Aligning digitalization and sustainability: Opportunities and challenges for corporate success and the achievement of sustainable development goals

Digitalization provides valuable benefts for entities and offers unique opportunities to strategically address challenges associated with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure a sustainable society. This chapter discusses potential cross-fertilization effects between digitalization and sustainability to catalyze the benefts and challenges of digital transformation on the corporate level and SDGs’ perspective by focusing on sustainable practices. This chapter provides valuable insights for professionals and policymakers on the trends of digitalization and how they can support the SDGs that become a global compass for navigating sustainability challenges

An ethical problem in troubled times: Ethical decision making by local managers employing immigrant workforce in Gaziantep, Turkey

This paper aims to understand the ethical decision-making process of local managers of medium-sized companies in Gaziantep, a highly industrialized metropolis in Turkey, near the Syrian border, where there has been an influx of Syrian refugees. Intensive interviews were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire allowing participants to state their views and tell their stories. The findings revealed that the managers of the companies had difficulty making ethical decisions about how to treat the Syrian immigrants, especially during the initial phase of the crisis, and they took wrong steps when they faced with both economic and social conflicts. Thus, they faced some serious ethical challenges.WOS:00057149930001

Does board diversity affect the cost of debt financing? Empirical evidence from Turkey

[ArticleInPress]Purpose – This study aims to investigate the effects of board characteristics on the cost of debt for nonfinancial companies in the Turkish capital markets. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of 211 non-financial companies listed on Borsa Istanbul, this study examines how chairperson gender and board characteristics affect the cost of debt by using panel data analysis over the period of 2016–2020. A system generalized method of moments model is also applied to test the endogeneity issue. Findings – The findings show that the presence of female chairperson and female directors on board reduces the cost of debt and the perceptions of default risk by fund providers, while board independence and board size do not have a significant impact on the cost of debt. The results provide insightful information for companies and policymakers. Companies can alter board composition through gender diversity, while policymakers can introduce new policies in encouraging the presence of female directors on boards. Originality/value – This study primarily enriches the literature on the effect of board diversity on debt financing cost in a leading emerging market, enabling companies in emerging markets to better mitigate agency costs and finance their investment through effective board composition. Second, it provides evidence that financial institutions consider companies with chairwomen and women directors on the boards less risky and charge them less for debt financing than they do for companies with man chairperson. Finally, the results support policymakers to take actions to increase female presence on board

“Amerikan rüyası” OUT, “Türkiye rüyası” IN

ABD’de Trump’ın göçmenleri aşağılayıcı tavrı ve başta Meksikalılar olmak üzere yabancıları ülkeden kovma eğilimi artarken, artık “Amerikan Rüyası” yerini “Amerikan Kabusu”na bırakmış gözüküyor. Türkiye’de ise bunun tam tersi bir durum söz konusu. Ülkemizde yaşayan yabancı sayısı her geçen yıl önemli ölçüde artmakta. Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu Adrese Dayalı Nüfus Kayıt Sistemi verilerine göre son 10 yılda Türkiye’de yaşayan yabancı sayısı 5 misli artış göstermiş. 2007 yılında 176 bin olan yabancı sayısı 2017 yılında 900 bine ulaşmış bulunuyor. Bu rakama, son 3 yılda savaş nedeniyle Suriye ve Irak’tan ülkemize gelen göçmen ve mülteci sayısı da dâhil edildiğinde yabancı sayısı 5 milyona ulaşıyor

Sürdürülebilirlik ve etik finans

Kâinatın vücuda gelişinden bugüne tüm toplumlar etik değerleri koruyarak medeniyetlerini geliştirmenin ve mevcudiyetlerini devam ettirmenin çabası içinde olmuşlardır. Tarım toplumundan sanayi toplumuna, sanayi toplumundan bilgi toplumuna ve bilgi toplumundan da teknoloji toplumuna evrilen süreçler boyunca ise yaşanan değişim ve dönüşüm ekonominin kıt kaynakları olarak bilinen çevresel ve doğal kaynakların hesapsızca kullanılmasına neden olmuştur. Bu süreçte, kapitalizmin tüketim odaklı yapısı kurumların aşırı risk almasına ve bunun sonucunda da önce şirket iflaslarının yaşanmasına, sonrasında ise küresel krizlerin ortaya çıkmasına neden olmuş ve toplumları maddi ve manevi bir çöküşün eşiğine getirmiştir

Yolcu Hizmetlerinde Çalışan Memnuniyeti: Havacılık İşletmelerinde Vardiyalı Çalışanlar Üzerine Bir Araştırma

