Background: After the financial crisis in 2008/2009, ESG earned more attention. It was a consequence of the pressure from the general society about social responsibility and sustainability. Companies needed to change and the management strategies included more stakeholders. More questions regarding whether the work with ESG generated a higher financial performance were examined. Controversial companies within alcohol- tobacco-, and the gambling business have shown a negative impact on individuals. The nature of the companies does not align with social responsibility and sustainability. Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to analyze a sample of controversial listed companies between 2016-2021 to see if there was a relationship between ESG-grade andfinancial performance in terms of ROE, ROA and market value. Method: The study used a positivist deductive approach. Moreover, a quantitative research method was applied and processed secondary data. The data was examined by three linear regressions and set the dependent (ROA, ROE, market value) variables and the independent(ESG) variable in contrast to each other. Conclusions: The study concluded that there was no significant relationship between ESG and financial performance concerning controversial companies. This differed from previous research that examined the same relationship for companies that were not controversial. This implies that controversial companies should evaluate the work with ESG-rating differently based on its main objectives. However it is important to emphasize that two out of the three regressions presented no statistical significance. Therefore, more research is required uponthis topic to generalize credible conclusions. / Bakgrund: Efter den finansiella krisen 2008/2009 fick ESG mer inflytande. Detta var en konsekvens av samhällets påtryckningar om socialt ansvarstagande och hållbarhet. Företagen var tvungna att förändra sig och ledningsstrategierna inkluderade flera intressenter. Fler frågeställningar rådande om arbetet med ESG genererade en högre finansiell prestation undersöktes. Kontroversiella företags verksamheter inom alkohol- tobak- och spelbranschen har påvisat en negativ inverkan på samhällets individer. Verksamheternas karaktär går inte i linje med socialt ansvarstagande och hållbarhet. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att analysera ett urval av kontroversiella börsnoterade företag mellan 2016-2021 för att undersöka hur sambandet mellan ESG-betyg och finansiellprestation verkar i termerna ROE, ROA och marknadsvärde. Metod: Studien har använt sig av ett positivistiskt deduktivt synsätt. Undersökningen var kvantitativ och bearbetade sekundärdata. Syftet undersöktes genom tre linjära regressioner som ställde de beroende (ROA, ROE, marknadsvärde) variablerna och den oberoende (ESG) variabeln mot varandra. Slutsats: Studiens slutsats var att det existerade ett negativt samband mellan arbetet med ESG-betyg och finansiell prestation hos kontroversiella företag. Detta skiljde sig från tidigare forskning som undersökte samma relation för företag som inte var kontroversiella. Det implicerar att kontroversiella företag bör värdera arbetet med ESG-betyget annorlunda utifrån dess huvudmål. Det ska däremot understrykas att två av tre regressioner inte påvisade statistisk signifikans. Det krävs därmed vidare forskning på området för att kunna generalisera resultatet.

Syfte: Det finns idag en förväntan från ägare, kunder och andra intressenter att företag ska rapportera sitt hållbarhetsarbete då hållbarhet vanligtvis syftar till att ta ansvar för sina egna behov samtidigt som den framtida generationen står i fokus. Banksektorn spelar en stor roll i samhället genom deras roll som kapitalleverantörer för den globala utvecklingen, vilket leder till att det också finns ett stort intresse av att de arbetar med hållbarhetsfrågor. En hållbar banksektor är av väsentlig betydelse för ett lands hållbarhetsmål och fortsatta utveckling. Syftet med studien är därmed att undersöka sambandet mellan bankers hållbarhetsprestation, mätt med SOC-Score, och lönsamheten inom den globala banksektorn med fokus på socialt ansvar. Metod: Detta är en kvantitativ studie utförd med en hypotetisk-deduktiv ansats. Sekundärdata har samlats in från Thomson Reuters databas Refinitiv Eikon där 341 banker har analyserats med en longitudinell design för åren 2016–2020. Univariat, bivariat samt multivariat analys av sekundärdata har skett i statistikprogrammet SPSS. Resultat & slutsats: Resultatet av studien visar att det saknas signifikant samband mellan SOC-Score och de beroende variablerna ROA och ROE på den globala banksektorn. Detta medför att studien inte kan dra några direkta slutsatser om det finns ett positivt samband eller inte mellan dessa variabler. Trots att studien saknar signifikant samband, visar studiens regressionsanalyser ändock på att SOC-Score och lönsamheten har en mer negativ relation än en positiv. Examenarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar till ökad kunskap gällande sambandet mellan finansiell prestation och socialt hållbarhetstagande inom den globala banksektorn. Vi författare hoppas även kunna främja ett mer hållbart arbetssätt.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Trots att studien inte genererade ett signifikant samband i banksektorn, visade studiens resultat på ett negativt samband mellan lönsamheten och SOC-score. Det vill säga att det uppstår en kostnad att hållbarhetsrapportera. Vi författare anser att det hade varit intressant att jämföra banker som inte hållbarhetsrapporterar, för att se om de bankerna har sämre lönsamhet än de banker som hållbarhetsrapporterar. Även om det är kostsamt att arbeta med hållbarhet, kanske det ändå är mer lönsamt än att inte göra det alls. Vidare skulle även avgränsningar kunna göras, eventuellt att fokusera på ett visst land eller världsdel.

