Eco-innovation is crucial for companies to balance environmental compliance with profitability. It involves implementing more efficient resource use and reducing harmful environmental effects. However, eco-innovation requires significant resources and corporate commitment. This thesis examines how sustainability affects firms’ performance and how some firms’ structures influence this relationship. Three articles are included: one studies the moderating role of the supply chain network in the relationship between corporate environmental and financial performance; the second studies how board gender diversity impacts eco-innovation through a moderated mediation model introducing the CSR committee as a mediator and board-independent members as a moderator; and the third studies the link between eco-innovation and productivity in reducing GHG emissions.

Esta tese é composta de três ensaios empíricos sobre finanças corporativas e macrofinanças, todos eles aplicados ao Brasil. O primeiro mostra como uma mudanças tributárias no nível do acionista podem afetar as decisões financeiras das empresas investidas, através da estrutura de propriedade. Os resultados sugerem que as empresas ajustam suas políticas financeiras para minimizar os gastos tributários totais (nível do acionista mais nível da firma). No segundo artigo, analisa-se a relação entre o investimento estrangeiro em carteira (EFPI) e o investimento agregado brasileiro. Os resultados mostram que o EFPI tem um impacto marginal positivo na formação bruta de capital fixo, mas que essa relação é condicionada a fatores institucionais, tal como o grau de intervenção do governo no mercado de crédito. Finalmente, no terceiro ensaio, mostro que um aumento exógeno dos preços dos ativos colateralizáveis imobiliários pode ter consequências positivas no financiamento e investimento das empresas. As firmas aparentemente mais beneficiadas pelo ciclo expansionista de crédito observado no Brasil durante os anos 2000 foram justamente aquelas com menor grau de tangibilidade, potencialmente fora do mercado de crédito no período anterior. / In this thesis, I present three empirical essays on corporate finance and macro-finance applied to Brazil. In the first one, I show that an exogenous tax change at the investor level can have real effects on the invested firms’ behavior. My evidence suggests that treated firms adjust their financial policies considering substitute financial instruments and seeking to minimize overall tax spending. In the second paper, I analyze the role of equity foreign portfolio investment (EFPI) on affecting aggregate investment. The results show that EFPI has a marginal positive impact on the gross capital formation, but this relation seems to be contingent on institutional factors such as government intervention in credit markets. Finally, in the third essay, I show that an exogenous increase in collateral prices can have positive consequences on firms’ financing and investment decisions. The credit expansion registered in Brazil in the middle of the 2000’s seem to have alleviated financial constraints most for smaller, less tangible firms, which probably were (at least partially) out of the credit market before the boom.

