3,342 research outputs found
Sustainability practices and firm value. Evidence from a European industrial panel
No full textSustainability has influenced the consolidated relationships between economics and finance with increasing pervasiveness, acquiring greater relevance in terms of breadth and materiality.
Given the role of driving force for change that firms play in economic and social development, they have been placed in front of new challenges and opportunities in terms of risk-return relationship with shareholders and stakeholders, in order to pursue, within their strategic declination, consistency between economical and financial performance and social issues, and strengthen credibility, reputation, and legitimacy.
Therefore, recalling the firm’s needs to build and preserve consensus around its initiatives, and, ensure its survival in a highly competitive context, sustainability has been grafted onto governance processes, decision-making processes, and strategies.
Sustainability issues have become a new theme for academics in the field of management, and several contributions covering different aspects have been published. Scholars highlight that (i) sustainability can be seen as an intangible resource able to enhance firm’s expected cash flows and/or reduce their variability and (ii) investors appreciate additional and complementary disclosure provided on sustainability issues with positive effects on stock prices.
In the light of the above, this paper investigates the association between ESG performance and firm value, using a multiple regression analysis on a sample of 189 European listed companies based on Reuters Eikon data from 2012 to 2020. We find a positive and significant relationship between ESG score and firm value, providing implications for policymakers and stakeholders, and contributing to enriching the literature on the influence of ESG variables on firm strategies.
Notwithstanding the results of our analysis, it is necessary to conclude that, due to different accounting methodologies across rating agencies and data providers, it is difficult to draw a robust conclusion on the topic and that the relationship between firm value and ESG performance is complex and needs more research
Tobin’s Q and ESG Score in the Banking Industry: Are There Differences Among Banks?
No full textIn recent years, and especially after the global financial crisis, sustainability has attracted increasing
attention from regulators, investors, firms, academics, and, in general, stakeholders. This interest has created
opportunities and challenges for firms in their risk-return relationship with shareholders and, in general, stakeholders
(Ng and Zabihollah, 2015), pushing them to pursue coherence between corporate financial performance and corporate
social performance (Crespi and Magliavacca, 2020).
Financial intermediaries are increasing their attention on socially responsible aspects in order to reinforce their
credibility and reputation among stakeholders (Coulson, 2009), considering a three-dimensional financial logic (risk,
return, and social impact) in order to enhance their long-term value by fulfilling their social responsibilities (Freeman,
1984; Amini and Bienstock, 2014; Ng and Zabihollah, 2015; Ziolo et al., 2019).
In this context, a critical characteristic of a successful sustainable business model is the explicit recognition of the
importance of acknowledging multiple perspectives in defining and creating value, with a pluralistic and iterative
process (Wheeler et al., 2003).
The growth of banks sustainable practices is also strongly driven by legislation, with the adoption of regulatory
provisions at both global (Global Reporting Initiative, United Nations Global Compact, Equator Principles) and
European levels (Directive 78/669/EEC, Directive 83/349/EEC, EBA s Guideline, European Regulation 2019/2088).
Moreover, economical, legal and self-regulated aspects have influenced the financial firm behavior in acting in a
more socially responsible way, in order to enhance its competitive advantage in high market competitiveness contexts
and to attract socially responsible investors (Chih et al., 2010; Oliveira et al., 2019).
At the same time, these issues have become a new theme for academics in the field of management, and a number of
contributions covering various issues and aspects have been published.
Two main strands of literature can be distinguished in this regard.
On the one hand, research sheds light on internal practices, by investigating how sustainability criteria are
integrated in the decision-making process (Ziolo et al., 2019) and into policies, strategies, products and processes
(Weber, 2005), with a specific attention on risk management frameworks (Weber, 2005; Weber et al., 2010; Attig et al.,
2013; Birindelli et al., 2015; Devalle et al., 2017; Witold and McGlinch, 2019), lending practices (Goss & Roberts,
2011; Attig et al., 2013; Witold and McGlich, 2019), capital requirements (Zeidan et al., 2015; Thomä & Gibhardt,
2019), funding structure (Gangi et al., 2019; Wu and Shen, 2013), and profitability (Soana, 2011; Cornett et al., 2016;
Laguir et al., 2018; Miralles-Quiròs et al., 2019; Brogi and Lagasio, 2019; Gangi et al., 2019).
