- 23 Jan 2020
- Research & Ideas
Businesses Need a 'Catalyst' to Make CSR Practices Stick
Despite best intentions, many corporate social responsibility programs fail. One answer: Companies need community partners to sustain work over the long term, says Robert Kaplan. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 04 Dec 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Intelligent Design of Inclusive Growth Strategies
How companies, working with a catalyst, can redesign supply chains to achieve economic, environmental, and social returns.
- 04 Dec 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Pathways to Materiality: How Sustainability Issues Become Financially Material to Corporations and Their Investors
This paper provides a framework for understanding and predicting how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues become financially material.
- 23 Oct 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Decarbonization Factors
This paper contributes to a growing knowledge base about how climate change impacts investor expectations, capital allocations and thereby pricing and returns. It provides actionable insights into how to decarbonize portfolios and evaluate the likely performance and carbon exposure differences across strategies.
- 25 Sep 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Corporate Purpose and Firm Ownership
This study shows that corporate purpose varies greatly according to the nature of firm ownership, and these differences can be least partly explained by the choices and compensation of the CEOs. The greater the pay gap between CEOs and employees, the lower the sense of corporate purpose within the organization.
- 20 Aug 2019
- Cold Call Podcast
Should a Pension Fund Try to Change the World?
Can inclusivity, sustainability, and better governance boost economies? Rebecca Henderson and George Serafeim discuss the impact investing efforts of GPIF, Japan’s government pension fund. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 29 Jan 2019
- Research & Ideas
'Green Bonds' May Be Our Best Bet for Environmental Damage Control
The popularity of green bonds as a way to finance environmentally friendly projects is on the upswing, say Malcolm Baker and George Serafeim. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 22 Jan 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Corporate Sustainability: A Strategy?
Between 2012 and 2017, companies within most industries adopted an increasingly similar set of sustainability practices. This study examines the interplay between common and strategic practices. This dynamic distinction helps for understanding whether and how sustainability practices can help companies establish a competitive advantage over time.
- 03 Jan 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Financing the Response to Climate Change: The Pricing and Ownership of US Green Bonds
Green bonds are used for environmentally friendly purposes like renewable energy. Complementing previous research, this paper explores the US corporate and municipal green bond and shows that a subset of investors is willing to give up some return to hold green bonds.
- 03 Dec 2018
- Research & Ideas
How Companies Can Increase Market Rewards for Sustainability Efforts
There is a connection between public sentiment about a company and how the market rewards its corporate social performance, according to George Serafeim. Is your company undervalued? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 29 Oct 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Public Sentiment and the Price of Corporate Sustainability
Public opinions from industry experts are important in the economy but it has not been clear how they affect the valuation of and returns to corporate activities. Using big data and machine learning, this paper analyzes how public sentiment influences the market pricing of firms’ sustainability activities and thereby the future stock returns of portfolios that integrate environmental, social, and governance data.
- 24 Jul 2018
- Op-Ed
4 Ways Managers Can Exercise Their 'Agency' to Change the World
In the face of today’s many messy problems, businesses must strive to help find solutions, argues George Serafeim. Managers who learn to exercise their “agency” at every level will be in the best position to create change. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 10 Jan 2018
- Research & Ideas
Working for a Shamed Company Can Hurt Your Future Compensation
People who work for a company guilty of malfeasance may see their future compensation curtailed, even if they are guilty of nothing, according to research by Boris Groysberg, Eric Lin, and George Serafeim. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 06 Dec 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Does Financial Misconduct Affect the Future Compensation of Alumni Managers?
Analyzing data from an executive search firm, this paper explains how former employees who are free from wrongdoing still pay a price in stigma after incidents of corporate financial misconduct. The finding is potentially disquieting for all managers, because it suggests that one’s human capital can be impaired even long after one moves on and suggests the need for developing a human capital strategy for reacting to misconduct of past employers.
- 28 Aug 2017
- Research & Ideas
Should Industry Competitors Cooperate More to Solve World Problems?
George Serafeim has a theory that if industry competitors collaborated more, big world problems could start to be addressed. Is that even possible in a market economy? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 22 Aug 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Investors as Stewards of the Commons?
This paper lays out a framework suggesting that index investors and adequately funded asset owners are a potential mechanism to build and sustain pre-competitive collaborations for addressing environmental and social issues. With long time horizons and significant common ownership of companies within the same industry or supply chain, investors could serve as vehicles for the establishment and/or stability of collaborations between companies.
- 31 May 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Stock Price Synchronicity and Material Sustainability Information
This paper seeks to understand and provide evidence on the characteristics of emerging accounting standards for sustainability information. Given that a large number of institutional investors seek sustainability data and have committed to using it, it is increasingly important to develop a robust accounting infrastructure for the reporting of such information.
- 13 Mar 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Why and How Investors Use ESG Information: Evidence from a Global Survey
Survey data from more than 400 senior investment professionals provides insights into why and how investors use environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information as well as the challenges in using this information. This study also documents what investors believe will be important ESG styles in the future.
- 11 Oct 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Corporate Purpose and Financial Performance
An organization’s purpose is not a formal announcement, but depends on the employees believing in and acting to promote that purpose. This study provides evidence about whether employee beliefs in a strong corporate purpose are associated with superior or inferior financial performance. It shows that organizations where middle managers and salaried professionals feel a strong sense of purpose and have clarity about their job responsibilities and tasks experience superior future financial performance. There was no association for senior executives, sales, or hourly workers.
A Preliminary Framework for Product Impact-Weighted Accounts
Although there is growing interest in environmental, social, and governance measurement, the impact of company operations is emphasized over product use. A framework like this one that captures a product’s reach, accessibility, quality, optionality, environmental use emissions, and end of life recyclability allows for a systematic methodology that can be applied to companies across many industries.