Research on Voluntary Information Disclosure (VID) has been of interest in several disciplines including, but not limited to, entrepreneurship, accounting, finance, law, and marketing. Although there has been extensive research on VID aimed at financial market investors, scant research in marketing exists on VID targeted at prospective business partners that can influence firm future performance significantly. Financial and marketing disclosures have been advocated for by investors and public policymakers as they mitigate the adverse selection problems between the firm and its stakeholders (e.g., investors, customers, and prospective channel partners). Managers are, however somewhat skeptical about its outcomes because of the cost of disclosures (i.e., ex-ante costs of collecting, processing and disseminating the information, ex-post costs of conflicts and litigations, competitive position and proprietary costs). My dissertation consists of three essays on voluntary disclosure of performance metrics in marketing channels and aims to enhance our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of such VIDs. The first essay examines the antecedents of ex-ante VID for standardized contracts in marketing channels. Prior literature in accounting, entrepreneurship, and marketing has investigated drivers of information disclosures to analysts, investors, and customers. Nonetheless, this study bridges the gap in examining why some firms disclose information to prospective channel partners when it cost them to do so and makes the firms vulnerable to competitors. If the disclosure is a signal of quality, we are also interested in knowing whether it is a substitute for other signals of quality or a complement. I draw on signaling and institutional theories to develop a theoretical framework and empirically test it through econometric analyses of multi-sector panel data for the U.S. franchising industry. The results suggest that firms (e.g., franchisors) make such disclosures to prospective business partners (e.g., franchisees) in order to signal profitability of partnering, to attract financial and managerial resources, and develop their entrepreneurial networks. This study contributes to signaling theory literature by investigating organizational quality signaling, providing empirical evidence for drivers of multiple signaling and shedding light on the conflicting views on substitutability or complementarity of multiple quality signals. The study has implications for managers who wish to attract potential business partners through signaling profitability of their business. Furthermore, there are some insights for regulators on the debate on making voluntary disclosures mandatory. The second essay examines the performance consequences of i) signaling through ex-ante voluntary disclosure of performance metrics and ii) screening through selection standards, in the formation stage of new partnerships in marketing channels. It is essential for many entrepreneurial business networks to expand their channel by attracting business partners while still preventing low-quality partners from joining the network. However, information asymmetry between the two parties introduces a double-sided adverse selection problem to the relationship. In other words, the heterogeneous quality - the ability to perform the job - of each party (i.e., the focal firm or the prospective partner) is unknown to the other party. To date, most of the empirical studies have addressed the issue from only one side, either from the perspective of the buyer or the supplier, and have assumed that the other side is open to the relationship. However, in a selective inter-firm relationship that both parties have the option to select the other party, adverse selection problems should be resolved for both of them to enhance the performance of the partnership. To bridge this gap in the literature (i.e., to mitigate double-sided adverse selection problems), I propose a novel framework based on signaling and transaction cost theories. This study suggests and empirically examines a complementary effect of the simultaneous use of signaling and screening on the firm performance. I integrate secondary data from various sources to shape a unique multi-sector panel data set that allows for assessment of the effects of these predictors on firm performance over time through a rigorous econometric model. Contrary to some claims in the extant literature, the results demonstrate that rigorous screening process hurts the firm performance unless it is combined with a proper quality signaling mechanism. This study contributes to the B2B marketing literature and provides implications for practitioners by shedding light on the performance implications of channel governance mechanisms such as signaling and screening. Further, it provides empirical support for the effects of B2B marketing strategies on firm sales revenue growth. The third essay looks closely into the voluntary disclosure of performance metrics. In the previous studies, the decision to disclose is operationalized as a