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

Users’ perceptions of the drivers for corporate sustainability disclosures made by Chinese listed companies

China’s economy and development over decades has achieved not only its national prosperity, but also a significant degree of concern about corporate sustainability. As a vehicle of communication to society, corporate sustainability disclosures (CSD) are considered the most effective and efficient, facilitating the empowerment and acknowledgement of stakeholders in the quest for, and understanding of, sustainability. Much research has investigated the influential factors of CSD based on theories developed from Western standards and economy; however, very limited research considers the driving forces created by cultural and political influences based on the understanding of the perceptions of corporate sustainability among stakeholders in China. This study aims to explore the users’ perceptions and perceived importance of corporate sustainability disclosure (CSD), and to explain the driving forces of the quality of disclosure. In order to fully address the purpose of the study, an instrument for measuring the quality of sustainability disclosure was designed based on Global Reporting Index 4th generation. A survey questionnaire was used to collect information on the perception of CSD from the selected report user group; descriptive statistics, univariate analysis, as well as multivariate Ordinary Least Square regressions models were adopted in this study. Research modelling tested and differentiated the influence of Legitimacy Theory, Stakeholder Theory and Signalling Theory both separately and collectively. A pilot study was undertaken prior to the main study, to address the validity and feasibility of the application for the perception analysis. The responses from 128 registered financial analysts, and 238 stand-alone corporate sustainability reports issued in 2013, were collected for the main study. The main study findings indicated that the hypotheses and theoretical framework proposed can be partially accepted in the Chinese context, and they suggest the following: 1. Environmental disclosure was perceived the most important, followed by social disclosure. Economic disclosure was perceived the least important. 2. Category wise, ‘Energy’, ‘Water’, ‘Emissions’ and ‘Effluents and Waste’ were perceived most important, and ‘Customer health and safety’, ‘Customer privacy’ and ‘Compliance’ were second-most important. 3. The quality of CSD in Chinese listed companies in 2013 was generally low, just more than the information simply being disclosed. 4. The quality and the quantity of disclosure did not vary much across corporate sustainability disclosure, and they need to be examined together while investigating corporate sustainability as a whole. 5. Well disclosed corporate sustainability information from the sample companies was mainly driven by government policies, as political influence played a significant role in affecting the quality of CSD. 6. Research hypotheses are shown to be at different significance levels among different types of sustainability disclosures. ‘Company location’ and ‘company size’ are significant for almost all types of CSD. ‘Foreign ownership’ and ‘industry’ are highly significant in the environmental models and the combined CSD models. The overall correlations between predictors and criterion variables are from considerably low to moderate, which suggests that the hypotheses are partially accepted. One major implication of the study is the instrument developed from the analysis of the Chinese report users’ perceptions towards CSD. It helps CSD preparers and regulators to understand the difference in perceptions between the report users and the governing bodies, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the disclosures. Furthermore, Legitimacy Theory was shown to be the most significant in the Chinese context, followed by Stakeholder Theory and lastly, Signalling Theory. The study indicates that the quality of CSD from the state-owned companies was not very different from the non-state-owned companies, and they would be perceived highly sustainable even if they did not disclose. This indicates that political influence had a great impact on the perception of CSD. The content analyses and the regression analyses both provide valuable insights into the quality and practice of CSD. Consequently, this study motivates further research and contributes to the existing literature in this field of study in China

Analysis of Mobile Game Intellectual Property Marketing Strategy: A Case Study of Honor of Kings

