This study investigates the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP)and corporate financial performance (CFP) within the context of a particular CSPelement: environmental investment. Two models of the determinants of companies’environmental investment are estimated in order to capture the difference betweenfirms’ actual and expected level of environmental investment. The regressionresiduals are used as our measure of corporate social performance. Both market-basedand accounting-based measures of financial performance are applied to representcorporate financial performance. With the analysis of a sample encompassing 223Chinese heavy-polluting companies, we have found that it is more likely to observe asignificantly positive relationship between firms’ environmental endeavors and theiraccounting-based financial performance among firms that are more active to disclosecorporate information. Besides, building on our empirical findings that corporatesocial performance is positively correlated with accounting-based financialperformance but has no correlation with market-based financial performance, wesuggest a priority for managers from Chinese heavy-polluting industries when theyfulfill social demands of various stakeholders.

Thesis (M.COM. (Accounting)) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Corporate environmental investments have traditionally been deemed to be an unnecessary cost to companies because of perceived or no significant return on investment. However, recent literature is highlighting financial benefits accruing from environmental investments. This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental investment and shareholder value. The study uses the stakeholder and legitimacy theory to define the company‟s engagement with its external society and environment. From that perspective, the study examines the effect of corporate environmental investment on carbon emissions, hazardous solid waste disposal and company share price. Panel data multiple regression was used to investigate the relationship between the variables under study. Findings show a significant positive relationship between investment in carbon emissions and share price while there is an insignificant negative relationship between investment in hazardous solid waste and share price. The study contributes to the notion that reducing the environmental footprint generates positive shareholder gains by bringing new evidence from the South African mining industry. Further studies can be performed with company profitability as a measure of financial performance and further in a different sector such as manufacturing.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T19:14:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 30 / Nenhuma / Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar a relação entre os investimentos ambientais e o desempenho econômico das empresas. Para tanto, foram construídos arquétipos a partir de um grupo de foco, visando a definir as variáveis utilizadas nos modelos de regressão múltipla testados. Desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa aplicada, com abordagens qualitativa e quantitativa, documental e descritiva, contando com uma amostra de 353 empresas, compreendendo as informações contidas nos balanços sociais modelo IBASE, publicados no período de 1996 a 2007. No tratamento dos dados, aplicou-se um modelo econométrico cujos resultados indicam que os Investimentos Ambientais Internos (IAI) e os Investimentos Ambientais Externos (IAE) impactam, de modo significante, tanto a Receita Líquida (RL) das empresas quanto o Resultado Operacional (RO), sendo o único setor significativo o de petróleo e gás. Ao serem relacionadas às variáveis definidas pelo grupo de foco com a RL, constata-se que os IAI não apresentam correlação. Esta somente ocorre / This study investigates the relationship between environmental investment and economic performance of firms that published in the social balance through the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis (IBASE) in the period between 1996 to 2007. Using archetypes built from a focus group through system dynamics, there was defined the variables used on the regression analyses with panel data. The results indicate that the Internal Environmental Investments (IEI) and the External Environmental Investments (EEI) impact significantly the Liquid Revenue (LR) of the firms and the Operational Result (OR). When the variables defined by the focus group were related to the LR there is no co-relation among the IEI. However, the EEI are highly co-related and the variables Investment on Immobilized and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) also present a positive co-relation with LR. On the use of rates to observe that both IEI and Investment on Immobilized present a negative co-relation with LR, while EEI and GDP present a

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att göra en jämförande studie mellan faktorerna som enligt en teoretisk ram påverkar en miljöinvestering och faktorerna som ingår i ett företags bedömnings-modell. Respondentbolaget begärde i ett tidigt skede att få vara anonymt och benämns därför som Företaget. Det är en multinationell koncern med verksamhet i många skilda branscher, men med fokus på norden och produkter som kan kopplas till lantbruk. Den teoretiska referensramen har sin utgångspunkt i begreppen värde och investering samt hur deras koppling till miljö och miljöinvesteringar för att identifiera de faktorer som påverkar en miljöinvestering. Faktorerna som ingår i den teoretiska referensramen och som jämförs mot respondentbolagets faktorer är:  Investeringens värdetillförsel  Investeringens miljöpåverkan  Hur investeringen påverkar produktionsförutsättningarna  Krav från samhället  Kundkrav Kopplingen däremellan bedöms enligt en femgradig skala. Informationen från Företaget inhäm-tades genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer med representanter från Företaget. Slutsatsen för detta arbete är att Företaget har identifierat samma faktorer som den teoretiska referensramen. De använder dock mätetal som inte fullt ut reflekterar faktorerna. Den största avvikelsen är bedömningen av en investerings värdetillförsel, då Företaget fullt ut införlivar det producerade värdet samt det faktum att en miljöinvestering skall ses som irreversibel. Enkelhet premieras hos Företaget och det är för att prioritera modellens användbarhet, som Företaget väl-jer att acceptera brister i bedömningsmodellen. För att förbättra bedömningsmodellen bör Företaget därför införliva nya mätetal som till större del reflekterar faktorerna som påverkar en miljöinvestering / The purpose of this master thesis is to present a comparison between the factors that affects an environmental investment. This is done through applying a theoretical framework on the factors affecting a company’s existing appraisal model for environmental investments. The company that was a part of this thesis asked at an initial stage for confidentiality, therefore it is called the Company in this thesis. The Company that contributes with the appraisal model is a multination-al group with operations in many different industries, but with a focus on the Nordic countries and products that may be linked to the agricultural sector. The theoretical framework has its base in the concepts of value and investments and their connection to the environment and the envi-ronmental investment. The identified factors in the theoretical framework are:  The investment’s addition to the value creation to the company  The investment’s environmental impact  How the investment affects the production  Demands from society  Customer demands From these, the factors affecting a company’s existing appraisal model were compared and their connection to theoretical framework was judged according to a 5-grade scale. Information from the Company was acquired through semi-structured interviews with representatives from the Company. The largest deviation is how the company considers an investment’s contribution to the produced value. Because of this imperfection does the company's model not fully incorporate the produced value and that an environmental investment is irreversible. The overall conclusion is that the Company has identified the same factors as the theoretical framework. The Company has though chosen to use their existing methods and performance indicators that don’t fully incorporate the factors in the theoretical framework. The largest devia-tions are how the company considers an investment’s contribution to the produced value and that it should be considered as irreversible. The Company must therefore in order to enhance their appraisal model develop new performance measures for the factors.