This thesis attempts to extend the research in the Corporate Social Performance – Corporate Financial Performance relationship. The studies conducted previously display mixed findings with no unified evidence of the relationship direction and impact. This study reviews the existing literature on CSP and CFP as well as their link, identifying main problems and brings forward the concepts of strategic CSP and ad-hoc CSP. These concepts in a wider term are referred as CSP maturity. The main aim of this study is to investigate whether there is a relationship between company’s financial performance and CSP maturity and if the relationship is present, the relationship direction and causality. A study sample was constructed from large European banks and insurance companies. A panel data containing the information of 86 companies measured separately three times in three years period was analyzed. The empirical study used return on asset (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and return on sales (ROS) ratios for CFP operationalisation. CSP maturity was measured as years of continuous involvement into strategic CSP. The correlation analysis was build in order to verify the hypothesis about the CSP maturity and CFP relationship direction. Additionally the average mean of ROA, ROE and ROS was compared between the companies engaged in strategic and ad-hoc CSP. The weighted least squares regression, including several control variables was constructed to test two models of CSP maturity and CFP... [to full text] / Šiuo magistriniu darbu autorė siekia praplėsti įmonės socialnės veiklos (CSP) ir įmonės finansinių resultatų (CFP) sąryšio tyrimus. Ankstesnių tyrimų rezultatai yra prieštaraujantys ir nepateikiantys vienalyčių įrodymų apie šių dviejų kintamųjų ryšio kryptį bei stiprumą. Šis tyrimas apžvelgia ankstesnius tyrimus, atliktus siekiant ištirti ryšį tarp CSP ir CFP, identifikuoja pagrindines problemas ir pristato strateginės ir atsitiktinės socialinės veiklos sampratas. Šios sampratos apibendrintai yra vadinamos CSP branda. Pagrindinis šio tyrimo tikslas yra ištirti ar egzistuoja priežastinis ryšys tarp CSP and CFP ir jei egzistuoja, nustatyti jo kryptį bei priežastingumą. Tyrimui naudojama imtis buvo sudaryta iš stambių Europos bankų bei draudimo kompanijų. Tyrimui buvo naudojami paneliniai duomenys, kurie buvo gauti 86 įmones matuojant 3 kartus tryjų metų periode. Tyrime įmonių finansiniai rezsultatai buvo matuojami turto grąžos (ROA), nuosavybės grąžos (ROE) bei pardavimų grąžos (ROS) rodikliais. CSP branda buvo matuojama nepertraukiamos strategines CSP veiklos metų skaičiumi. Koreliacijos analizė parodė neigiamą ryšį tarp CSP brandos ir įmonės finansinų rezultatų (koreliacijos koeficinetai kievienam finansiniam rodikiui buvo -0.438, -0.358, -0.350). Nepriklausomų imčių vidurkių palyginimo T-testas parodė statistiškai reikšmingą skirtumą tarp ROA ir ROS rodiklių lyginant įmones, kurios CSP vykdė strategiškai ir atsitiktinai. Įmonės, kurios vykdė CSP atsitiktinai, jų ROA ir ROS... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Esta tese é composta de três ensaios empíricos sobre finanças corporativas e macrofinanças, todos eles aplicados ao Brasil. O primeiro mostra como uma mudanças tributárias no nível do acionista podem afetar as decisões financeiras das empresas investidas, através da estrutura de propriedade. Os resultados sugerem que as empresas ajustam suas políticas financeiras para minimizar os gastos tributários totais (nível do acionista mais nível da firma). No segundo artigo, analisa-se a relação entre o investimento estrangeiro em carteira (EFPI) e o investimento agregado brasileiro. Os resultados mostram que o EFPI tem um impacto marginal positivo na formação bruta de capital fixo, mas que essa relação é condicionada a fatores institucionais, tal como o grau de intervenção do governo no mercado de crédito. Finalmente, no terceiro ensaio, mostro que um aumento exógeno dos preços dos ativos colateralizáveis imobiliários pode ter consequências positivas no financiamento e investimento das empresas. As firmas aparentemente mais beneficiadas pelo ciclo expansionista de crédito observado no Brasil durante os anos 2000 foram justamente aquelas com menor grau de tangibilidade, potencialmente fora do mercado de crédito no período anterior. / In this thesis, I present three empirical essays on corporate finance and macro-finance applied to Brazil. In the first one, I show that an exogenous tax change at the investor level can have real effects on the invested firms’ behavior. My evidence suggests that treated firms adjust their financial policies considering substitute financial instruments and seeking to minimize overall tax spending. In the second paper, I analyze the role of equity foreign portfolio investment (EFPI) on affecting aggregate investment. The results show that EFPI has a marginal positive impact on the gross capital formation, but this relation seems to be contingent on institutional factors such as government intervention in credit markets. Finally, in the third essay, I show that an exogenous increase in collateral prices can have positive consequences on firms’ financing and investment decisions. The credit expansion registered in Brazil in the middle of the 2000’s seem to have alleviated financial constraints most for smaller, less tangible firms, which probably were (at least partially) out of the credit market before the boom.

Esta tese é composta de três ensaios empíricos sobre finanças corporativas e macrofinanças, todos eles aplicados ao Brasil. O primeiro mostra como uma mudanças tributárias no nível do acionista podem afetar as decisões financeiras das empresas investidas, através da estrutura de propriedade. Os resultados sugerem que as empresas ajustam suas políticas financeiras para minimizar os gastos tributários totais (nível do acionista mais nível da firma). No segundo artigo, analisa-se a relação entre o investimento estrangeiro em carteira (EFPI) e o investimento agregado brasileiro. Os resultados mostram que o EFPI tem um impacto marginal positivo na formação bruta de capital fixo, mas que essa relação é condicionada a fatores institucionais, tal como o grau de intervenção do governo no mercado de crédito. Finalmente, no terceiro ensaio, mostro que um aumento exógeno dos preços dos ativos colateralizáveis imobiliários pode ter consequências positivas no financiamento e investimento das empresas. As firmas aparentemente mais beneficiadas pelo ciclo expansionista de crédito observado no Brasil durante os anos 2000 foram justamente aquelas com menor grau de tangibilidade, potencialmente fora do mercado de crédito no período anterior. / In this thesis, I present three empirical essays on corporate finance and macro-finance applied to Brazil. In the first one, I show that an exogenous tax change at the investor level can have real effects on the invested firms’ behavior. My evidence suggests that treated firms adjust their financial policies considering substitute financial instruments and seeking to minimize overall tax spending. In the second paper, I analyze the role of equity foreign portfolio investment (EFPI) on affecting aggregate investment. The results show that EFPI has a marginal positive impact on the gross capital formation, but this relation seems to be contingent on institutional factors such as government intervention in credit markets. Finally, in the third essay, I show that an exogenous increase in collateral prices can have positive consequences on firms’ financing and investment decisions. The credit expansion registered in Brazil in the middle of the 2000’s seem to have alleviated financial constraints most for smaller, less tangible firms, which probably were (at least partially) out of the credit market before the boom.

