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This study aims to investigate redundant information in mandatory non-financial reports (NFRs) demanded by regulators, focusing primarily on overlapping disclosures in a new Indian sustainability reporting (SR) framework.

The study sample comprised NIFTY100 listed entities that published SR voluntarily during 2021–2022. The authors used content analysis and cosine similarity techniques to conceptually compare redundancy in SR disclosures with non-financial disclosures.

The findings reveal an information overlap in SR disclosure with other NFRs disclosures. The disclosures of Directors’ Report have higher cosine similarity scores at the firm level with SR, followed by the Management Discussion and Analysis report, Corporate Governance report and Corporate Social Responsibility report. The additional analysis reveals that qualitative disclosures and disclosures comprising governance factors overlap more in SR.

Policymakers should look to establish relevant disclosure guidelines in the SR system, and thereby, shed light on fundamental issues to enhance future SR framework reforms.

The study highlight the need for integration and amendment in the disclosure guidelines of NFRs to improve the overall transparency of the reports.

Previous studies have examined the redundancy in annual reports and SRs from the point of view of overlapping information. To the best author’s knowledge, this is possibly among the first studies to offer insights into the repetition of disclosures required by regulators in statutory NFRs based on environmental, social, and governance factors through the lenses of the institutional theory.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of corporate attributes like a company’s profitability, size, age, leverage and board size on companies’ sustainability reporting as measured through India’s new business responsibility and sustainability reporting (BRSR) framework.

A random sample of 130 companies was taken from the top 1,000 listed companies on the National Stock Exchange. Sequential mixed methods research approach was used to prepare a sustainability quality index. Then, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the impact on the quality of reporting by Indian companies.

Interestingly, the analysis revealed that traditional metrics like age, profitability, board size and leverage did not have significant associations with reporting quality. Rather, the size of a company in terms of market capitalisation was found to have a strong positive impact on sustainability reporting.

This was a cross-sectional study, as time series data for BRSR reporting is not yet available. Also, only five parameters were taken for analysis. Lastly, subjective judgment in content analysis may be involved.

This suggests that only larger companies in India are prioritising sustainability reporting over smaller ones. It affirms the legitimacy and stakeholder theory in the Indian context.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first endeavours to assess the efficacy of the new Indian BRSR framework and test its primary objectives. Furthermore, significant implications have been given for managers to catalyse and reinforce the sustainability momentum down the lane across companies of all sizes in India.

The main objective of the study was to compare Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) norms with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, so as to establish whether BRSR norms match the global standards and best practices or not. Additionally, an effort was made to ascertain and highlight areas where BRSR norms are more comprehensive, just match, or require further refinement to be at par with the GRI standards. The study highlights the similarities and dissimilarities between the internationally accepted GRI standards and the BRSR framework; thereby suggesting areas of improvement for the BRSR framework.

Scrutinised all the 36 standards of the Global reporting initiative and BRSR format and guidelines of the Securities Exchange Board of India. The Content Analysis Technique was used to ascertain the percentages of similarities between the two frameworks.

The content analysis found that there are 52.30% similarities between BRSR norms and GRI standards. Further, this study shows the factors that led to the dissimilarities between BRSR and GRI standards. This study found 18 areas where BRSR is more informative than GRI, and 7 areas where BRSR could be further refined.

This study contributes to research in the sustainability reporting framework to be adopted by Indian listed companies. There are a few Indian listed companies who are already reporting as per the GRI framework and might perceive the BRSR as a separate reporting altogether. But as found in this study, more than half of the BRSR framework is similar to the GRI framework; thus, half the work is almost done. As such this study helps Indian firms in developing an understanding of the BRSR and puts in perspective its standing among global sustainability reporting standards. This study shall help institutional investors, rating agencies, and external assurers to better visualize an Indian entity, by referring to its Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting.

This study aims to study the response of the stock market to the announcement of compulsory environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure regulation in the context of the Indian economy – one of the largest emerging economies. The study also examines the role of carbon sensitivity and pre-ESG disclosure.

Daily stock price data of 940 listed companies has been collected for 276 trading days to compute abnormal returns. The current study is based on event study methodology to analyze the announcement effect of disclosure regulations. Furthermore, to check the robustness of results, cross-sectional regression has been applied to correct for potential heterogeneity.