On the other hand, research focuses on external practices, by analyzing the relevance of corporate social disclosure
(Baldini et al., 2018), with specific attention to the role played by the board of directors in creating and developing a
corporate culture and ethical values that consider sustainability aspects (Sethi, 2002; Baldini et al., 2018; Birindelli
and Iannuzzi, 2019; Cremona and Passador, 2019). In this regard, several studies have investigated the effect of board
disclosure on firms reputation (Gray et al., 1995; Li et al., 2010; Vanhamme et al., 2012), trust (Carnevale and
Mazzuca, 2014) and competitive advantage (Aguilera et al., 2006; Money and Schepers, 2007; Gill, 2008; Kolk and
Pinkse, 2010; Garcia-Torea et al., 2016; Baldini et al., 2018). Board disclosure aspects have also been investigated in
terms of number and presence of independent directors (Cheng and Courtenay, 2006; Patelli and Prencipe, 2007;
Cucari et al., 2018; García-Meca and Pucheta-Martínez, 2018), age and gender of directors (Slater and Dixon-Fowler,
2009; Cucari et al., 2018; Galbreath, 2018; Birindelli and Iannuzzi, 2019), and environmental committee existence
(Kent and Monem, 2008; Peters and Romi, 2014; Liao et al., 2015; Cucari et al., 2018).
This study examines the relationship between the adoption of ESG criteria and shareholder value creation by banks,
also taking into account differences in banks business models (traditional, hybrid, and non-traditional) and size (large,
medium, and small).
Specifically, this paper investigates the effects of the implementation of sustainability conducts on shareholder value
creation (measured by the Tobin s Q) in a sample of 290 banks from 48 countries over the period 2011-2019.
Our research aims to fill a gap in directly comparing and contrast banks in the relationship between ESG performance and shareholder value creation, with a specific focus on business models (traditional, hybrid, and nontraditional)
and size (large, medium, and small)
ESG criteria in the banking industry: A systematic literature review
No full textSustainable development has raised, in recent decades and especially after the global financial crisis, the interest of policy makers, managers, academics and, in general, stakeholders. As a multifaceted concept, it cannot exclude the financial and banking institutions as their fundamental role on channeling funds and supporting an efficient resource allocation into the economy. Especially after the recent financial crisis, banks are increasing their attention on socially responsible aspects in order to reinforce trust among stakeholders (Coulson, 2009).
The concept of sustainable development often recalls the role played by the firm, as a viable system, in the context in which it operates (Beer, 1985; Golinelli, 2016; Barile et al., 2018). Furthermore, there is an interrelation between the sustainability and the vitality of the firm, which needs to be formalized into practices, metrics and assessment criteria, that are instrumental to achieving survival, a goal common to the generality of viable systems (Golinelli, 2016).
In the banking industry, the implementation of sustainability metrics is attributable to the desire to raise the credibility and the confidence among stakeholders, pursuing an aim that goes beyond the neoclassical concept of maximizing profit for shareholders (i.e. shareholders theory) (Friedman 1970; Brenner & Cochrane, 1991; Key, 1999; Stormer, 2003), and consider a three-dimensional financial logic, such as risk, return and social impact (Amini & Bienstock, 2014; Ziolo et al. 2019), with the aim of creating value for all the stakeholders (Freeman, 1984). Moreover, Stubbs & Cocklin (2008), with reference to the traditional neoclassical concepts, argue that they have to be transformed rather than supplemented, by environmental and social aspects and priorities.
At the same time, environmental, social and governmental (“ESG”) criteria have become a new theme for academics in the field of management, and a number of contributions covering various issues and aspects have been published. However, a systematic formulation of all these contributions is still lacking in management literature.
