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Institutional investors are increasing their ownership in corporations and therefore their influence on financial markets is expanding. The Swedish public pension funds are one of Sweden’s largest institutional investors, holding capital for pension savers that amount to 1 123 billion Swedish Kronor. Media and non-governmental organizations’ attention on institutional investors’ corporate engagement have put pressure on their work with socially responsible investments. The Swedish public pension funds are no exception. Recent reports reveal that the pension funds are still owners in fossil fuel intensive corporations as well as firms connected with human rights violations. The aim of this study is to identify factors that influence pension funds’ view on socially responsible investments. Particular focus is directed towards the funds’ view on corporations that are highly involved in fossil fuel emissions. The study is presented as a case study in which a comparison of management between two of Sweden´s public pension funds is made in order to define how the attitude towards socially responsible investments affect the choices of instruments of influence that are used in corporate engagement. The findings of the study argue that the two funds use similar instruments of influence in their corporate engagement. However, differences in how the instruments are applied exist and the study reveals that the two funds’ approaches to corporations that are highly involved in fossil fuel emissions are different. Conclusions from the study are that the funds’ work with socially responsible investments is based on the mandate to serve the Swedish citizens and manage their retirement money in a desirable way. The study argues that the funds’ view on socially responsible investments is based on their role as representatives for the majority of individuals in Sweden and that the funds actions, consequently, should reflect the majority opinion of the Swedish society.

How can you use your money to make the world a better place? This research explores how institutional shareholders can use their position of ownership to influence corporations with regards to issues such as human rights, labour conditions, and the environment (otherwise known as CSR). This work, comprised of six separate studies, shows that translation processes, which can bridge the disparate institutional logics of the corporate sector with the logics of the environmental protection and social justice sectors, enables shareholders influence on CSR. This research also introduces the notion that shareholders can act in a capacity of norm entrepreneur and norm promoter, suggesting that shareholders can influence corporations in more far-reaching ways than changing single instances of behaviour. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2009 Sammanfattning jämte 6 uppsatser</p>

This study addresses the green bond market, a young and upcoming market that has received increasing attention in recent years. Academic literature in the field is limited, therefore theaim of this study is to identify investors’ main barriers and motives behind green bondinvestments. In order to examine Swedish fund companies’ requirements to invest in greenbonds, questionnaire responses were linked to interviews. The overall result shows the importance of financial incentives in investment decisions. In terms of market barriers, the low return of green bonds was the main reason that investments were restrained. It has been stated that green bonds are issued at a premium due to an additional reporting related administrative cost for the issuers. Another defined limit was the concern for issuers not fulfilling their 'green' obligation. The main motive behind green bond investments was to invest in a sustainable environment followed by the possibility to gain a combined financial and environmental return. In addition to the financial attributes, investors find a utility function in the green bonds that account for the premium price that these investors seem to accept. Furthermore, social norms are shown to influence the investment decision to a lesser extent.

Thesis (MTech (Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008 / This thesis argues that the story of hemp is one of mistaken identity and focuses on the potential of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in a social and economic context. It also asserts how hemp with the application of appropriate technologies can be developed nationally 'new' material, with reference to examples from abroad. The current proliferation of raw material shortages means that designers have a social responsibility to seek new ways to source and process materials for a sustainable future. Designers are the "future creators" and should prescribe materials that are not only healthy in the cycle of production, but also ensure an afterlife (recycling). The methodology employed is a combination of qualitative (such as interviews) and quantitative methods (such as statistical analysis). Life Cycle Analysis is used to study the ecological impact of substituting hemp for current materials and processes. The study interrogates the historic significance of hemp in various societies across the world with particular focus on Europe, Japan, the United States of America, Ireland and Australia. Such information is analysed within the realities of the South African context. A vast amount of information on hemp has been published but practical information is hard to obtain in South Africa necessitating a search for definite answers abroad, mainly in Europe where there is a strong development in this field. After researching the production of the hemp raw materials and the manufacture of viable hemp products abroad, lessons could be assessed for application to the local market. The findings endorse the view that hemp is a sustainable zero-waste material; the whole plant can be used when harvested, which makes it an ideal material on which to base an eco-design system. Hemp can be processed by utilizing either high technology equipment or by the use of locally available equipment and manual labour. It can be converted into a multi-diverse range of viable products such as paper, thatching, building material and ceiling panels. The main reason for the isolation of hemp in South Africa is the mistaken assumption that it is a drug and outlawed by our legislation. Since hemp (Cannabis sativa L) is perceived as a vilified cousin of marihuana it has lead to a blanket ban on both plants. This is certainly not warranted as hemp produces an extremely low value of the controversial hallucinogenic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)properties which is negligible.