binary variable of whether a firm discloses or not. In the absence of comprehensive regulation, disclosure strategies are subject to significant variation amongst firms, but can also vary over time within an individual firm. Through a content analysis of disclosure documents and scrutiny of the different components that comprise them, I explore the impact of disclosure content on firm performance. This study attempts to reconcile conflicting views of managers, investors, analysts, and regulators. On the one hand, VID should positively impact firm performance through mitigating information asymmetry. On the other hand, skeptical managers make the argument that VID negatively impacts a firm’s performance through costs of preparation, dissemination, potential litigation, and competition. Using a sample of publicly traded restaurant chains in the U.S., I empirically assess firm performance as a function of the disclosure strategy and its interactions with the firm’s characteristics and governance mechanisms. I collect independent variables from the firms’ disclosures through content analysis of public documents and obtain performance metrics of the firms in the stock market from Compustat. This study provides a novel context within which to investigate whether and how financial markets look at the firm’s disclosure behavior in dealing with its prospective channel partners, and it contributes to marketing-finance interface literature. My dissertation is positioned in the marketing strategy-entrepreneurship interface domain and is a multi-faceted study that looks at the phenomenon of VID from different angles and provides implications for several stakeholders. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Distribution channel strategy has a long-term effect on firm performance, is associated with considerable irreversible costs, and can constitute a sustainable asset and competitive advantage for firms. Information asymmetry among the distribution channel members has been known as the basis of opportunistic actions in such exchange relationships. My dissertation research investigates drivers and consequences of information disclosure strategies and is focused on the firms’ voluntary disclosure of performance metrics at the inter-firm relationship formation stage of developing marketing channels. This dissertation consists of three inter-related essays. In the first one, I study drivers of voluntary information disclosures to prospective channel partners. Then, I investigate the performance consequences of such disclosures and their interactions with channel governance mechanisms such as screening, in the second study. Since firms are heterogeneous in the content of their disclosures, in the third study, I conduct a content analysis of the firm’s disclosures to understand its influence on firm performance. Based on Organizational Economics theories and Institutional Theory, I develop my theoretical frameworks and test them empirically using archival data. The empirical context for my work is the franchising industry because it is the most common type of partner-based retail system and is a significant component of the US economy as well as other developed countries and emerging economies. The research findings offer both theoretical and practical implications for researchers and practitioners and contribute to the literatures on signaling and transaction cost theories as well as information disclosure and franchising.

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.

This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between social sustainability and financial performance in Nordic large and mid-cap firms. Lately, there has been an increasing focus on ESG factors, however previous studies of the ESG factors’ relationship to financial performance have given mixed results. Moreover, in previous studies, the focus on social sustainability has fallen behind compared to the environmental and governance pillars. Therefore, the study analyses the relationship between the social pillar of ESG and financial performance, as well as the 4 social subcategories making up the social pillar. Thereby making the study a multi-ESG level study during the period 2018-2022. The study relies on a sample of 136 Nordic firms (123 for the ROE models) extracted from the LSEG database and tests the relationship between social sustainability and financial performance using nine panel regression models. Our findings are mixed, some showcasing negative, positive, and insignificant results. We find the social pillar of ESG to be a negative predictor of ROE, the social category of product responsibility was found to be a positive predictor of Tobin’s Q, and finally, the category of human rights was found to be a negative predictor of ROE. The other ESG variables were found to be insignificant as predictors of financial performance. The study thereby contributes to the research by investigating the under-researched pillar of sustainability, i.e. social sustainability, as well as shedding a light on the relationship in a Nordic context.

