The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Investment Recommendations: Analysts' Perceptions and Shifting Institutional Logics

We explore the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings on sell-side analysts' assessments of firms' future financial performance. We suggest that when analysts perceive CSR as an agency cost, due to the prevalence of an agency logic, they produce pessimistic recommendations for firms with high CSR ratings. Moreover, we theorize that over time, the emergence of a stakeholder focus, and the gradual weakening of the agency logic, shifts the analysts' perceptions of CSR ratings and results in increasingly less pessimistic recommendations for firms with high CSR ratings. Using a large sample of publicly traded U.S. firms over 15 years, we confirm that in the early 1990s, analysts issue more pessimistic recommendations for firms with high CSR ratings. However, in more recent years analysts progressively assess these firms less pessimistically, and eventually they assess them optimistically. Furthermore, we find that more experienced analysts and analysts at higher-status brokerage houses are the first to shift the relation between CSR ratings and investment recommendation optimism. We find no significant link between firms' CSR ratings and analysts' forecast errors, indicating that learning is unlikely to account for the observed shifts in recommendations

WHAT DRIVES CORPORATE SOCIAL PERFORMANCE? THE ROLE OF NATION-LEVEL INSTITUTIONS

Based on Whitley's "National Business Systems" (NBS) institutional framework (Whitley 1997, 1999), we theorize about and empirically investigate the impact of nation-level institutions on firms' corporate social performance (CSP). Using a sample of firms from 42 countries spanning seven years, we construct an annual composite CSP index for each firm based on social and environmental metrics. We find that the political system, followed by the labor and education system, and the cultural system are the most important NBS categories of institutions that impact CSP. Interestingly, the financial system appears to have a relatively less significant impact. We discuss implications for research, practice, and policy-making

D-Linking And The Inability Of Subjects In English To Topicalise

ABSTRACT This paper inquires into the inability of subjects in English to topicalise. Treating topicalisation as a specific case of d-linking, it asks: why don’t subjects topicalise in English? And why cannot they be d-linked through further movement? It concludes that the property of [aboutness] of subjects is anunder specified instance of a more composite derivative effect realised as [topic]. Given the ability of objects in English to be readily d-linked through extraction in CP, the analysis takes a detailed look at the structural differences between subjects and objects. It concludes that d-linking of an argument is contingent upon the derivational memory of its prior inclusion within vP that has yielded its denotational set-membership. Treating EPPas an A’-operation that embeds one instance of the subject-chain into discourse, the inability of subjects to topicalise is explained as an “on line” denotational dependency on discourse, which lacks the systemic memory of the subject’s embedding. In turn, their immobility is treated as a modular dependency between the two subject copies, mediated through Texcluding the one instance of the chain

Pay for Environmental Performance: The Effect of Incentive Provision on Carbon Emissions

Corporations are increasingly under pressure to improve their environmental performance and to account for potential risks and opportunities associated with climate change. In this paper, we examine the effectiveness of monetary and nonmonetary incentives provided by companies to their employees in order to reduce carbon emissions. Specifically, we find evidence that the use of monetary incentives is associated with higher carbon emissions. This result holds both in cross-sectional and time-series analysis. Moreover, we find that the use of nonmonetary incentives is associated with lower carbon emissions. Consistent with monetary incentives crowding out motivation for pro-social behavior, we find that the effect of monetary incentives on carbon emissions is mitigated when these incentives are provided to employees with formally assigned responsibility for environmental performance. Furthermore, by employing a two-stage multinomial logistic model, we provide insights into factors affecting companies’ decisions on incentive provision, as well as showing that the impact of monetary incentives on carbon emissions remains significant even when we control for potential selection bias in our sample

Emission reduction via supply chain coordination

This paper examines the environmental impact of potential coordination on supply chains. A decentralized two-node supply chain is studied, in which one node is a buyer ordering from a second node, who is a supplier operating under the lot-for-lot policy. The supplier is allowed to use a quantity discount to manipulate the buyer's decision reducing both his individual cost and system's operational costs. This results in decreasing the frequency of deliveries. We demonstrate that environmentally friendly policies could be also cost saving. The crucial factor about the environmental benefits is the total distance travelled rather than the vehicle loads. We establish the magnitude of the environmental benefits using numerical examples under specific operational parameters. Complete and incomplete information cases are investigated, where the buyer and the supplier make their decisions to optimize their own business operations