This study aims to investigate the determinants of efficiency, profitability and stability in the banking sector across the world over the period 2005-2012. In this study, efficiency is measured using data envelopment analysis (DEA), which is divided into technical efficiency (TE), pure technical efficiency (PTE), and scale efficiency (SE). The profitability is represented by return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and net interest margin (NIM). Furthermore, the z-score and capital ratios are the main indicators for stability. The data includes 323 banks (43 Islamic, 242 conventional, and 38 socially responsible banks [SRBs]) from around the world, covering 37 countries. The statistical methods to find the determinants are ordinary least square (OLS) and fixed effects model (FEM). The data for this study was extracted from the Bankscope and World Bank databases. According to efficiency, the DEA measures demonstrate that socially responsible banks (SRBs) are the most efficient banks. This is due to the fact that SRBs management employ minimum inputs; one of the main characteristics of SRBs is the saving of resources (inputs). In contrast, the least efficient scores are achieved by conventional banks. As conventional banks have higher interest expenses to pay. In terms of Islamic banks, the larger banks were found to be more efficient. Furthermore, lending services are important to maximise outputs effectively. Additionally, efficiency in Islamic banks is influenced significantly by earnings. Islamic banks with higher capitalisation were found to be more efficient, and new Islamic banks operate better than older banks. Regarding the macroeconomic factors, countries with better market capitalisations include more efficient Islamic banks. Based on the conventional banks’ findings, banks with a higher size performed better than the smaller sized banks. The loans profits increased the efficiency significantly. Focusing on age, the more recent banks achieve better efficiency scores. The three types of ownership (foreign, domestic, and public) reflect inverse correlations with DEA. With regards to the external variables, the wealth of the country is highly important in terms of efficiency. In addition, stock market growth supports the efficiency positively and significantly, while inflation and the global financial crisis (GFC) influenced the efficiency negatively and significantly. Concentrating on SRBs, banks with more capitals operated more efficiently than lower capitalised banks. Additionally, GDP, inflation and market capitalisation enhanced efficiency significantly. Overall, the relationship between the control of corruption and efficiency is positive and significant in Islamic, conventional and socially responsible banks. Tighter controls on corruption have led to better efficiency. Regarding the profitability, the highest ROA and ROE were attained by conventional banks. This is because the main aim for conventional banks is to achieve returns, and charging interest maximises their earnings. On the other hand, SRBs scored the lowest ROA and ROE as those banks are primarily concerned with providing social and environmental services over profits. According to NIM, Islamic banks do not have interest expenses, which can allow them to score the highest NIM measures in this study; while conventional banks have the minimum NIM ratios due to higher interest expenses. Based on the Islamic banks’ results, Islamic banking was affected positively by total assets of banks. In addition, the stable Islamic banks achieved greater profits based on the strong associations between z-score and earnings. This contradicts the relationship between profitability ratios and capital ratios, which indicate negative and significant correlations. Depending on country-specific factor, Islamic banks in higher productivity countries could not exploit the growth to gain higher profits. This results in a weakness for Islamic banks in terms of being resistant to higher inflation rates. For the conventional banks, size of bank and capital are highly important for profits. The conventional banks can concentrate on providing more loans to maximise their returns. The stability of conventional banks also has positive and significant associations with profitability ratios. Concerning the SRBs, profitability ratios are affected significantly and positively by stability (z-score) and market capitalisation growth. On the other hand, foreign, domestic and public ownerships negatively impacted the profits. According to industry-specific variables, GDP growth reduces profits significantly. For the stability, SRBs are demonstrably the most stable and resilient system against financial crisis. Accepting more deposits and attaining greater profits significantly increase the stability of all banks and lower the risk of insolvency. Overall, listed banks were found to be more efficient, profitable, and stable than unlisted banks. This study helps managers and policy makers within the banking sector to reduce costs and increase profits with lower risks. In addition, finding the positive determinants allows managers to make more decisions based on positive factors. On the contrary, through raising efficiency, profitability and stability in banking, managers can aim to avoid negative variables altogether. Finally, this study contributes to the literature in terms of adding socially responsible banks into the equation. In addition, comparing efficiency, profitability and stability simultaneously is a new method that can allow bankers to build effective strategic decisions based on the determinants.