Results of the event study signify that the equity share market has reacted positively and significantly to the mandatory ESG disclosure regulation. Furthermore, the study also confirms the mitigating role of carbon sensitivity and pre-ESG disclosure as carbon nonsensitive (non predisclosure) firms have witnessed a more intense effect of regulation as compared to sensitive (predisclosed) corporations.

Current findings assist managers in understanding investor perception toward nonfinancial disclosures. Corporate managers can use disclosure as a tool to enhance the firm value and reduce information asymmetry by providing relevant information. Furthermore, policymakers can use the findings of present research to disseminate the advantages of adopting ESG disclosure practices thereby improving the transparency and governance among business firms.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to provide empirical evidence on the market response to compulsory ESG disclosure framework in the emerging context of India. Furthermore, considering the infancy stage of ESG research, the present research contributes to the body of knowledge by empirically testing the disclosure theories.

This study aims to examine the moderating impact of audit quality (AQ) on the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure and financial performance (FP) in the Indian context.

The study sample consists of 218 Indian firms, for which Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited has published the ESG scores. Panel data estimation technique is used to examine the direct and moderating impacts. Furthermore, the two-stage least square estimation technique is used for robustness checks.

The study finds a positive impact of ESG score and its components on FP. The findings support the positive “revisionist” hypothesis. The results demonstrate that AQ significantly moderates the relationship between ESG scores and FP. It implies that the impact of ESG disclosure on FP is considerably greater for the Big-4.

The study enriches the existing knowledge by providing empirical evidence on the moderating role of AQ on the ESG disclosure and FP relationship. The findings have several policy implications.

With growing global emphasis on sustainability, environmental, social and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a key focus for businesses striving to balance profit with social and environmental responsibility. The purpose of this study is to analyze the publication trends, influential sources, authors and countries on ESG literature as well as highlighting future research themes and directions in ESG and CSR domain.

This study examined 783 documents published between 2008 and 2024 from two major databases including Scopus and Web of Science by using Biblioshiny (R Studio) and VOSviewer for thematic analysis and network cluster analysis, respectively.

The findings demonstrate significant growth in ESG and CSR research, with an upward publication metrics and citation rates. The highest numbers of publications are from developed countries such as USA, China and UK and key journals include Finance Research Letters and Journal of Sustainable Finance and Investment. The cluster analyses identified five key clusters: Transforming Responsible Investing into ESG Investment, Nexus of ESG Practices, Financial Outcomes and Stakeholder Engagement, Aligning ESG Practices with Technological Innovation, Governance and Ethics in Sustainability: CSR-Driven Reporting Practices and ESG Integration and Financial Sustainability.

This study delineates a comprehensive bibliometric analysis by using a unique diverse keyword search strategy to encompass various aspects of ESG literature and filling gaps in previous studies that relied on limited databases and search query.

The objectives of the study are threefold. The primary objective is to examine the impact of environmental disclosures (ED) on financial distress (FD) situation of the companies. The second objective is to investigate the impact of internal (corporate governance score) and external governance (national governance index) structure on FD. And third is to examine the ED–FD nexus with the interaction of both governance structures.

Using eight years of panel data for the 254 non-financial companies, and applying two-way fixed effects models, we arrive at our statistical estimates.

The results indicate that an increase in ED scores reduces FD. While corporate governance is insignificant to FD, national governance is effective in reducing FD. Interestingly, corporate governance negatively moderates the linkages between ED and FD, while national governance does not exhibit any such interaction effects.

We contribute to the existing literature by being the pioneer study to test the relationship between ED and FD for a sample of Indian companies and that too, with the moderation of internal and external governance structures.

This study aims to understand the relationship between a company’s sustainability (ESG) disclosures and its valuation. In addition, it also seeks to analyse the moderating effect of firm size on the association between ESG disclosures and firm valuation.

The NIFTY 200 index comprising India’s top 200 companies by market capitalisation from different industrial sectors was chosen for this study. The sample period was from 2017 to 2022. The fixed effect regression analysis was conducted on the panel data for analysis purposes.