Real estate professionals, such as investors, owner-occupants, and lenders who are involved in the investment decision-making process are increasingly interested in sustainability and energy efficiency investment. However, current tools and techniques, both technical and financial, typically used for assessing sustainability on their own are unable to provide comprehensive and reliable financial information required for making high-quality investment decisions. Sustainability investment often includes non-cost benefits, value implications, as well as substantial risk and uncertainty that current methods do not simultaneously incorporate in their assessment process. Through a combined quantitative and qualitative approach, this research creates a new systematic assessment process to consider both cost and non-cost savings and therefore the true financial performance of a set of sustainable options in the context of value and risk, while explicitly deriving and including various uncertainties inherent in the process. The framework integrates assessment tools of technical decision-makers with those of investment decision-makers into a single platform to improve the quality of financial performance projections, and therefore, investment decisions concerning sustainable options in real estate. A case study is then conducted to test and demonstrate the numeric application of the proposed framework in the context of a non-green office building. The case study presents how to connect the technical outcomes to financial inputs, present the information, and estimate the true financial performance of a green retrofit option, where incremental value and uncertainty have been modeled and included. Three levels of financial analysis are performed to estimate the distribution of financial outcomes including: 1) Cost-based level-1: only energy related costs savings were considered; 2) Cost-based level-2: the non-energy cost savings, including heath and productivity, were also considered; and 3) Value-based level: the value implications of the green retrofit option were considered in addition to items in level 2. As a result of applying the proposed framework when evaluating sustainability investment options, many investment opportunities that were otherwise ignored may be realized, and therefore, the breadth and depth of sustainability investment in real estate will increase. / Ph. D.

ost companies adhere to corporate governance, which is a generally recognized governingstructure in order to enhance the financial performance of their business. This studyinvestigates the relationship between corporate governance and the financial performanceof Sri Lanka's licensed banks using this scenario as a basis. The research question raised bythis study was “Does Corporate Governance impact on Financial Performance of BankingSector in Sri Lanka?”. The independence variables were corporate governance and it wasmeasured from five dimensions board size ,gender diversity , number of board meetings,and board independence, number of board committees. The dependent variables wasfinancial performance and it was measured from return on assets and return on equity. Thecontrol variables used for study were firm size, leverage, and firm age. The non-randomconvenience sampling methods was used and selected 19 banks out of 30 licensed banks inSri Lanka. The data was collected from secondary sources, that is, annual reports of 2018-2022.The collected data were analyzed through regression analysis using SPSS statistical methodto ascertain the developed hypothesis of this study. The findings of the study revealed thatboard independence was statistically significant with both ROA and ROE indicating that anegative and positive linear relationship respectively. Board size and number of femaledirectors were statistically significant with ROA while board size and number of femaledirectors were not statistically significant with ROE. However, number of board meetingsand number of board committees were not statistically significant with both ROA and ROE.These results revealed that in overall, corporate governance dimensions were moreimpacted on return on assets compared to return on equity in the Sri Lankan banking sector.

The concept, sustainability, has developed throughout the years and has become an important part for different actors around the world. Due to many organizations like the United Nations acknowledging this aspect together with governments, initiatives and laws have been implemented for businesses to follow. This forms the basis of what is now called ESG which includes three individual aspects: environment, social responsibility and governance. One of the actors includes investors who have now started to shift their focus onto sustainable investments. In order for them to make decisions about the company's way of working towards a sustainable business, analytics began to measure both each individual aspect of ESG and as a whole. Therefore, ESG rating has become a well-known way of measuring how companies perform when it comes to environment, social responsibility and governance. The pharmaceutical industry in Europe is the second largest in the world and has become acknowledged due to the covid-19 pandemic. It has not only faced criticism and uncertainties both during and after the pandemic, but also faces problems in each individual aspect of ESG. When it comes to environmental issues, the pharmaceutical industry stands for 55% more of carbon emissions than the automotive sector due to non-sustainable supply chains. For the aspect, social responsibility, their main problems include addiction, antibiotic resistance and accessibility of pharmaceuticals. Further, governance issues include illegal marketing and fraud. Due to this, governments and organizations have put pressure on businesses to work towards a sustainable industry. Therefore, ESG ratings have become an important measurement for investors. The aim of the study is to analyze the relationship between ESG and financial performance in the pharmaceutical industry in Europe with a time period of 2018-2022. The results will indicate if the Shareholder’s theory or the Stakeholder’s theory is more applicable for this industry. The result shows a negative significant relationship between the overall rating of ESG and Tobin’s. When it comes to the individual aspect, governance is statically proved to have a negative significant relationship with Tobin’s Q. This concludes that the Shareholder’s theory is more aligned with the results meaning that the pharmaceutical industry may focus on profit maximization for shareholders. Since there was a non-statically proven relationship between ESG and ROA, the study suggests further research within this topic.