Psychophysical Load During the Multistage Marathon des Sables: A Case Study

Introduction: This study investigated the impact of the multistage ultra-marathon event ‘‘Marathon des Sables’’ (MdS) performed in the Sahara Desert on the psychophysical capacity of an athlete. Methods: We collected and analyzed environmental, physiological, and behavioral data from a 39-year-old athlete who participated in the MdS. Specifically, we collected environmental temperature (Tenv), upper inguinal skin temperature (Tsk), heart rate, and running speed data. Also, we recorded blood glucose and lactate, thermal comfort, total body water, perceived exertion, and cognitive function at the start, middle, and the end of each race stage. Results: We found significant detrimental impacts on the health and wellbeing of the monitored athlete. The monitored athlete suffered a multi-toe injury during the 3rd stage of MdS. Furthermore, the Tsk (32.6 ¡ 2.6°C) fluctuated considerably between day and night, as the lowest value presented was 29.8°C while the highest was 40.4°C. The Tsk tended to be higher both when the Tenv was higher and when daily running distance was longer. Finally, the athlete’s cognitive and athletic performances tended to be higher when his blood glucose (118.33 ± 19.20mg/dl) levels were higher. Conclusion: The health and wellbeing parameters of the monitored athlete were significantly impacted during the MdS

Complicated Lemierre Syndrome Caused by Streptococcus gordonii and Possible Rickettsial Co-Infection in a Patient with Thrombophilia Predisposition

Aims: Lemierre syndrome is a life-threating condition characterized by recent oropharyngeal infection, internal jugular vein thrombosis, and anaerobic septicemia. It is usually caused by Fusobacterium necrophorum. Methods: A young Romanian male presented with fever and rigors, mild tachypnea, hypoxia, sore throat, decayed teeth, and tenderness of the left carotid triangle. Laboratory examination indicated severe sepsis with disseminated intravascular coagulation, acute renal failure, and acute respiratory distress syndrome while the Doppler ultrasonography of the carotids revealed left internal jugular venous thrombosis. The patient was administered piperacillin/tazobactam and vancomycin intravenously, doxycycline orally, and anti-coagulation by enoxaparin based on the diagnosis of Lemierre syndrome. Meanwhile, he was complicated by bilateral diffuse pulmonary cavities and encapsulated pleural effusions and so transcutaneous drainage was performed. The patient was discharged after a month and continued his treatment with oral phenoxypenicillin and doxycycline until full radiographic improvement. He was switched to oral anti-coagulation by vitamin-K antagonists and was referred to a hematologist, a vascular-surgeon, and a dentist. Results: Streptococcus gordonii was isolated from the patient’s blood and pleural fluid cultures and serology for Rickettsial spp. IgM was positive. Thrombophilia genetic tests revealed three minor mutations for fibrinogen-455, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase. According to the literature, S. gordonii is not usually a causative agent and Rickettsial spp. have as yet not been correlated with Lemierre syndrome. The failure of left jugular vein recanalization shows a possible causative role of the underlying thrombophilic predisposition. Discussion: Because of the syndrome’s rarity and the atypical microorganisms isolated in this case, increased awareness is advised for its diagnosis and the underlying mechanisms involved in its genesis. The role of anti-coagulation is debatable

Habitual Heat Exposure and Acclimatization Associated with Athletic Performance in the Multistage Marathon des Sables

Introduction The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of heat acclimatization on athletic performance during the 7-day Marathon des Sables (MdS) which takes place in the Sahara Desert. Methods Anonymous data for nationality and average running speed (km/h) of all runners who ran the MdS during the period 2000–2015 were collected from the official website of the race and other related websites. Average maximum temperature for each runner’s country during the month preceding the MdS was collected from www.weatherbase.com. Athletes were divided into two Torigin groups as follows: 25 to 15°C (i.e., cold countries) and 15 to 35°C (i.e., warm countries). Results Overall, 12467 (10828 men; 1639 women) athletes from 78 countries (37 cold; 41 warm) participated in the MdS during the 16-year study period. The ambient temperature of these countries one month prior to the MdS ranged from 24.2 to 34.4°C. Athletes’ average running speed during the MdS ranged from 2.9 to 13.4 km/h. Moreover, athletes who originated from warm countries ran the MdS 10.7% faster compared to athletes from cold countries. Conclusion The natural heat acclimatization achieved by living in warmer countries seems to provide an advantage during the MdS

Deep learning techniques for in-core perturbation identification and localization of time-series nuclear plant measurements

The research conducted has been made possible through funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014-2018 under grant agreement No 754316 for the “CORe Monitoring Techniques And EXperimental Validation And Demonstration (CORTEX)” Horizon 2020 project, 2017-2021.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Results of the application and demonstration calculations

CORTEX - Research and Innovation Action (RIA) This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 754316.Publisher PD