A positive influence of ESG disclosures on firm value was observed, primarily owing to the environmental and social disclosures. Interestingly, the moderating impact of firm size on the linkage between ESG disclosures and firm value was found to be negative.

Most extant literature show a positive association between ESG disclosures and firm valuation, which was also observed in our study. However, the study results indicate that larger firms are less likely to benefit from the ESG – firm valuation relationship rather than small firms. This could have key policy-level implications for smaller firms from emerging nations that usually refrain from sustainability disclosures.

This study aims to investigate into the dynamic connection between ESG scores and the volatility term structure for Indian companies listed BSE. The study divides the BSE-100 listed companies into two panels based on their median ESG scores in 2022, creating high and low ESG scoring groups to capture volatility structure.

The study employs time-varying symmetric and asymmetric GARCH models and followed by continuous Wavelet to capture volatility structure and explore comparative resilience behavior.

The study found similar volatility patterns regardless of ESG scores, nudging doubt on the direct impact of ESG on volatility. Additionally, both high- and low-ESG-scored companies displayed high vulnerabilities during the pandemic, raising questions about the effectiveness of ESG frameworks in capturing risks. Finally, by examining the resilience behavior of ESG-scored companies during the pandemic, our study contributes to the evolving understanding of the intersection between ESG performance and crisis response.

The study carries vital implications for investors and policymakers. It highlights the urgent need to strengthen the ESG framework and scores to shield investors from short- and long-term volatilities and economic vulnerabilities.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study investigating the Indian market by examining the volatility structure and resilience behavior of high- and low-ESG-scored companies during the pandemic.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2024-0113

After studying and analyzing this case, students will be able to evaluate the strategic alternatives for growth for a small entrepreneurial business in an emerging market, analyze the trade-offs between maintaining continuity and change in the growth strategy adopted by an organization and synthesize an appropriate growth strategy for managing the trade-off between continuity and change in an organization.

It was late April 2022, and Mohammad Hamza – the founder and marketing head of Engineering & Environmental Solutions (E&E Solutions) – disconnected the call of his sales manager. His mind was fixated on how to craft the strategy for the next phase of the company’s growth. The deadline for their biggest tender was at the end of May 2022. Should he commit all the company’s reserves to this project or pursue global markets? Launched in 2015, E&E Solutions had come a long way from being a start-up with just one product to a full-blown manufacturer and environmental monitoring equipment service provider. Growing pollution and strictness in compliance propelled the demand for environmental monitoring equipment in India, poised to reach $342m by 2025. E&E Solutions leveraged its technological capabilities in Internet of Things and sensors producing low-cost monitoring equipment to gain an edge in an evolving market and bootstrapped its way to almost $5m annual turnover in 2021. However, the last review meeting brought many concerns for the next growth phase. E&E Solutions had so far focused on the domestic market, catering to the demands of private as well as government clients. A significant cause for concern had been the small order size of private players, averaging $2,000 and a lower net margin of 8%. Moreover, the company had been missing out on opportunities to bid for large government contracts owing to stringent bidding credentials required (such as turnover of at least 50%–80% of the project value and previous similar order experience with a range of at least 70% of the project value). Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic had stalled their efforts to tap a promising global environmental monitoring market (predicted to be $44bn by 2030). As Hamza and his team sat in their board room for a discussion, they had two alternatives. Either continue focusing on the domestic market, especially the big government contracts (more than $12m order size) or explore the markets in other emerging economies with demand for similar products (such as Middle East and North Africa region) more aggressively. Hamza was, however, wondering if they could do both, for he knew that to qualify for big government contracts, they needed to scale up. He was also getting restless after missing his target of reaching $20m in five years, especially since India’s ecosystem for start-ups and the small business sector had witnessed favorable policies and support from the government. He started pondering how to leverage his organization’s strengths and continuities to achieve the required pace and scale of change. His thoughts wandered around dividing the cash reserves of $500,000 to fuel growth without reducing the R&D budget. After all, R&D has been E&E Solutions’ forte since its inception and has been pivotal in creating its differentiation.

This case study can be used for core strategic management course at the undergraduate and graduate level of management programs. It can also be used in advanced strategy courses like strategic change, entrepreneurship and small business management offered in MBA programs.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy