Regarding CSR reporting and its impacts, there's mixed evidence (not
surprising, coming from academics that like to answer with "it
depends").
Various research, for instance, shows that worst performers tend to
respond most to bad reporting, but that impacts on firm value (which
is often the primary motivation for change) may be temporary (i.e.,
firms are initially punished for looking bad, but over time investors
accept that they are investing in laggards). But for every study that
finds one result, there are three that find others.
Some of the leading recent research on this has been done by:
Chatterji, Aaron K., and Michael W. Toffel. 2010. “How firms respond
to being rated.” Strategic Management Journal 31 (9): 917-945.
Barnett, M. (2007). "Stakeholder Influence Capacity and the
Variability Of Financial Returns To Corporate Social Responsibility."
The Academy of Management Review 32(3): 794-816.
Barnett, Michael L., and Robert M. Salomon. 2006. “Beyond dichotomy:
the curvilinear relationship between social responsibility and
financial performance.” Strategic Management Journal 27 (11): 1101-1122.
and one older relevant one:
Samuel B. Graves, Kathleen Rehbein, and Sandra Waddock. Fad and
Fashion in Shareholder Activism: The Landscape of Social Policy
Resolutions, 1988-1998. Business and Society Review, Winter 2001, 106
(4): 293-314.
A longer list of some relevant recent studies studies is:
Clarkson, Peter M., Yue Li, Gordon D. Richardson, and Florin P.
Vasvari. “Revisiting the relation between environmental performance
and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis.” Accounting,
Organizations and Society 33 (4-5): 303-327.
Cormier, Denis, and Michel Magnan. 2007. “The revisited contribution
of environmental reporting to investors’ valuation of a firm's
earnings: An international perspective.” Ecological Economics 62 (3-4)
(May 15): 613-626.
Delmas, Magali, and Vered Doctori Blass. 2010. “Measuring corporate
environmental performance: the trade-offs of sustainability ratings.”
Business Strategy and the Environment 19 (4): 245-260.
A couple of the seminal studies on market value and environmental
performance, which is a bit different from what you are looking at,
but possibly of interest, are:
Konar, S. and M. A. Cohen (2001). "Does the Market Value Environmental
Performance?" Review of Economics and Statistics 83(2): 281-289.
Orlitzky, M., F. L. Schmidt, et al. (2003). "Corporate Social and
Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis." Organization Studies 24(3):
403-441.
I hope this helps.
David
--
David Katz, Ph.D.
Professional Director, Akirov Institute for Business & Environment
Recanati School of Management &
Porter School for Environmental Studies
Tel Aviv University
Tel. 03-640-6264
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://envbiz.tau.ac.il
Quoting "Marc Levy" <[email protected]>:
I've recently joined Columbia's socially responsible investment
committee (become a friend on facebook and help us crack the 38-friend
barrier!). This is shareholder resolution season. Many resolutions
seek mandated sustainability reporting. Columbia in general has voted
in favor of these. But I'm curious -- is there any evidence that such
reports make any difference? Do they impel firms to reveal secrets
they would otherwise have been able to keep hidden? Do they spur
innovation that otherwise would have remained dormant? There must be
some research on this.
Thanks,
Marc
