The Sustainability Learning Forum

Corporate Social Responsibility and Stock Market Efficiency

Prof. Leonardo Becchetti, University of Rome Tor Vergata
Dr. Rocco Ciciretti, University of Rome Tor Vergata

Leonardo Becchetti, Rocco Ciciretti and Alessandro Giovannelli investigates the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (hereafter CSR) and I/B/E/S Details analysts’ earnings per share (EPS) forecasts using a large sample of US firm forecasts for the 1997-2004 period. They shows that the net difference between CSR strengths and weaknesses significantly reduces both the absolute earning forecast error and its standard deviation after controlling for standard regressors and year, industry, and firm/broker effects. Their findings are consistent with the hypothesis that reduced transaction costs (and conflicts) with stakeholders and more transparent accounting practices implied by CSR significantly affect the bias. more[...] login_required

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The microfinance revolution has only just begun

Prof. Hanns Michael Hölz
Deutsche Bank AG

Microcredits have proven to be powerful instruments in the fight against poverty. However, they will reach their full impact only if they manage to limit their reliance on the charitable sector. “The genocide brought the destruction of my parents’ retail shop“, Nsengiyma Gilbert from Rwanda explains. “It ended in ruins and in the brutal killing of my father. After the war, I dropped out of school, crisscrossed Kigali in search for a job to no avail. Then the idea of selling milk to a nearby kindergarten school near my home came to me. However, the earnings from this business were not enough to buy me a refrigerator and enable me rent a bigger place to start a restaurant,” Gilbert says. more[...]

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Do we need a new economic system?

Dr. Elmer Lenzen

In 1933, representatives from 66 countries met in London to find a common solution to that era's global economic crisis. The idea: to have London send a signal for a new global financial system. The conference was a flop. On BBC Radio, economist John Maynard Keynes called it a complete yawn, and went on to say that conferences of this type usually ended in empty platitudes and ambiguous phras es. more[...] login_required

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We’re All Global Commoners Now

James Bernhard Quilligan

Economic analysts often look at the world’s monetary and financial asymmetries without understanding their historical causes. Yet the international community -- including the private sector -- must address the origins of these structural imbalances if there is to be a meaningful adjustment of the economic system. more[...] login_required

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Under discussion with Lord Michael Hastings

Lord Michael Hastings, KPMG International

I think what has changed dramatically since those words were first written are two fundamental realities. One is the media-based interconnectivity in the world. It was so much easier in previous centuries and previous generations to disregard the complexities, the pain, the sufferings, and even the disasters that affect other parts of the world. more[...] login_required

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New Project for Sustainable Investments in Africa

Gustav Johansson, Singularis Advisors

Over the past decade, real GDP growth for Africa rose at more than double its pace compared to the 90′s. FDI from international investors has played a major role in this development and investments in Africa have become an important part of any diversified Emerging Market portfolio. more[...] login_required

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Global Compact International Yearbook 2009

Dr. Elmer Lenzen

The inaugural issue of the Global Compact International Yearbook , highlighting key sustainability issues on the international agenda and showcasing a wide array of corporate practices, has just been published. more[...] login_required

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Sustaining Finance and Financing Sustainability in the Middle East

Editorial Team

Project one :In the light of its business excellence and recognition, Arab African International Bank decided to institutionalize the CSR building on its “Belief System “ and depending on a “Structural Approach”. This has produced the “We Owe it To Egypt” Foundation to be the national drive behind significant impact and sustainable development of health and education in Egypt. The Foundation’s main mission is: To pool patriotic resources and establish centers of excellence in health and education. Project two: The bank has adopted the Equator Principles as a regulatory framework for social and environmental impact assessment for projected finance that exceeds the 10 million dollars. more[...] login_required

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CSR and the Financial Crisis

Prof. Wayne Visser, Kaleidoscope Futures

There is nothing small or trivial about this financial crisis. According to the Bank of England’s recent Financial Stability Report, governments worldwide have already pledged more than $7 trillion in loans, guarantees, capital injections, and other assistance in their coordinated effort to prop up the global financial system. And the ILO estimates the crisis will cost 20 million jobs by next year. more[...] login_required

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