Therefore, this paper aims to analyze and classify the main contributions published on the topic of ESG and the banking industry of developed countries in management literature, i.e. international literature on ESG impacts in the banking industry, seeking to provide a map of the existing intellectual territory, discover gaps still remaining in literature and outline future avenues of research in this domain. A systematic review of the literature of has been used as methodology to achieve the aim of the paper
La sostenibilità nel governo dell’impresa. Profili teorici e analisi empirica nel settore bancario
No full textProfondi cambiamenti hanno interessato nel recente passato lo scenario entro il quale le imprese sono chiamate ad operare e, proprio nel mutamento ambientale, l’evoluzione delle caratteristiche delle imprese e delle logiche di governo trova essenziali fonti esplicative. Il cambiamento è andato articolandosi lungo tre direttrici, separabili solo ai fini di chiarezza espositiva, ma che nella realtà si compenetrano continuamente: (i) la pervasività dell’ottica della sostenibilità per la sopravvivenza delle imprese, (ii) la rapidità e la pervasività del progresso tecnologico e dei processi di innovazione aziendale e (iii) l’evoluzione del contesto normativo.
Dal combinato effetto di tali fenomeni, crescono dunque la varietà e la variabilità, da un lato, dei temi emergenti all’attenzione del governo e dello studio delle imprese e, dall’altro, delle conseguenti risposte.
Le istanze di sostenibilità dell’attività dell’impresa provenienti dall’evoluzione dell’economia e della società hanno influenzato con crescente pervasività i consolidati rapporti tra economia e finanza nel governo dell’impresa e il rapporto di quest’ultima con il proprio contesto, acquisendo rilevanza in termini di ampiezza e attualità. Ampiezza, in quanto il tema della sostenibilità travalica i caratteri interni all’impresa per investire i rapporti tra sistema normativo, produttivo e finanziario. Attualità, in quanto oggetto di particolare attenzione da parte di studiosi e operatori che ritengono la relazione tra economia, finanza e sostenibilità determinante per il conseguimento di efficienti ed efficaci forme organizzative della produzione industriale.
Le imprese, pertanto, hanno posto crescente attenzione alle tematiche di responsabilità sociale – anche alla luce del ruolo centrale di propulsore del cambiamento che esse da sempre ricoprono – al fine di rafforzare la loro credibilità e reputazione tra i diversi stakeholder, perseguendo una logica di creazione di valore di lungo periodo e declinando nelle proprie strategie una tricotomia tra rischio, rendimento e sostenibilità. La trasformazione dell’ambiente esterno, di matrice sociale e normativa, ha dato luogo a risposte strategiche e operative da parte delle imprese con la finalità di adattamento proattivo ai sottesi condizionamenti di contesto e di cogliere le opportunità emergenti, richiamando altresì la necessità di acquisire e conservare il consenso intorno alle proprie iniziative.
La sostenibilità si innesta dunque nei processi di governo e nelle strategie dell’impresa, ovvero nei criteri posti a base del processo decisionale, nonché nelle fasi di formulazione e implementazione della strategia.
I fenomeni sopra rappresentati stanno investendo con crescente pregnanza anche gli intermediari finanziari, stante il ruolo che gli stessi ricoprono nello sviluppo economico-sociale del contesto di riferimento nel quale si inseriscono e la loro consustanziale attenzione al governo del rischio insito nei grandi cambiamenti e nelle trasformazioni che investono l’economia e la società.
In tale contesto, lo stratificarsi di disposizioni normative e regolamentari a livello globale ed europeo, nonché la declinazione da parte di un numero crescente di autorità di vigilanza di politiche e/o linee guida volte a incorporare i fattori e i rischi di sostenibilità nei framework macroprudenziali di stabilità finanziaria e monetaria, hanno dato luogo a una crescente esigenza di armonizzazione di criteri oggettivi definitori, che consentano di apprezzare la rispondenza di un determinato prodotto finanziario al tema della sostenibilità, nonché di agevolare la comparazione tra gli stessi in termini di ritorno economico-finanziario e di attività economiche sottostanti.