Numerous prior studies examining the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance have produced mixed results. Consumers expect alignment between corporation's CSR and business activities, yet a paucity of research examines the nature of CSR activities as related to corporate financial performance. Corporate leaders lack direction as to what CSR activities are most impactful. CSR is grounded in stakeholder theory, ethical work climate, and servant leadership theories. The relationship between self-interest in CSR activities, an index of alignment between business activities and CSR activities, and financial performance as measured by return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and change in market value added (MVA) as a percentage of assets has been underresearched. This study examined the financial performance of 77 companies from the 2014 Fortune 500. Information for the construct of self-interest in CSR activities was obtained from the websites of the sample companies. Correlational analysis was used to examine the relationship between self-interest in CSR activities and financial performance metrics. Multiple regression was used to control for firm size, industry, and CSR perception. Self-interest in CSR activities was found to be a significant predictor of both ROA and ROE, and was not found to be a significant predictor of change in MVA as a percentage of assets. This study contributes to positive social change by helping to illustrate a business case for CSR, providing leaders with incentive to invest in socially responsible activities in line with their business activities. Increased CSR activity directly benefits the most marginalized in a society, including those populations who lack voice.

Corporate sustainability confronts significant challenges when supply chain managers pursue short-term financial performance to meet stakeholders' expectations. To achieve sustainable economic success, organizational managers need to understand the relationship between corporate sustainability and long-term financial performance. Based on the resource dependence theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between sustainable supply chain management (SCM), stakeholder pressure, and corporate sustainability performance. The population consisted of worldwide public organizations from Newsweek Global Green Ranking 2016 list engaged in sustainable SCM. The secondary data for the study were collected from databases hosted by Sustainalytics and Standard & Poor's. The hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated statistically significant relationships between sustainable SCM and corporate sustainability performance, F(5, 158) = 3,981, p = .002, R2[.112], and between stakeholder pressure and corporate sustainability performance, F(5, 158) = 2,552 p = .030, R2[.075]. Analysis of the relationship between sustainable SCM and corporate sustainability performance with stakeholder pressure as a moderator showed non-significant interaction effect, F (5, 158) = 5.54, p < .001, R2 =.11. R2 -chng =.0007, p-int = .669. With stakeholder pressure as a mediator, the relationship showed non-significant indirect effect, b = .024, z = 0.97, p = .329. The findings of this study could contribute to the social change given that sustainable development of supply chains support the conservation of natural resources and living standards of stakeholders.

Consumers are demanding that corporations become more socially responsible. Executives are challenged to maximize shareholders' returns with achieving a favorable corporate citizen status. The research problem was a gap in knowledge and understanding of the impact of corporate social responsibility on financial performance. This study used multiple linear regression to assess the relationship between key indicators of corporate social responsibility and financial performance from 372 corporations in the S&P500 in 2014. The theoretical foundation was Freeman's stakeholder theory. Environment, community, human rights, diversity, employee relations, product quality, and corporate governance were measures of social performance. Return on assets was used to measure financial performance. When corporate social responsibility was evaluated as an aggregate variable, a significant and negative relationship was found in the financial and material sectors. When corporate social responsibility variables were evaluated independently, employee relations and product quality in the healthcare sector, and community in the financial sector, were found to be positively significant. Environment, product quality, and corporate governance in the financial sector, and employee relations in the consumer and energy sectors, were found to be negatively significant. This study revealed that the relationship between some social variables and financial performance are significant, but not always in a positive direction. Practitioners, executives, and managers can use the findings to evaluate their firm's social position, develop strategies to address gaps, and undertake actions to enhance their firm's social performance, thereby creating positive social change in the community.

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For more than 40 years, a tremendous number of studies have empirically explored the relationship between Corporate Environmental Performance (CEP) and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP). This study considers the relationship from a new perspective—via a qualitative research approach based on expert interviews. First, practitioners are queried for their view on the link between CEP and CFP and how to measure it. Since the vast majority see a positive relationship, this study contributes with a new form of evidence that it pays to be green. The chosen qualitative approach also allows a more detailed analysis of underlying cause-and-effect mechanisms. For instance, interviewed practitioners emphasize a direct and indirect impact from CEP on CFP. Second, the study conducts interviews with experts from research and associations (non-practitioners) and compares the viewpoints of the two interview groups. One prevalent difference refers to the fact that non-practitioners do not focus on the two impact levels. Moreover, business experts perceive the link between CEP and CFP as much less complex and reveal more pragmatically oriented considerations. The study then discusses how the interview results and identified differences can be used to direct future research and to support corporations in their move towards sustainability.