Investment Activism →

Market Investors Pay More for Resilient Companies

During a market collapse, investors will pay up for companies considered resilient in their response, according to George Serafeim. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

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.

Why CalSTRS Chooses to Engage with the Gun Industry

Should large institutional investors divest or engage if they have an issue with a company? In a recent case study, Vikram Gandhi discusses how CalSTRS, the $200 billion pension plan for California public school teachers, chose to engage with gun makers and retailers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Shareholder Activism and Firms’ Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Risks

Shareholder resolutions typically fail, and often by a wide margin. So why do active investors bother? It turns out that resolutions nonetheless can influence corporate transparency. Specifically, after being targeted with shareholder resolutions on environmental topics, this research shows that companies are more likely to publicly disclose their climate change risks—and that such disclosure increases these companies’ valuation.

Activist CEOs Are Rising Up—and Their Customers Are Listening

Are product sales affected by the CEO's stance on political and social issues? Michael Toffel and Aaron Chatterji study how consumers react to vocal chief executives. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

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; 0 Comments.

Shareholder Activism on Sustainability Issues

Shareholder proposals on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics have more than doubled in the last two decades. Testing the effect that ESG proposals have on firms’ subsequent ESG performance and market valuation, the authors find a considerable portion (42 percent) of ESG proposals to be financially beneficial and associated with subsequent increases in environmental and social performance, too. Managers need to identify significant sustainability issues, based on their industry, wisely because errors could be value-destroying as the authors show declines in financial value for the rest of the sample (58 percent).