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) contribute substantially in economies around the world and in South Africa in particular. This study aimed to explore and describe the financial performance measures currently used by manufacturing SMEs in Pretoria. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the participant SMEs’ premises in order to gather the information. It was found that most of the respondents use financial ratios, but to a limited extent, when measuring their financial performance. The use of bankruptcy prediction models is totally absent among the participants. It has been recommended that SMEs use more ratios from the literature that have been proven to be the best financial measures, and the six ratios that have worked well for some of the participants in the study. It is also recommended that SME owners enrol their financial staff for training in bankruptcy prediction models, and use financial software packages if they can afford them. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / (M.Tech. (Business Administration))

Thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Agriculture (Agricultural Economics) at Stellenbosch University / Thesis (MScAgric (Agricultural Economics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The main objective of the research is to understand the concept of cooperative conversions and compare the performance of converted cooperatives to those that never converted using financial accounting analysis and organisational dynamism. Even though the differences were relatively small, companies had the strongest relative financial performance than cooperatives. Companies had the strongest performances in asset and revenue growth. Average revenue growth for companies from 2004 to 2007 was 29% as compared to 15% by cooperatives and asset growth was 25% for companies compared to 12.5% by cooperatives. Results further indicate that for the past two years, cooperatives seem to be reporting decreasing performance in most of the financial ratios analysed. Thus, based on results from the financial analysis, operating as a company or converting from a cooperative to a company could result in slight increases in financial performance. Rapid change presents various challenges and opportunities for businesses in today‘s dynamic environment. As a result, business dynamism is becoming an increasingly important aspect and factor in determining success. Based on a dynamism score card, the study shows that companies are by far much more dynamic than cooperatives, with a score of 83.75 compared to 62.33 out of 100 respectively. However, cooperatives compare relatively well to companies in as far as organisational strategy, management, organisational structure and culture. Their limitations come from their property rights framework which is by far less dynamic than that of companies owing to the limitations and constraints of the Cooperatives Act (Act 14 of 2005). The main shortcomings of cooperative property rights were that of not allowing external investors into the cooperative and the one member one vote principle for primary cooperatives or the 15% cap for secondary cooperatives. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vernaamste doelwit van hierdie navorsing was om die konsep van koöperatiewe omsettings te verstaan en die prestasie van omsette koöperasies te vergelyk met dié wat nog nooit deur middel van finansiële rekeningkundige analise en organisatoriese dinamisme omgesit is nie. Hoewel die verskille relatief klein was, het maatskappye die sterkste relatiewe finansiële prestasie gehad in vergelyking met koöperasies. Maatskappye het ook die sterkste prestasie in bate- en inkomstegroei getoon. Gemiddelde inkomstegroei vir maatskappye vanaf 2004 tot 2007 was 29%, in vergelyking met 15% vir koöperasies, terwyl bategroei vir maatskappye 25% was in vergelyking met 12.5% vir koöperasies. Die resultate toon verder dat koöperasies oor die afgelope twee jaar verminderde prestasie blyk te rapporteer in die meerderheid van die finansiële verhoudings wat geanaliseer is. Dus, op grond van die resultate van die finansiële analise, sal funksionering as ‘n maatskappy of omsetting van ‘n koöperasie na ‘n maatskappy kan lei tot ‘n effense verhoging in finansiële prestasie. Snelle verandering bied verskeie uitdagings en geleenthede vir maatskappye in die huidige dinamiese omgewing. Gevolglik is sakedinamisme besig om ‘n toenemend belangrike aspek en faktor in die bepaling van sukses te word. Op die basis van ‘n dinamisme-telkaart het hierdie studie getoon dat maatskappye baie meer dinamies is as koöperasies, met ‗n telling van 83.75 in vergelyking met 62.33 uit 100 onderskeidelik. Koöperasies vergelyk egter relatief goed met maatskappye in soverre dit organisatoriese strategie, bestuur, organisatoriese struktuur en kultuur behels. Hulle beperkings kom van hulle eiendomsregraamwerk, wat baie minder dinamies is as dié van maatskappye op grond van die beperkings van die Wet op Koöperasies (Wet 14 van 2005). Die vernaamste tekorte van koöperatiewe eiendomsregte is dat hulle nie eksterne beleggers in die koöperasie toelaat nie en die beginsel van een lid, een stem vir primêre koöperasies of die 15% perk op sekondêre koöperasies.