59 research outputs found
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The African investing for impact barometer 2017
"The African Investing for Impact (AIFI) Barometer provides a snapshot of the growing investing for impact (IFI) market and strategies which are implemented on the African continent." The 2017 edition has maintained the same coverage of Africa’s formal investment markets as last year’s as it strives to objectively depict the spectrum of investments which seek to combine financial returns and positive impact on society and the environment. The Barometer is compiled from publicly available information sourced from fund manager disclosures on their websites, reports and fund- fact sheets as at 31 July 2017. Additional information is sourced from regulators and industry associations, again where information is publicly available
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Orchestrating governmental corporate social responsibility interventions through financial markets: The case of French socially responsible investment
Although a growing stream of research investigates the role of government in corporate social responsibility (CSR), little is known about how governmental CSR interventions interact in financial markets. This article addresses this gap through a longitudinal study of the socially responsible investment (SRI) market in France. Building on the ‘CSR and government’ and ‘regulative capitalism’ literature, we identify three modes of governmental CSR intervention – regulatory steering, delegated rowing, and microsteering – and show how they interact through the two mechanisms of layering (the accumulation of interventions), and catalyzing (the alignment of interventions). Our findings 1) challenge the notion that, in the neoliberal order, governments are confined to steering market actors – leading and guiding their behavior – while private actors are in charge of rowing – providing products and services; 2) show how governmental CSR interventions interact and are orchestrated; and 3) provide evidence that governments can mobilize financial markets to promote CSR
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The impact of ownership structure on environmental information disclosure: evidence from China
Environmental information disclosure (EID) plays a crucial role in promoting sustainable practices and enhancing environmental accountability. The ownership structure of firms, which varies across different institutional settings, can significantly influence the extent to which they are willing and able to disclose environmental information. Drawing on voluntary disclosure theory and legitimacy theory, this study examines whether ownership structure (e.g. ownership concentration, institutional ownership, managerial ownership, and state ownership) influences the environmental information disclosure of Chinese firms. Using a panel data set of firms listed on the Shanghai Shenzhen 300 Index from 2009 to 2019, the results show that there has been an increase in environmental information disclosure in China in recent years. Furthermore, we find that managerial ownership is positively associated with environmental disclosure, whilst institutional ownership and state ownership are negatively associated with environmental disclosure. Additional analyses show that the relationship between ownership structure and EID and ownership structure is stronger in low-regulated industries, and the effects of managerial and state ownership on EID vary by firm size. The enforcement of the 2014 Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China has also played a pivotal role in enhancing the nexus between ownership structure and EID and ownership structure
Deliberative Boundary Work for Sustainable Finance: Insights from a European Commission expert group
To explain how multistakeholder groups organize democratic deliberations about complex sustainability issues, organizational scholars have focused on the key role of deliberative capacity, which encompasses the dimensions of inclusiveness, authenticity, and consequentiality. However, the tensions inherent to the search of these three dimensions have been overlooked. In this paper, we argue that focusing on how spaces for deliberation are designed can help one understand how to manage such tensions. We identified the boundary work practices that shape the design of deliberative spaces and generate deliberative capacity properties in a high-level expert group (HLEG) launched by the European Commission about sustainable finance regulation. Our results show how these boundary work practices help balance deliberative tensions. We advance deliberation studies by conceptualizing deliberative boundary work, explaining how deliberative capacity is spatially generated, and showing how deliberative tensions are balanced. We also contribute to boundary work theory by making explicit the deliberative nature of configuring boundary work and showing its relevancy to regulatory settings
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Deliberative boundary work for sustainable finance: insights from a European Commission expert group
To explain how multistakeholder groups organize democratic deliberations about complex sustainability issues, organizational scholars have focused on the key role of deliberative capacity, which encompasses the dimensions of inclusiveness, authenticity, and consequentiality. However, the tensions inherent to the search of these three dimensions have been overlooked. In this paper, we argue that focusing on how spaces for deliberation are designed can help one understand how to manage such tensions. We identified the boundary work practices that shape the design of deliberative spaces and generate deliberative capacity properties in a high-level expert group (HLEG) launched by the European Commission about sustainable finance regulation. Our results show how these boundary work practices help balance deliberative tensions. We advance deliberation studies by conceptualizing deliberative boundary work, explaining how deliberative capacity is spatially generated, and showing how deliberative tensions are balanced. We also contribute to boundary work theory by making explicit the deliberative nature of configuring boundary work and showing its relevancy to regulatory settings
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Calculability as politics in the construction of markets: the case of socially responsible investment in France
This paper examines some of the processes by which power constitutes calculability and, in so doing, shapes the construction of markets. We combine insights from performativity studies about calculability with Lukes’ ‘radical view of power’ to investigate how multiple facets of power are mobilized to influence the creation and activities of calculative agencies in the process of market construction. An in-depth longitudinal study of the French socially responsible investment market shows how organizations acting as calculative agencies become sites of power through calculability. We identify how power is exercised over, through and against these calculative agencies by a variety of actors in order to build their position in the socially responsible investment market. Our results complement the broader question of the ‘government of economic life’ by showing how micro-level power games interact with the macro-politics of market building through calculative agencies. In so doing, our paper sheds light on neglected aspects of the changing geopolitics of calculative power in market construction and suggests approaching ‘calculability as politics’ when studying the construction of markets
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Investing for impact on the African continent: an overview
This chapter presents the latest results of the African Investing for Impact Barometer (AIFIB) research project. This research provides insights on market trends on investing for impact investment strategies in Southern Africa, West Africa and East Africa. These investment strategies that are usually classified under the umbrella of sustainable and/or responsible investing (SRI) and amounting for environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration, investor engagement, screening, sustainability themed investment and impact investing have blossomed in the past 20 years in Europe North America. Conversely, the AIFIB research project shows the African continent’s vitality and potential for these new investment practices from 2013 onwards. In addition, through its barometer tool, the AIFIB research project helps in providing some answers to the complex question of how to measure the positive impact of these investment strategies on the well-being of society
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