Julie Cotter and Muftah M. Najah
Purpose – This chapter reviews the influence that institutional investors have on corporate climate change disclosures and related reporting regimes…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter reviews the influence that institutional investors have on corporate climate change disclosures and related reporting regimes.
Approach – We overview recent research undertaken by the authors that provides evidence of the influence of institutional investors on voluntary reporting of climate change information in annual and sustainability reports. In addition, this chapter considers the influence of institutional investors on climate change disclosure regulation and the use of climate change information by investors.
Findings – The material presented in this chapter indicates that institutional investor coalitions have been internationally influential in determining the extent and content of climate change disclosures of large corporations. The CDP annual questionnaire has been particularly influential. The influence of other initiatives such as development of the CDSB reporting framework is not yet clear. Further, the ability of institutional investor coalitions to influence the regulation of climate change disclosure is uncertain, since most national governments have not yet headed requests for greater regulation.
Research implications – Several avenues for future research are identified including a consideration of the trade-offs between investor information demands, costs of compliance and a desire for concise reporting; investor decision making processes as well as the impediments to use of the information currently available; and the validity of the perception that increased disclosure requirements assists with driving emissions reductions and ensuring adequate consideration of climate change risks.
Value – The material presented in this chapter is expected to be useful for informing the continuing debate around the regulation of and/or provision of guidance to companies about the disclosure of climate change related information to investors and other stakeholders.
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Caitlin Mongie, Gizelle Willows and Shelly Herbert
This study investigates the impact of the Paris Agreement (and other factors) on carbon information disclosures to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the impact of the Paris Agreement (and other factors) on carbon information disclosures to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
Design/Methodology/Approach
A sample of South African listed companies was selected and data analysed from 2013 to 2017. A random effect panel data model using SPSS was used to determine whether the Paris Agreement had an effect on carbon information disclosure.
Findings
The results indicate that (1) the Paris Agreement, as an example of an intergovernmental coordination initiative, is significant in creating awareness and increasing the carbon disclosures to the CDP. Furthermore, (2) in terms of the other factors examined, providing incentives for managing climate change and assessing climate risks further into the future improves disclosure quality, while no relationship was found between the CDP score and the approval by key management personnel.
Originality
This research examines CDP disclosures for an emerging market before and after the signing of the Paris Agreement.
Practical Implications
This research shows the importance of supportive government policy. Furthermore, a commitment to climate change disclosure is manageable and achievable and needs to be implemented at the management level.
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Sheng-Hung Chen, Feng-Jui Hsu and Ying-Chen Lai
There is little known globally on the association among the independent shareholder, board size and merger and acquisition (M&A) performance. This paper addresses the global issue…
Abstract
Purpose
There is little known globally on the association among the independent shareholder, board size and merger and acquisition (M&A) performance. This paper addresses the global issue about cross-border M&A in banking sector, particularly exploring the role of difference in the independent shareholder and board size between acquirer and target banks on synergy gains based on the international study.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on cross-border bank M&As data on 59 deals from 1995 to 2009, we initially apply social network analysis techniques to explore the country connectedness of the acquirer-target banks in cross-border M&As. Ordinary least squares (OLS) with robust standard errors is further used to investigate synergy gains within the difference in the degree of bank independent shareholder and board sizes between the acquirer and target banks.
Findings
Our results indicate that the acquiring banks are generally interconnected with the targeted banks and that some of acquiring banks are clearly concentrated in Asian countries including China, Hong Kong, and Philippines. Moreover, we find that cross-border M&As with larger difference in independent shareholders between the bidder and target bank would result in higher synergy gains in all cases of takeover premiums on 1 day, 1 week and 4 weeks. In addition, financial differences between the bidder and target banks have a significant impact on synergetic gains, a topic not explored in previous studies. There is no evidence that institutional and governance differences between bidder and target bank have significant cross-border impacts on takeover premiums with respect to 1 day, 1 week and 4 weeks, respectively.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the international issue about the role of difference in the degree of bank independent shareholder and board sizes between acquirer and target banks on synergy gains. Based on bank cross-border M&As data on 59 deals from 1995 to 2009, we initially apply social network analysis to explore the country connectedness of acquirer-target bank in cross-border M&As, while ten ordinary least squares (OLS) with robust standard errors is used to investigate synergy gains within the difference in the degree of bank independent shareholder and board sizes between acquirer and target banks.
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Rosa Lombardi, Federico Schimperna, Paola Paoloni and Michele Galeotti
This paper investigates the quality and quantity of climate-related information disclosed by public interest entities (PIEs) in the non-financial disclosure scenario. Thus, this…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the quality and quantity of climate-related information disclosed by public interest entities (PIEs) in the non-financial disclosure scenario. Thus, this paper aims at drafting the state of the art on what is climate-related information disclosed by PIEs in the changing EU non-financial regulation assuming the Italian scenario and the industrial industry as significant in achieving the research aims.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used the content analysis composing the sample of 34 large listed companies (i.e. PIEs) belonging to the industrial sector in Italy. The authors choose the Italian PIEs’ sustainability reports published in 2019 after the adoption of the EU directive and its guidelines. The authors adopted a coding and classification system, investigating the climate-related information through a systematic, objective and reliable method. The authors defined 99 indicators along the structure of the European Commission's guidelines and the indicator of disclosure, climate-related information indicator (CII). The framework mainly derives from the corporate disclosure theory and legitimacy and stakeholders' theories.
Findings
The results show the lack of several required climate-related information or a not in-depth presentation of information. Thus, findings are interesting in emphasizing that the current climate-related disclosure is at an early stage in complying with the European Commission's guidelines. Additionally, the findings enlarge previous theories on corporate disclosure, proposing new insights in the light of the recent interest in climate-related information.
Research limitations/implications
Evidence contributes to extending the existing literature, drafting the state of the art of what is the quality and the quantity of the climate-related information in the corporate disclosure in the European scenario.
Practical implications
This paper is directed to propose the state of the climate-related disclosure following the EU directive guidelines, proposing some evidence to support the path toward the integrations of information by several parts (e.g. companies, regulators and so on).
Originality/value
The paper is a useful baseline for academics, practitioners, policy-makers and regulators in understanding actions to adopt in the climate-related disclosure and what could be the impact of forthcoming regulations in the field, also having some metrics (e.g. score value of disclosure, the indicator of climate-related information disclosure – CII).
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A Studnet may enter the second (S.2) year of the NC course in Chemistry provided he obtains passes at GCE ‘O’ level in Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and English Language. He…
Abstract
A Studnet may enter the second (S.2) year of the NC course in Chemistry provided he obtains passes at GCE ‘O’ level in Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and English Language. He then pursues a two‐year, part‐time course leading to the ONC in Chemistry. In an article published recently in TECHNICAL EDUCATION it was shown that the failure rate at both the ONC and HNC levels was very high. It was suggested that present syllabuses for courses leading to ONC and HNC were, in many instances, too traditional and too long. A syllabus designed for HNC students may be very suitable when viewed in isolation, but may lead to difficulties for both student and teacher if it has been constructed without reference to the appropriate ONC syllabus; or if it was constructed to make good anomalies in and omissions from the ONC syllabus. The result is that students who are successful at the ONC stage have inadequate understanding and knowledge of fundamental chemistry to profit from the HNC course. This discussion is mainly concerned with ONC schemes and syllabuses, although some of the remarks apply equally well to HNC courses.
R. Glenn Richey, Mert Tokman, Robert E. Wright and Michael G. Harvey
This manuscript develops a reverse logistics monitoring system for controlling reverse flows of materials through marketing channels in emerging economies. Institutional theory is…
Abstract
This manuscript develops a reverse logistics monitoring system for controlling reverse flows of materials through marketing channels in emerging economies. Institutional theory is incorporated to show that both positive and negative impacts on environmental sustainability can be predicted. A partner control framework and scales are then developed for use by managers and researchers in furthering their understanding of the effective management of global reverse logistic networks
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Approach is a fashionable word at present, particularly when applied to chemistry. New ‘approaches’ to the subject are frequently being devised, so it is time to take a closer…
Abstract
Approach is a fashionable word at present, particularly when applied to chemistry. New ‘approaches’ to the subject are frequently being devised, so it is time to take a closer look into the present system of training and producing qualified chemists.