Çalışan Memnuniyeti kavramı örgütsel amaç ve hedeflere ulaşmak için tüm hizmet sektörlerinde olduğu gibi havacılık sektöründe de özel bir öneme sahiptir. Vardiyalı çalışmanın yürütüldüğü havacılık işletmelerinde de çalışan memnuniyeti temel belirleyici bir rol oynamaktadır. Çalışma kapsamında; çalışanların genel memnuniyet algısı, algılanan yönetici memnuniyeti, arkadaşlık ilişkilerinden duyulan memnuniyet ile iş/çalışma koşullarına duyulan memnuniyet perspektifinde incelenmiştir. Araştırmanın amacı, Türkiye’de havayolu yolcu taşımacılığı alanında faaliyet gösteren en büyük ulusal havayolu şirketinin HUB istasyonunda Yolcu Hizmetlerinde vardiyalı olarak çalışanların memnuniyet algılarını bütüncül bir bakış açısıyla incelemektir. Araştırmada, karma araştırma yöntemi uygulanarak ölçek geliştirilmiş, vardiyalı çalışanlarla birebir görüşmeler yapılarak veriler toplanmış ve analiz edilmiştir. Araştırma literatüre kuramsal ve uygulama açısından katkıda bulunmaktadır

Does the stock market value inclusion in a sustainability index? Evidence from Borsa Istanbul

This study examines the relationships between corporate sustainability (CS) performance of the companies (proxied by inclusion in sustainability index) listed in Borsa Istanbul (BIST, Istanbul, Turkey) and market-specific company performance measures over the period of 2014–2017. The results show that there is no strong evidence of the effect of inclusion in or exclusion from the BIST Sustainability Index (BIST SI) on stock returns and systematic risk (betas) of companies. However, the results reveal that inclusion in the BIST SI reduces the total risk of the companies and protects them from stock declines in case of a severe crisis by improving their resilience compared to other companies not included in the BIST SI. Although no significant link is found concerning the impact of the companies’ inclusion on the level of foreign ownership, a positive association is noted between BIST SI inclusion and the level of institutional ownership.Q1WOS:0005168246000412-s2.0-8507961327

Moderating role of corporate governance and ownership structure on the relationship of corporate sustainability performance and dividend policy

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of corporate governance and ownership structure on the relationship of corporate sustainability performance and dividend policy by using a panel dataset of 79 non-financial companies listed on Borsa Istanbul 100 Index for the years 2014–2020. We employed the panel logit, probit and tobit regression models for the analysis. The results indicate that corporate governance and family ownership significantly and positively moderate the relationship between corporate sustainability performance and dividend policy, while concentrated ownership and institutional ownership do not play a significant moderating role on this relationship. The findings also show that firm-level corporate governance is associated with high dividend payments, suggesting that this institutional mechanism helps reduce agency problems and lead companies to allocate capital more efficiently. The findings provide valuable insights for companies in structuring sustainability activities and shaping dividend policies with regard to ownership structure. It also offers policy prescriptions in emerging markets in the area of corporate financing policies.WOS:0008275659000012-s2.0-8513426414

Does board demographic diversity affect the dividend payout policy in Turkey?

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of board demographic diversity on the dividend payout policy in Turkish capital markets. Design/methodology/approach –Using a sample of 67 non-financial companies listed on Borsa Istanbul 100 index from 2013 to 2018, this study examines the influence of board demographic diversity on dividend payout policies in Turkish capital markets. The authors also create a Demographic Board Diversity Index (DBDI) to estimate the composite cognitive diversity. The authors use dividend payment probability, dividend payout ratio, and dividend yield to measure the dividend policy and employ panel logit and tobit regression models. Findings – The results indicate that diversity in nationality, experience and educational background play an influential role in encouraging companies to pay high dividends, while gender, tenure and age diversity are insignificant in affecting dividend payments. The findings also suggest that the DBDI positively affects the companies in formulating the dividend payout policies. Finally, the findings show that the family-owned companies with diverse board members have a negative influence on dividend payment intensity. Originality/value – The results offer valuable insights for companies and policymakers in emerging markets to develop a more refined governance structure accommodating board demographic diversity attributes to mitigate agency conflicts between controlling and minority shareholders through setting up effective dividend payout policies

The effects of a US-China trade war on Sub-Saharan Africa: Pro-active domestic policies make the difference

This study simulates the impact of the change in trade policy between the US and China on the trade volume and economic prosperity of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To do that, we employ a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model based on the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) with different scenarios focusing on increases in tariffs. The results show that the tariff increases negatively affect the US and China in terms of trade volume and economic growth, while it leads to trade diversion and creation for the SSA. This offers valuable opportunities in improving exports and economic growth, particularly for Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria. On the sectorial level, the findings imply that agriculture, food, and oil and gas sectors are positively affected in terms of export volume, while mineral, metal and service sectors are negatively impacted by the trade war