Grigoris Giannarakis

Financial, governance and environmental determinants of corporate social responsible disclosure

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the vital determinants on the extent of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in a US context. The selected variables are CEO duality, the presence of women in the board, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, emission reduction initiatives, companys risk premium, financial leverage and industrys profile. Design/methodology/approach – The environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure score is used as a proxy for the extent of CSR disclosure calculated by Bloomberg. The influence of plausible variables on the ESG disclosure score and its sub-categories was examined by using the least squares dummy variable model (LSDV) incorporating 100 companies listed on Standard & Poors 500 Index for the period 2009-2012. Findings – The results show that the emission reduction initiatives and GHG emissions influence positively the extent of ESG score. In addition, slight differences exist concerning the determinants of different types of disclosures. F...

A GARCH Examination of Macroeconomic Effects on U.S. Stock Market: A Distinguish between the Total Market Index and the Sustainability Index

The paper examines the impact of several macroeconomic variables on the Dow Jones Sustainability and Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 indexes, using a GARCH model and monthly data for the period January, 2000 to January, 2008. The results show that changes in returns of crude oil prices affect negatively the U.S. stock market, contrary to changes in returns of the 10-year bond value that affect it positively. Both economic indicators influence the DJSI with a month delay. Also, the exchange rate volatility affects negatively the returns of the U.S. stock market and the non-farm payroll can be characterised as a stabilising factor for the DJSI.

The relation between voluntary carbon disclosure and environmental performance: The case of S&P 500

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of environmental performance on the environmental disclosure level. Design/methodology/approach Carbon disclosure leadership index score is considered as a proxy of carbon disclosure level, while greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a proxy of environmental performance. In addition, six control variables are used: return on assets, financial leverage, company’s size, CEO duality, board size and percentage of independent directors on board. The sample comprises 102 companies from a population of Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) companies over a five-year period, 2009-2013. Findings Results revealed that higher pollution levels in terms of GHG emissions affect negatively the dissemination of carbon disclosure information, suggesting a positive relationship between environmental performance and environmental disclosure level. In addition, companies with good environmental performance in relation to their average environmental performance disseminate more carbon information in their disclosures. Thus, the carbon disclosure level is indicative of environmental performance consistent with the voluntary disclosure theory. Practical implications The managerial behavior regarding the relation of environmental disclosure and environmental performance is explained. In addition, the findings should be of use to those investors interested in finding carbon emission information so that they assess investments and evaluate their current portfolios in terms of environmental sustainability. Originality/value It is intended to ascertain the reliability level of carbon disclosure regarding carbon emission information by incorporating the carbon disclosure leadership index score and GHG emissions.

Innovation and SMEs Financial Distress During the Crisis Period: The Greek Paradigm

The economic crisis in recent years has brought significant challenges in almost all business and shown that exogenous factors act as catalysts in markets. As a consequence of such a result, there is a need to highlight the importance of implementing models for analyzing potential future firms’ behavior, namely creating models for assessing potential economic impact that contribute a lot in avoiding firms’ financial default. This chapter focuses on describing factors affecting business risk associated with Altman’s score and proposes a model in which indicators used are critical for firms’ financial distress. Altman’s Z-score is used to formulate SMEs’ risk zone category in comparison with key factors associated with firms’ viability, such as ERP and Patents use, Age of firms, SMEs cooperation with universities and research centers to implement successful products and services, as well as the number of women in board, all derived from a field research. The aim of this chapter is to find signals of firms’ financial distress as well as actions needed to be taken to avoid it, in order to provide the management with certain strategic movements to avoid potential firms’ default.

The effect of weather on the European stock market: The case of Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether weather variables can explain the stock return reaction on the Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index by employing a number of macroeconomic indicators as control variables. Design/methodology/approach The authors incorporate the generalized autogressive conditional heteroskeasticity model in methodology for the period August 26, 2009 to May 30, 2014 using daily data. Findings The empirical results indicate that not only do changes in humidity and wind levels seem to affect positively the European stock market but changes in returns oil and gold prices as well. However, the results show that the volatility of the US dollar/Yen exchange rate and ten-year bond value exerts significant negative impact on companies’ stock returns. Originality/value This study adds to the international literature by documenting the impact of weather variables on socially responsible companies.

The drivers of corporate governance disclosure: the case of Nifty 500 Index

Based on agency theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants on the dissemination level of corporate governance disclosure (CGD).,The sample of the study incorporates listed companies in Nifty 500 Index for the period 2009-2014. The Governance Disclosure Score calculated by Bloomberg is used as a proxy for the dissemination level of corporate governance information. In total, eight explanatory variables are uses, namely, board’s size, number of board meetings, CEO duality, presence of women on the board, company’s size, financial performance, Tobin’s Q ratio and financial leverage.,The results of study suggest a need for improvement in CGDs by Indian companies, as they fail to comply the majority of the proposed disclosure items. Furthermore, it is revealed that the number of board director, the value of company, the financial leverage and the presence of women affect negatively the dissemination level of corporate governance information. While, the size of company is the only determinant that positively affects the extent of CGD.,The results are valuable because they reveal the attributes that determines which companies needs less or extra monitoring by shareholders and investors regarding the applied corporate governance practices. In addition, the study can be valuable to policy makers responsible for the regulation of company’s accountability in relation to corporate governance practices.,The study extents previous studies by incorporating for the first time Bloomberg’s rating approach regarding the dissemination level of CGD in Indian context.

Determinants of dissemination of environmental information: an empirical survey

The major objective of the present paper is to identify the factors that influence the dissemination of environmental information. In particular, analyst stock recommendation, country level risk, corporate value and environmental performance are surveyed as determinants of the environmental dissemination level. The survey was based on a sample of 92 multinational firms for the period 2009–2013, longer than that used in most past works. The methodology employed on our data is the panel data analysis with fixed effects. As proxies, for the dissemination level of environmental information, two different environmental disclosure indexes are used the Environmental Disclosure Score and Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index. According to our findings, the environmental performance in terms of Emission Reduction Initiatives and the country’s risk premium affects in a positive way the dissemination of environmental disclosures while the results regarding the stock analyst recommendation are controversial. Another important finding is that the firm’s value is validated as an insignificant factor for the dissemination level of environmental information. The aforementioned results provide the corporate managers with a tool to attract environmental friendly investors. The novelty on the present manuscript stands on the use of proxies for the environmental performance; namely the first one is based on outcome – objective while the second one refers to the corporate intention, elements that enrich the existing literature in the field of environmental behavior and dissemination of the environmental information of a firm.