利益相关者关系与企业财务绩效的实证研究——基于中国房地产上市公司的面板数据分析

本文采用2002-2008年中国26家房地产上市公司的面板数据,通过面板数据单位根检验、协整检验和误差修正模型,对利益相关者关系与企业财务绩效之间的长期和短期关系进行了实证研究。研究结果表明:利益相关者关系与企业财务绩效之间存在长期和短期均衡关系,企业应在不同时期对各利益相关者采取差异化管理策略,满足他们各自的利益需求,与利益相关者建立良好的关系,这是提升企业财务绩效的关键。     

基于财务绩效视角的企业从事慈善活动研究

依据利益相关者理论和权变管理思想,深入考察企业捐赠行为对财务绩效的影响机制,并利用2007 ～ 2012年我国沪深两市A股上市公司的数据进行检验.研究表明,慈善捐赠通过改善利益相关者关系能够显著提升企业的财务绩效,由于企业在发展阶段和可见性方面的差异导致企业处理利益相关者关系的能力和机会不同,从而决定了企业从慈善捐赠中获益程度的大小,在成熟企业和高可见性企业中,慈善捐赠对财务绩效的正面影响更强.     

企业利益相关者导向:组织特征与外部环境的影响

本研究的前期成果及其它相关研究已证实了企业利益相关者导向,包括客户导向、竞争者导向、股东导向、供应商导向、员工导向等,对组织绩效存在显著的积极影响,及企业所有制对二者关系的影响.本文在此基础上,进一步探讨企业的其它组织特征包括行业、规模与发展阶段,对企业利益相关者导向的影响,以及外部环境因素对利益相关者导向与组织绩效间关系的调节效应.本研究依据文献和逻辑分析,提出了相应的理论假设,并通过实证研究方法对理论假设进行了检验.研究结果显示,制造业企业的利益相关者导向高于服务业企业,不同规模企业的利益相关者导向差异不显著,利益相关者导向随着行业生命周期而逐步降低.另外,利益相关者导向作为企业一贯的价值观,它对组织绩效的积极作用并不受外部环境的影响.     

微型企业经营绩效提升策略的思考——基于利益相关者的视角

微型企业在政府的大力支持下发展迅速,但是成长过程仍十分艰难,提高经营绩效对微型企业的意义重大。从利益相关者理论出发,分析利益相关者对微型企业绩效提升的重要作用,微型企业主树立利益相关者价值导向观念、满足核心利益相关者需求、鼓励员工参与企业建设、加强利益相关者的权益保护、积极履行社会责任能有效提高微型企业的经营绩效。     

企业社会责任一致性对财务绩效的影响研究

基于工具性利益相关者理论,以A股上市公司为研究对象,考察了企业社会责任时间和结构这两类一致性对财务绩效的影响,并检验了信任因素在该过程的中介作用,以及企业社会责任水平和不同利益相关者关注的调节效应。研究表明:企业持续地承担社会责任(时间一致性)有助于提升财务绩效,而公平地承担社会责任(结构一致性)则对财务绩效有负面影响;信任因素是一致性和财务绩效之间的中介机制,“时间/结构一致性—信任—财务绩效”是社会责任发挥作用的逻辑路径之一;企业社会责任整体水平的提升将强化结构一致性的负面作用,而外部利益相关者中分析师的关注会强化时间一致性的积极影响;对于结构一致性而言,包括公众和分析师在内的外部利益相关者的关注会强化其负面影响,而内部独立董事的关注则有助于缓和这一负面影响。     

上市公司利益相关者治理机制评价与治理指数分析

利益相关者的相关问题已成为现行公司治理框架中不可或缺的部分,因此设置公司员工参与程度、公司社会责任履行状况、公司投资者关系管理、与公司监督管理部门的关系、公司诉讼与仲裁事项等利益相关者治理评价指标,考察中国上市公司利益相关者参与公司治理和利益相关者权益的保护状况,并得出利益相关者治理指数.研究表明,我国上市公司利益相关者治理指数较低、治理机制较为薄弱、治理机制在不同上市公司之间差异较大.利益相关者治理机制较好的上市公司只是少数,多数上市公司的利益相关者治理机制,特别是投资者关系管理制度有待加强.建议在公司治理中考虑利益相关者的权益,鼓励利益相关者适当而有效的参与公司治理和管理.     