In today’s society sustainability has become a highly discussed topic due to the increase in global average temperatures and changing ecosystems. Despite differentiating views regarding the origins of these changes, a proportion of the society have begun to adjust themselves into having more green profiles. This has led to an uprising among the number of investors who focus on making socially and responsible investments. However, on the contrary, there is still a substantial proportion of investors who do not invest in environmentally, animal and human friendly products. Which in turn may negate the pace of the ethical and sustainable development of our society. This issue leads to this study’s research question: What are the reasons or hindrances as to why students at Umeå School of Business and Economics do not invest in SRI financial products?   The main purpose of this paper is to explore why individuals at Umeå School of Business and Economics do not invest in SRI financial products. Furthermore, the paper aim to have an extra emphasis on information. In addition to the main purpose, the thesis will investigate if any links exist between investing ethically/sustainable and one’s daily behaviour. In order to explore these purposes, the authors uses past research within this area together with theoretical concepts regarding “Investment Decisions”, “Markowitz Portfolio Optimisation Model” and “Pro-Social Behaviour”. To conduct this study, the paper uses a quantitative approach with both primary and secondary data. The primary data is collected through a survey sent out to 917 students at Umeå School of Business and Economics. In order to achieve the purposes of this study, the data from non-SRI investors was used to analyse their investment behaviours.   The results of this study indicate that the majority of non-SRI investors are men. Furthermore, the findings illustrate that the expected financial return of SRI and risk when investing is significantly related to the probability of not investing in SRI. Additionally, the results point at that the demeanour of not investing in SRI products are significantly due to a lower level of knowledge concerning financial return of SRI. In conclusion, the authors argue that the attraction of capital ethical and sustainable investments can be greatly increased by educating investors in SRI products. Consequently, the increase in awareness and attraction of capital can aid solving the ethical and sustainable issues that exists today.

In this essay a quantitative empirical study with qualitative elements is performed. The purposeof the paper is to investigate whether public procurement can be applied as a political instrument. The empirical data consists of a selection of government agencies and how well these government's governing documents have implemented the current government's National Public Procurement Strategy. In order to analyze the degree of implementation, three different implementation theories are applied. The theories applied are implementation from an upside down perspective, implementation from a bottom and up perspective and implementation based on ability, will and understanding. In order to delimit the essay to a reasonable extent, the study aims to focus on how socially responsible public procurement have been included in the governing documents. The question that is aimed to be answered is: to what extent has the objective of socially responsible in public procurement been implemented in the governing documents? The second question is: Is social responsibility more prominent in governing documents that were updated after launching the national public procurement strategy. the third question is: what possible implementation barriers can be identified when implementing the national procurement strategy. The method used in the essay is essentially a quantitative content analysis that is complemented by a qualitative interview survey. The results of the empirical study show shortcomings in the implementation of the selected authorities, which indicates that the national strategy have a weak effect as a political instrument.

To add to the tools currently available to combat income inequality in the United States an investment fund type is proposed, justified, described, and created using historical asset returns from 1960 to 2015. By focusing on two socio-economic indicators of poverty, inflation and unemployment rates, this fund, when marketed to investors who live near, at, or below the poverty line, seeks to increase returns during times of increased strain on the economies of the poor. Multiple hurdles are proposed and affirmatively answered to this end and a fund type and corresponding four factor model that realized hypothetical excess returns fitting the requirements of a successful investment strategy was developed and evaluated. With the increasing importance of socially responsible investment practices an investment bank who maintains a fund of this type could potentially see financial and reputational benefits.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a much debated and ever changing topic. From a South African context, one of the most recent means of measuring CSR has been through the use of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) socially responsible investment index (SRII). The JSE SRII was first introduced in 2004 and has grown in popularity and effectiveness since. Included amongst the criteria for inclusion in this index is compliance with black economic empowerment (BEE). The index measures companies against the triple bottom line (environment, society&economy). Companies included in the index are deemed to have good CSR practices. This study evaluates the effects of CSR on the corporate financial performance (CFP) of the top 100 listed companies on the JSE over a 10 year period (2002-2011). The findings of the study suggest that companies not included in the SRII, on average, perform better than SRII companies. The basis of this conclusion is on the analysis of the results of the total return index (TRI), return on assets ratio (ROA) and the net profit margin percentage (NPM). / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Financial Management / unrestricted