In particolare, l’intento normativo di introdurre un modello di intermediazione finanziaria sostenibile volto a promuovere una crescita economica che sia in linea con la sostenibilità implica una sfida significativa per l’organo di governo, stante la complessità di tale inclusione nei processi strategici e operativi delle imprese. Complessità che deriva dai cambiamenti culturali, di governance e gestionali che il richiamato modello di intermediazione finanziaria sostenibile richiede, nonché dalla necessità di affiancare all’individuazione dei rischi di sostenibilità anche metodologie di valutazione del grado di allineamento del proprio portafoglio crediti ai nuovi obiettivi di sostenibilità, con una contestuale trasparenza in merito ai rischi derivanti da determinati settori.
Ne emerge con crescente evidenza un fatto, ovvero che il viaggio verso un’economia sostenibile necessita la condivisione di una nuova rotta, tracciata, ancor più che in passato, sulla fiducia e sulla conoscenza reciproca e di contesto tra intermediari finanziari, imprese e istituzioni (di diversa natura).
La dottrina ha indagato, sotto differenti prospettive, gli effetti rivenienti dall’implementazione di pratiche di sostenibilità nel processo strategico-decisionale dell’impresa bancaria. Diversi contributi accademici hanno riguardato la relazione intercorrente tra sostenibilità e performance finanziaria, dai quali emerge che essa risulta essere talvolta positiva, talaltra negativa e talaltra ancora mista.
In tale contesto, il presente lavoro si focalizza sulla pervasività che la sostenibilità ha assunto nel governo delle imprese bancarie, anche alla luce dei recenti orientamenti delle autorità di vigilanza europee, e contribuisce alla letteratura sul tema per via sia teorica sia empirica.
Quanto al contributo teorico, l’elaborato inquadra la sostenibilità nell’alveo delle teorie d’impresa, evidenziando la pervasività che la stessa ha assunto nel governo dell’impresa e degli intermediari bancari, ricostruisce il quadro normativo di riferimento, analizza i contributi della letteratura accademica sul tema e, in ultimo, evidenzia dei profili teorici ancora aperti in merito alla definizione del ruolo della sostenibilità nell’alveo dei tradizionali driver, obiettivi e criteri a base del processo decisionale d’impresa.
Quanto al contributo empirico, il lavoro si prefigge di arricchire la letteratura sul tema della relazione tra performance di sostenibilità e performance economico-finanziarie nel settore bancario, nella duplice prospettiva market-based e accounting-based, mediante l’utilizzo di un campione di banche europee nel periodo 2012-2021
I risultati dell'impresa nella dimensione ESG
No full textIl riconoscimento generale che la sopravvivenza dell'impresa è strettamente connessa con il benessere della società di cui essa è parte, ha posto le imprese dinnanzi a nuove opportunità e sfide. La sosteni-bilità ha influenzato con crescente pervasività i consolidati rapporti tra economica e finanza nel go-verno dell'impresa.
Il management si trova dunque, dinnanzi a un terreno inesplorato caratterizzato da una strutturale incertezza e complessità, ad adottare un approccio olistico volto alla ricerca di un percorso strategico che al contempo rafforzi gli obiettivi economici, prioritari per la sopravvivenza, e favorisca la conver-genza di interessi dei diversi stakeholders. In conclusione, la sostenibilità richiede di contestualizzare la sostenibilità nelle pratiche di governo e nelle strategie dell'impresa, nonché di implementare nuovi processi amministrativi e/o calibrare quelli già in essere
Do Company Valuation Methods Incorporate ESG Factors? Exploring an Italian Industrial Panel
No full textThe pervasiveness that sustainability has gradually taken on in business activity should also be seen as a result of the growing interest from financial market operators to increase the degree of efficiency of the capital allocation process, assuming long-term investment strategies that consider ESG factors and related risks in portfolio choices.