基于利益相关者的企业社会责任与企业价值关系研究

基于利益相关者理论,企业对不同利益相关者承担着一定的社会责任,企业履行社会责任对企业价值有一定的影响.在定性分析企业社会责任与企业价值关系的基础上,选取具有代表性的社会责任指标,通过强制性因子分析进行筛选,最终确定11个社会责任指标和2个企业价值指标.以2008年至2010年沪深两市328家上市公司的数据为样本,建立结构方程模型,运用统计软件SPSS 16.0和结构方程软件LISREL 8.7,针对企业承担的对不同利益相关者的社会责任与企业价值的相关性进行实证研究.研究结果表明,企业承担的对不同利益相关者的社会责任与企业价值存在正相关关系,企业对不同利益相关者的社会责任对企业价值的影响程度不同,企业对股东的社会责任对企业价值的贡献度最大,企业对不同利益相关者履行社会责任存在相互影响.     

基于可持续发展战略的财务管理目标:理论框架与现实证据

从可持续发展战略的视角看,企业是利益相关者缔结的多元资本共生体,其不仅要满足货币资本的保值增值,而且要按照社会福祉和生态平衡的要求,追求经济利益、生态利益、社会利益的和谐发展.企业财务管理目标应该从基于"单一底线"的经济利益转向基于"三重底线"的综合利益.对上市公司的使命陈述的调查分析支持了多元财务管理目标的合理性和可行性.     

基于利益相关者理论研究慈善捐赠与企业绩效的关联性

本文以利益相关者理论为基础,分析了企业慈善捐赠与企业利益相关者之间的相互作用,说明慈善捐赠对公司绩效的正面影响,并结合5.12地震企业捐款数据分析结果证明了企业捐赠对公司企业绩效的促进作用,为企业主动履行社会责任、进行慈善捐赠提供理论和现实的依据。     

中国上市公司治理评价与指数研究--基于中国1149家上市公司的研究(2004年)

本文以中国上市公司公开信息为依据,基于2004年的样本,从中国公司治理指数及其所涉及的六个维度控股股东治理指数、董事会治理指数、监事会治理指数、经理层治理指数、信息披露指数、利益相关者治理指数进行比较研究,总结了中国上市公司的治理特征和年度差异.2004年公司治理状况较之2003年有较大改善,公司治理对公司绩效产生了积极作用,良好的公司治理有利于提高信息披露质量,并有利于保护利益相关者权益.本文对公司治理评价与指数未来研究提出了规划.     

Doing Well by Reporting Good: Reporting Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Performance

This article aimed to examine the impacts of reporting‐type corporate responsibility activities (CRA‐R) on corporate social and financial performance. Academic research has explored how varying attributes of markets, industry sectors and firms might shape corporate social and financial performance, but includes little effort to examine the impacts of different kinds of CRA on corporate performance. We build on debate about the value of firms' reporting activities related to corporate responsibility. Recent literature suggests that CRA‐R is superficial marketing or “greenwashing.” Despite this viewpoint, corporate reporting activities related to responsibility are rising. In order to solve this puzzle, this article explores the impact of CRA‐R on corporate performance. First, drawing from the institutional perspective, we propose that CRA‐R will positively impact corporate social performance (CSP) oriented toward secondary stakeholders. Second, combining the stakeholder–agency perspective and corporate responsibility literature, we motivate the hypotheses that CRA‐R positively influences corporate financial performance (CFP). Empirical testing with a unique dataset of large US corporations selected in the Fortune 500 support the proposed hypotheses. In particular, both corporate social responsibility and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) activities positively influence corporate environmental performance, and financial performance. In particular, GRI reporting is a strong indicator to impact both social and financial performance. Our findings indicate that CRA‐R should not simply reflect shallow motivations, but deliver value to noninvestor stakeholders as well as investors.     

Boards in microfinance institutions: how do stakeholders matter?

Microfinance Institutions provide financial services to poor people. Governance of these organizations is important so that they can operate efficiently and sustainably. This study analyzes the influence of stakeholders (donors, employees, customers, and creditors), on board structure (board size and CEO duality), and on organizational performance. We use a global data set of 379 microfinance institutions from 73 countries, collected from rating organizations. Supported by stakeholder theory, agency theory and resource dependence theory, we find stakeholders to be important and have various influences on microfinance institutions. We find donors to be associated with small boards, non-duality and better performance. Employees are associated with large boards, while customers are associated with duality and good financial performance. Creditors opt for duality and better social performance. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.     

Only a matter of chance? How firm performance measurement impacts study results

Although strategic management research is well aware of the importance of construct measurement, surprisingly little rigor is applied regarding its core concept, firm performance. Using the example of the resource-based view (RBV), this paper demonstrates how divergence between theory-building and construct measurement regarding firm performance can produce misleading conclusions. The RBV seeks to explain value creation in the marketplace, yet empirical studies often measure various aspects of firm financial performance. Building on appropriation theory, I show that it is not possible to infer to changes in firm value creation from observed changes in firm financial performance measures and vice versa due to an omitted variable bias: the neglect of the relative bargaining power of stakeholders. This paper derives conclusions for research practice and suggests theoretically meaningful ways of bridging the gap between value creation and firm financial performance in the RBV framework.     

Stakeholder value disclosures: anchoring on primacy and importance of financial and nonfinancial performance measures

In the growing debate about stakeholder values, there has been little discussion about information overload or whether the requested disclosures can be effectively used. Stakeholder advocates call for complicated and massive environmental and related social disclosures while not considering how information overload might affect the discourse about corporate performance. Stakeholders, including shareholders, plead for more transparency in financial statements, management discussion and analysis (MDA), and other corporate disclosures. As we know, shareholders and boards of directors are most concerned with the ‘Holy Trinity’ of earnings per share, dividends and market value changes. We believe that managers and stakeholders involved in performance evaluations have multiple interests that extend beyond traditional shareholder value measures. We note that the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) was developed as one tool to reflect and communicate these multiple measures. We test how managers use (or ignore) multiple performance measures and we posit that stakeholders will face many of the same constraints when using and processing multiple disclosures including Corporate Social Reports (CSR), environmental, or similar disclosures. While we do not directly test a wide variety of stakeholder disclosures, we examine eight (four for a single subject) shareholder values (financial measures) and four stakeholder values (nonfinancial measures). The eight measures included in our research instruments serve as proxies for the multiple concerns that might be of interest to many stakeholders. Note that stakeholders are likely to be extremely interested in nonfinancial performance measures, while many shareholders will likely concentrate on financial performance measures. Field research has reported managers tend to favor financial measures while discounting or ignoring nonfinancial measures when evaluating subordinates, making it difficult to align performance evaluations and incentives with corporate strategies (Ittner et al. Account Rev 78:725–758, 2003). In this study, we find the relative weights managers place on financial and nonfinancial performance measures are influenced by both (1) presentation order and (2) the relative importance of specific measures. When financial measures are presented first, the manager who performs better on financial measures is rated higher than the manager who performs better on nonfinancial measures. However, when nonfinancial measures are presented first, managers who excel on nonfinancial measures are rated higher. Reports that include financial measures that are relatively more (less) important also produce higher (lower) ratings for the manager who excels on financial measures. Thus, the relative weights that superiors place on financial and nonfinancial measures in evaluating corporate managers’ performance are substantially anchored both by the order in which measures are presented as well as by the importance of the specific performance measures employed. Other stakeholder disclosures are likely to be similarly anchored, perhaps biased, by primacy and a priori importance rankings.     

Will the Truth Set Us Free? An Exploration of CSR Motive and Commitment

This article examines why firms engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Specifically, it investigates the relationship between a firm's motivation to engage in CSR and the depth of its commitment. I propose that the enduring debate over CSR and financial performance is misaligned, and that scholars should instead focus on the underlying components of CSR engagement. This research sheds light on the motivational antecedents of a firm's engagement in CSR and their effect on CSR commitment. Despite calls for scientific investigation of this linkage, it has received scant attention in the literature. Pursuing this area of research requires the construction of measures of CSR motivation and CSR commitment, as prior work generally lacks objective analysis. I present measures and a research methodology that test hypotheses about how CSR motivation relates to different levels of CSR commitment. The results of this research both validate and challenge current theory. This refined understanding of CSR engagement may enhance firm transparency and accountability to stakeholders. It may reduce the uncertainty in both internal and external assessments of firm CSR and the potential for social and financial impact.     