The mobile game market is now gradually forming a unique ecological industry chain. Game parties are beginning to look beyond the game experience and focus on building mature game IPs. By creating specific IP to drive the game’s peripheral revenue, strengthen the emotional connection with game users, and achieve the purpose of long-term development. Looking at the domestic market, Honor of Kings, as a phenomenal mobile game in China, its IP development and marketing are of reference learning significance. In this paper, we selected Honor of Kings as the research object, and we collected data through both questionnaire surveys and interviews, using SPSS for statistical analysis. The research analyzed its IP marketing strategy and effect and searched for the factors which affect its IP marketing effect. It finds that the impact of Honor of Kings IP marketing is influenced by the degree of perfection of Honor of Kings worldview, i.e., IP connotation and local cultural awareness. At the same time, we analyzed the IP development process and marketing strategy of Honor of Kings in combination, pointed out its advantages and shortcomings, and gave suggestions to provide new ideas for IP marketing of other game companies

RMB exchange rates and volatility spillover across financial markets in China and Japan

This study examines empirically the volatility spillover effects between the RMB foreign exchange markets and the stock markets by employing daily returns of the Chinese RMB exchange rates and the stock markets in China and Japan during the period in 1998–2018. We find evidence that there exist co-volatility effects among the financial markets in China and Japan, and the volatility of RMB exchange rates contribute to the co-volatility spillovers across the financial markets. Reversely, the return shock from the stock markets can also generate co-volatility spillover to the foreign exchange markets. The bidirectional relationship reveals that both the fundamental hypothesis and the investor-induced hypothesis are valid. Our estimates also show that the spillover effects led by the stock market in Japan are stronger than that from the foreign exchange markets and the Chinese stock markets, implying that market with higher accessibility has greater spillover effects onto other markets. We also found that the average co-volatility spillover effects among the RMB exchange markets and the stock markets in Japan and China are generally negative. These findings have important policy implications for risk management and hedging strategies

Studies of Phase Transitions of Chromium Coordination Compounds under High Pressure

In this paper, the high pressure Raman scattering spectroscopy of Cd2(HATr)4(NO3)4·H2O (Cd) was measured by diamond anvil cells (DACs) up to 10GPa. The Raman spectra of Cd at 0GPa was assigned completely. With pressure increased to 6GPa, a new Raman peak appeared and the original C-NH2 bending vibration mode and N-NH2 bending vibration mode disappeared, indicating that Cd underwent a phase transition

Does sustainability engagement affect stock return volatility? Evidence from the Chinese financial market

This paper examines the impact of firms’ sustainability engagement on their stock returns and volatility by employing the EGARCH and FIGARCH models using data from the major financial firms listed in the Chinese stock market. We find evidence of a positive association between sustainability engagement and stock returns, suggesting firms’ sustainability news release in favour of the market. Although volatility persistence can largely be explained by news flows, the results show that sustainability news release has the significant and largest drop in volatility persistence, followed by popularity in Google search engine and the general news. Sustainability news release is found to affect positively stock return volatility. We also find evidence that market expectation can be driven by the dominant social paradigm when sustainability is included. These findings have important implications for market efficiency and effective portfolio management decision

LVC-LGMC: Joint Local and Global Motion Compensation for Learned Video Compression

Existing learned video compression models employ flow net or deformable convolutional networks (DCN) to estimate motion information. However, the limited receptive fields of flow net and DCN inherently direct their attentiveness towards the local contexts. Global contexts, such as large-scale motions and global correlations among frames are ignored, presenting a significant bottleneck for capturing accurate motions. To address this issue, we propose a joint local and global motion compensation module (LGMC) for leaned video coding. More specifically, we adopt flow net for local motion compensation. To capture global context, we employ the cross attention in feature domain for motion compensation. In addition, to avoid the quadratic complexity of vanilla cross attention, we divide the softmax operations in attention into two independent softmax operations, leading to linear complexity. To validate the effectiveness of our proposed LGMC, we integrate it with DCVC-TCM and obtain learned video compression with joint local and global motion compensation (LVC-LGMC). Extensive experiments demonstrate that our LVC-LGMC has significant rate-distortion performance improvements over baseline DCVC-TCM.Comment: Accepted to ICASSP 2024 (lecture presentation). The first attempt to use cross attention for bits-free motion estimation and motion compensatio