Embedding sustainability in risk management: The impact of environmental, social, and governance ratings on corporate financial risk

This study investigates the effect of corporate social and environmental evaluation on investors’ risk perception to explore the potential market risk for public companies that adopt a sustainable and responsible corporate strategy. We referred to the triple corporate assessment according to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria to check whether ESG factors—meant to direct firms toward social and environmental needs—improve corporate market performance or trigger, among investors, a perception of “window dressing.” In doing so, we tested the impact of corporate social performance—proxied by an ESG assessment—on corporate financial risk using double risk measurement. We conducted a five-year longitudinal study (fiscal years 2014–2018) of 222 companies listed on the Standard & Poor’s index. The empirical findings show higher investor uncertainty regarding corporate sustainability performance, probably due to the misalignment of objectives between investors and investees. Indeed, an overall ESG assessment corresponds to higher systematic risk for firms, and a corporate environmental rating has an upward effect on the same risk dimension

Web-based platforms in support of industrial symbiosis Initiatives. A bibliometric review

The main purpose of this contribution is to depict most promising web-based solutions in terms of best configuration for symbiotic network. By examining 10 existing and functioning Wb-platforms of which only some have been previously explored in the previous literature, the paper aims at underling main contributions that platforms can provide to industrial symbiosis. Thanks to a mixed research method, the paper shows that the most promising way for enhancing Wb-platforms within industrial symbiosis framework is to consider multiple platforms for integrating the results obtained from the different platforms and for assessing multi-criteria procedures

Integration of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data for Earth surface classification using Machine Learning algorithms implemented on Google Earth Engine

In this study, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical data are both considered for Earth surface classification. Specifically, the integration of Sentinel-1 (S-1) and Sentinel-2 (S-2) data is carried out through supervised Machine Learning (ML) algorithms implemented on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform for the classification of a particular region of interest. Achieved results demonstrate how in this case radar and optical remote detection provide complementary information, benefiting surface cover classification and generally leading to increased mapping accuracy. In addition, this paper works in the direction of proving the emerging role of GEE as an effective cloud-based tool for handling large amounts of satellite data.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, IEEE InGARSS conferenc

Multitemporal analysis in Google Earth Engine for detecting urban changes using optical data and machine learning algorithms

The aim of this work is to perform a multitemporal analysis using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform for the detection of changes in urban areas using optical data and specific machine learning (ML) algorithms. As a case study, Cairo City has been identified, in Egypt country, as one of the five most populous megacities of the last decade in the world. Classification and change detection analysis of the region of interest (ROI) have been carried out from July 2013 to July 2021. Results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method in identifying changed and unchanged urban areas over the selected period. Furthermore, this work aims to evidence the growing significance of GEE as an efficient cloud-based solution for managing large quantities of satellite data.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, 2023 InGARSS Conferenc

Resilient Oceans: Policies and Practices to Protect Marine Ecosystems

Resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem – like marine environments – not only to persist with and adapt to sudden natural and human external perturbations but also to continue to regenerate without degrading or losing the capacity to supply its basic ecosystem goods and services. The term “resilience” was originally developed within mechanical and engineering studies for defining the structural stability or robustness of a material or a structure. From this perspective, resilience is the ability of a structure to resist and absorb perturbations and disturbances without changing (Van der Leeuw and Aschan-Leygonie 2005; Woods 2006). Further research has developed the definition of resilience within the ecology domain, as the ability of systems to absorb disturbances and persist. In this sense, resilience is a natural and emergent property of a system that allows its adaptation and persistence across dynamic environments and adversities (Holling 1973; Gunderson 2000; Klein et al. 2003; Bodin and Wiman 2004; Olsson et al. 2004)

Shaping sustainable service ecosystems: an analysis of some possible enhancing factors

Over the last years, sustainability and sustainable development have gained momentum also in-service research. Thus, this works is aimed at investigating the evolutionary path that links the Viable Systems Approach (VSA), service systems and service ecosystems perspectives to the most recent challenges of sustainability. Therefore, the analysis has been focused on start-ups’ ability to survive contributing to the shaping of a service ecosystem, which long-term viability can be ensured merging efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability targets. In this direction, the way networked interactions, occurring between a number of different actors (e.g., start-ups, customers, incubators, venture capitalists, other corporations, banks, education and financial institutions, governments) and facilitated by the most recent technologies, can shape a sustainable service ecosystem able to ensure viability to the actors who populate it has been investigated. To this end, an empirical analysis has been conducted to better define the main processes that can shape a start-ups’ sustainable service ecosystem. This work represents one of the first attempts to investigate start-ups’ surviving according to a service ecosystem perspective. An agenda for further research has been defined in order to further advance the analysis

Dal macro al micro, start up per lo sviluppo

Lo scopo di questa ultima sezione del lavoro è mostrare come il micro-management può essere funzionale al macro-management. In questa parte infatti si affronta la creazione di nuova impresa, la creazione di start-up, per lo sviluppo di un’area territoriale. Le start-up possono essere un valido aiuto per spezzare il circolo vizioso della povertà di cui si è parlato in precedenza. La nuova impresa può, infatti, non solo produrre economia ma anche modificare l’ecosistema di appartenenza, migliorando l’istruzione e la salute della popolazione. Come nuova impresa noi intendiamo tutte le tipologie di imprese, quelle innovative e quelle imitative, quelle profit e quelle non profit, quelle di prodotti e quelle di servizi. Tutte queste tipologie di impresa, difatti, sono necessarie nei paesi deboli. Mentre nei paesi sviluppati la start-up è sempre associata a grande innovatività e alta tecnologia, nei paesi in via o in attesa di sviluppo ogni impresa è innovativa di per sé. Un’azienda di beni primari ad esempio può essere una grande novità per un mercato che è abituato ad importare. In questa ultima sezione del libro, noi vogliamo dare altri strumenti che possono essere necessari per chi vorrà intraprendere un’avventura imprenditoriale nei paesi deboli del mondo. Non potendo essere esaustivi in poche pagine, forniamo essenzialmente uno scheletro di ciò che bisognerebbe conoscere prima di intraprendere un’attività imprenditoriale e indichiamo illustri fonti per raggiungere un serio approfondimento

La creazione di valore tra economia, impresa e sostenibilità

Il tema della creazione di valore è da sempre, per lo studioso di management, stimolante campo di ricerca che si caratterizza per dinamiche che richiedono lo sviluppo di idonei modelli e percorsi di indagine. Ciò è tanto più vero quando si includono, nella prospettiva di analisi e nei modelli del valore, le istanze di natura sociale ed ambientale legate al concetto di sostenibilità, intesa come leva, sia strategica che operativa, in grado di considerare una molteplicità di prospettive legate alla varietà ed al numero di attori coinvolti ed interessati all’attività delle imprese. Partendo da queste considerazioni, il volume intende stimolare una riflessione su un nuovo approccio al valore, che, ampliato nelle sue dimensioni dall’inclusione degli elementi sociali ed ambientali, implica un ripensamento dei connessi modelli di misurazione e determinazione, i quali diventano, conseguentemente, multidimensionali. Il modello teorico presentato, basato su concettualizzazioni tipiche dell’approccio sistemico vitale, si propone di pervenire ad una misurazione che intercetti le diverse e articolate istanze dei soggetti per i quali l’impresa crea valore