Strategic credibility—The basis of a strong share price

Strategic credibility has to do with how favourably key stakeholders view the strategic foundations of the firm. Does the company have a solid strategic capability? Is corporate strategy responsive to emerging opportunities, organizational goals and resources? Does the company have an effective strategic planning process? To be able to answer these questions affirmatively is important. To be able to convince key stakeholders that outstanding corporate performance is planned rather than accidental is even more significant. The company that utilizes corporate communication to create and sustain a positive strategic image is well on its way to achieving strategic credibility. A record of strategic effectiveness, when skillfully articulated to company stakeholders, can pay off in improved relations with the financial community, stockholders and company employees.     

Measuring Corporate Social Performance: A Review

This paper reviews the literature on corporate social performance (CSP) measurement and sets that literature into a theoretical context. Following a review of CSP theory development and the literature on relationships between CSP and corporate financial performance, Wood's CSP model ( Wood, D.J. (1991 ). Corporate social performance revisited. Academy of Management Review , 16, pp. 691–718) is used as an organizing device to present and discuss studies that use particular measures of CSP. Conclusions emphasize the need for CSP scholars to refocus on stakeholders and society, and to incorporate relevant literatures from other scholarly domains.     

When labor representatives join supervisory boards: empirical evidence of the relationship between the change to parity codetermination and working capital and operating cash flows

We examine how the change to 50% labor representation on German supervisory boards is related to working capital and operating cash flows, since both are proxies for short-term financial policies. We expect the change to be associated with reduced working capital and increased operating cash flows. Using a difference-in-differences model, we compare a sample of listed and non-listed firms that changed to parity codetermination between 1987 and 2014 with two different groups of control firms that did not change their level of codetermination. In line with our hypotheses, the results suggest that a change to parity codetermination is related to lower working capital and higher operating cash flows compared to our control firms. We conclude that firms begin to engage in more efficient working capital management due to the change to parity codetermination on supervisory boards. We also conclude that the positive short-term effects on the firms’ operating performance imply that labor representatives do not bear just the interests of employees in mind, but also those of other stakeholders.     

图嵌入下稀疏低秩集成预测的多因子资产选择策略

面对金融市场的大量不确定性因素，如何合理选择有效的定价因子并构建科学的资产定价体系，一直是金融理论研究的核心问题之一。本文利用图嵌入的方法，基于稀疏表示和低秩表示策略，深度挖掘潜含在数据集中的内在结构，构建了能够同时揭示数据局部结构信息和全局结构信息的集成学习策略，以实现不同维度的多源数据融合。从CAPM和APT理论出发，通过集成预测的方法构建量化多因子资产选择模型，代表性地选择了卷积神经网络、梯度提升决策树、时间序列及支持向量机等模型进行单一预测,并通过稀疏低秩的图近似最小二乘回归集成策略进行优化。实证结果表明基于集成预测的稀疏低秩策略其资产选择能力更强，超额收益率更高。采用机器学习的非线性预测方法更有利于揭示金融系统的复杂特性。实证结论对投资组合管理具有重要指导意义。     

The impact of the board of directors characteristics on corporate performance and risk-taking before and during the global financial crisis

Over recent years, the effectiveness of good corporate governance practices has received considerable attention by the financial literature. In the current global finance crisis, several practitioners, academic and regulators argue that mechanisms of corporate governance have not served their purpose to safeguard equitably the interest of stakeholders, increasing the corporate risk-taking without proper management. This research contributes to the empirical literature, analyzing the impact of board characteristics and the capital structure on corporate performance and corporate risk-taking, in two different economic contexts: in an economic growth and in an economic recession. The methodology implemented takes into account the bidirectional causality and addresses endogeneity problem using a simultaneous equations system with three-stage least squares estimation method. The results show that the effectiveness of the board is sensitive to the economic period and the capital structure leads to reduce the levels of corporate risk-taking during the crisis. This research suggests that good corporate governance mechanisms should mitigate excessive corporate risk-taking and protect the interest of stakeholders in both periods: before and during the global financial crisis.