suppliers of high-modularity components benefited more from autonomy provided by potential customers, whereas suppliers of low-modularity components benefited more from ties to higher status customers. Both benefited from autonomy generated by existing customers. Thus, relationships that require trust and extensive sets of interfirm routines, as do those for low-modularity components, led to both greater relationship benefits and greater constraints

McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume VI

https://commons.stmarytx.edu/msrj/1005/thumbnail.jp

McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume VI

https://commons.stmarytx.edu/msrj/1005/thumbnail.jp

Corporate approaches to human sustainability : workforce wellbeing in large Japanese companies : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand

Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have become widely researched fields. In recent years, there has been a growing social concern about issues affecting workforce wellbeing and human sustainability. However, little is known about how companies resolve these issues. In particular, there is a dearth of empirical research in these fields examining how companies address workforce wellbeing and human sustainability issues under increasing social pressures. To fill this knowledge gap, this exploratory study examines how large Japanese companies address these issues. It is positioned within a social constructionism/interpretivism paradigm and employs qualitative research methodology, drawing upon interviews with managers from 31 companies, as well as their stakeholders and informants. The study begins by examining workforce wellbeing and human sustainability initiatives promoted by large Japanese companies. It identifies four interconnected areas addressed as integral parts of CSR practices: gender equality, flexibility at work, regulating overwork, and productivity improvement. However, while companies promote initiatives under increasing social pressures, they find it difficult to incorporate the initiatives into CSR strategy due to emerging dilemmas. Next, the study explores the business-society interface in which companies face these dilemmas. It identifies nine factors which constrain the implementation of human sustainability initiatives. The evidence indicates that these factors constitute the underlying system of responsibilities that characterises the existing workstyle, leading to externalised overwork and gendered roles in Japanese society. Finally, the study examines how some companies implement human sustainability initiatives as part of their business strategies, even within these constraints. The evidence shows that these companies seek to proactively align core business practices with human sustainability initiatives, in order to enhance business performance over the long run. The findings also suggest that companies seek to proactively engage with key stakeholders to work through existing stakeholders’ expectations. Overall, the outcomes of this thesis elucidate a conceptual framework of the corporate approaches to workforce wellbeing and human sustainability, incorporating the roles of key stakeholders. This may assist scholars and practitioners to address issues affecting workforce wellbeing and human sustainability more effectively within a given social context. Hence, the contributions of this study are both theoretical and empirical

Controlling for sustainability strategies: evidence from the UK

Research examining organisational commitment to sustainability is not new and has been typically investigated through a focus on corporate reporting practices and understanding the corporate rationale that drives sustainable behaviour. However, studies with regard to how sustainability strategy is adopted and seamlessly integrated into corporate practices are yet to be fully explored. It is to this aspect that the study turns. Current research exploring corporate controls for different sustainability strategies has looked at a narrow range of controls and has assumed that controls function in isolation from one another. Such narrow perspectives of controls have attracted criticisms from scholars. This study explores corporate controls for sustainability strategies through the control package perspective and subjects a broad range of controls typically found in practice to different empirical contexts. The aims of the study are, firstly, to understand how a broad range of controls explored through the control package perspective are designed and used in accordance with different sustainability strategies; secondly, to understand how different sustainability strategic pursuits impact the design and use of management controls. The adopted holistic framework remains a key contribution for future research. It would be safe to say that this is the only study that has brought in the package perspective not only to explore controls, but also to understand how the strategic contexts might shape package constituents. The study further makes a theoretical contribution by focusing on the seldom used contingency perspective providing evidence of its illustrative powers in explaining the relevance of control-strategy relationship from the sustainability perspective. Furthermore, the role of sustainability professionals is highlighted