ESG analysis, complementary to traditional financial analysis, allows a deeper understanding of a specific company as it will enable the expansion of the information available at the basis of investment decision-making processes and to appreciate the material drivers to assess corporate financial performance. However, including sustainability aspects in traditional financial analysis is not straightforward.
Thus, it seems legitimate to ask whether the traditional methodologies for appreciating the value of a company should be refined through the inclusion of new elements relating to sustainability issues or whether they are already implicitly appreciated by the current specific underlying factors. Scholars highlight different forms ESG integration can take into the DCF method to assess a company’s value properly.
Nevertheless, the inclusion of ESG elements within the scope of the DCF company valuation methodologies is not free from application difficulties in consideration of potential errors relating to the magnitude of the cash flow or discount rate adjustments and double counting.
In this paper, we investigate the association between ESG performance (and its pillars) and firm value using a panel analysis of a sample of Italian-listed industrial firms from 2016-2022. Our findings suggest that the overall ESG score has a positive and significant relationship with firm value. Individual Environmental and Social scores have a positive and significant relationship, while Governance score does not have a significant relationship with firm value. These results are only a starting point for a future research direction regarding the inclusion of ESG issues into company valuation methods
Episode 35: Alexis Castellanos, Author of “Isla to Island”, and Her Panel Presentation during the Operación Pedro Pan Two-Day Event
No full textIn Part 1 of “Operación Pedro Pan: The Voices and Stories of Cuba’s Child Exodus—A Knights HistoryCast Mini-Series,” the Department of History’s Sebastian Garcia talked with Alexis Castellanos, an author, illustrator, graphic novelist, and a panelist at the esteemed, conspicuous, and powerful “Operación Pedro Pan: Honoring the Cultural, Historical Legacy of Cuba’s Child Exodus” Two-Day Program that Florida Humanities, UCF’s Department of English and Department of Modern Languages and Literatures sponsored (see https://cah.ucf.edu/pedro-pan/ for more details on sponsors and the program in general).
Sebastian structured this specific episode on Alexis Castellanos’ Isla to Island, a wordless graphic novel grounded by her personal family history and the history of Operación Pedro Pan (Operation Peter Pan). By analyzing such a historic event through the medium of fiction, Sebastian argued that this is one of the most unique Knights HistoryCast episodes of all time. Naturally, their conversation expanded to what she talked about during her panel presentation in Panel One, Day 1 of the event that featured “internationally renowned scholars that discussed the political, historical, and cultural legacy of Operación Pedro Pan (1960-1962).” (https://cah.ucf.edu/pedro-pan/)
To purchase Isla to Island (strongly recommend), check out: https://islatoisland.com/.
To find out more about Alexis and her professional work, check out her website at https://alexiscastellanos.com/https://stars.library.ucf.edu/knightshistorycast/1034/thumbnail.jp
"Cronica der Turckey" Sebastian Franck's Translation of the "Tractatus de Moribus, Condicionibus et Nequitia Turcorum" by Georgius de Hungaria
No full textThe Tractatus de moribus, condicionibus et nequitia Turcorum is one of the most important first-hand accounts of life in fifteenth-century Turkey known to modern scholarship. It is the work of a Christian former slave of the Turks, writing after his return to the West. Although the author does not name himself, he can be identified as a
Dominican priest, Georgius de Hungaria, who died in Rome in 1502. His Tractatus is conceived as a work of anti-Islamic polemic, yet it contains a surprisingly unbiased appraisal of Turkish customs.
First printed c.1480 when European apprehension in the face of Ottoman expansion was at its height, the Tractatus was reprinted in numerous editions, and was widely used as a
source by other authors. Luther edited the text in 1530, using the positive account of Turkish customs and religious observance as a weapon in his polemic against the Roman
Catholic Church: if heathens could perform such exemplary works, who could fail to doubt the efficacy of works as a means of salvation?
Sebastian Franck in his German translation of the Tractatus went further: replacing Georgius' commentary with his own, he used the text to attack institutional religion as a
whole and to promote his concept of a non-dogmatic, spiritual Church of individuals united with each other only through their union with God -a Church which was not closed to Moslems or members of any other creed. This translation or adaptation, the Cronica der Türckey, marks Franck's decisive break with the Lutheran cause and the beginning of his lonely path as a 'spiritual individualist'. Franck reworked his translation of the Tractatus for his major geographical work, the Weltbuch of 1534.
This thesis concerns itself primarily with Franck's Cronica, providing the first modern critical edition of this text, in a near-diplomatic transcription with an extensive glossary. The thesis also includes transcriptions of the Tractatus; of Türckei, an anonymous translation of the Tractatus, and of relevant additional material from Franck's Weltbuch. None of these texts has been published in full in a modern edition.
In the Introduction Franck's Cronica is compared in detail with the Tractatus, highlighting the changes that occur in translation; the character and the significance of these changes are then discussed. It is established that Franck, whilst being unwilling to reverse any of Georgius' value judgements on Islam and Turkish culture, is highly selective in his choice of material for translation, and frequently gives the text new nuances and adds his own
comment. The question of the Tractatus' influence on Franck's further development as a writer and thinker is also raised.
The investigation then turns to Franck's use of the Tractatus material in his Weltbuch. His eclecticism becomes apparent in this text, in which Georgius' account is juxtaposed - but not synthesised - with material from other sources, often of lesser veracity and greater anti-Islamic bias. Franck's distortion of the Tractatus material to suit his own line of argument is clearly discernible: from the unique phenomenon presented in the Tractatus the Turks
become one more example of the general human tendency to externalise and dogmatise faith.
In addition, the transmission of Cronica and Türckei is examined, and the relationship between these two translations is clarified: Franck certainly used Türckei in writing his Cronica, but is unlikely to be the author of the anonymous work
2. A Human Being to Be Remembered | The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series
No full textIn Episode Two, Andrew Carroll’s herculean efforts to seek and collect over 210,000 war letters—that span since the American Revolution—demonstrate how others are as seriously committed to preserving the legacies of the men and women who served and fought for their country. Andrew shares several letters from his impressive collection, allowing us to be as close as possible to the Veterans—engaging with their own words, thoughts, and emotions. Indeed, themes central to UCF VLP are often exemplified in the 210,000 war letters Andrew has preserved for over twenty-five years.
Andrew Carroll is an award-winning historian and author and is the founder and director of the Center for American War Letters at Chapman University. Andrew was the second keynote speaker invited to share his extraordinary work during the 2024 UCF VLP Institute.
This episode was directed, produced, written, edited, and hosted by Sebastian Garcia and featured Andrew Carroll.
Executive Producers: Sebastian Garcia and Dr. Amelia Lyons.
Music: “Honor and Glory” and “Real Heroes” by SergePavkinMusic (Pixabay)
Podcast Cover Artwork: Sebastian Garcia
The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series is brought to you by the UCF History Department Podcast Network and UCF’s Veterans Legacy Program—a partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration.https://stars.library.ucf.edu/knightshistorycast/1051/thumbnail.jp
Wang Tao’s Diary: excerpts Translated by Sebastian Eicher
No full textIn a little regarded episode from Wang Tao’s diaries, the author tells us about a two-week long journey from Shanghai to Hangzhou and to the West Lake. Wang Tao undertook this journey together with the missionary Griffith John, who at that time was trying to find ways to preach the gospel outside the treaty port of Shanghai. We know the rough outline of this journey from Griffith John’s writings, as it was the second half of a longer journey along the Grand Canal. But Wang Tao’s presence and his notes on it have so far been neglected. This is a loss, as the diary Wang Tao kept offers not only a personal and lively account of the journey, it also gives us some insight in the Chinese perception of the missionaries’ activities and a description of the Hangzhou era before the Taiping would ravage it only a bit more than a year later
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