Environmental regulation and corporate financialization: insight from Blue Sky Protection Campaign in China.

Environmental regulation restricts corporate pollution emissions and affects corporate investment decisions and asset allocation. Based on the data of A-share listed enterprises in China from 2013 to 2021 and the difference in differences (DID) model, this paper identifies the impact of environmental regulation on corporate financialization with the help of the "Blue Sky Protection Campaign (2018-2020)" (BSPC) of China. The results indicate that environmental regulation has a crowding-out effect on corporate financialization. Enterprises with stricter financing constraints receive more significant crowding-out effects. This paper provides a new perspective on the "Porter hypothesis." Under the constraint of financial resources and high environmental protection costs, enterprises carry out innovative activities and environmental protection investments by consuming financial assets to reduce the risk of environmental violations. The government's environmental regulation is an effective way to guide the financial development of enterprises, control environmental pollution, and promote enterprise innovation.

The utility of Zip4 codes in spatial epidemiological analysis.

There are many public health situations within the United States that require fine geographical scale data to effectively inform response and intervention strategies. However, a condition for accessing and analyzing such data, especially when multiple institutions are involved, is being able to preserve a degree of spatial privacy and confidentiality. Hospitals and state health departments, who are generally the custodians of these fine-scale health data, are sometimes understandably hesitant to collaborate with each other due to these concerns. This paper looks at the utility and pitfalls of using Zip4 codes, a data layer often included as it is believed to be "safe", as a source for sharing fine-scale spatial health data that enables privacy preservation while maintaining a suitable precision for spatial analysis. While the Zip4 is widely supplied, researchers seldom utilize it. Nor is its spatial characteristics known by data guardians. To address this gap, we use the context of a near-real time spatial response to an emerging health threat to show how the Zip4 aggregation preserves an underlying spatial structure making it potentially suitable dataset for analysis. Our results suggest that based on the density of urbanization, Zip4 centroids are within 150 meters of the real location almost 99% of the time. Spatial analysis experiments performed on these Zip4 data suggest a far more insightful geographic output than if using more commonly used aggregation units such as street lines and census block groups. However, this improvement in analytical output comes at a spatial privy cost as Zip4 centroids have a higher potential of compromising spatial anonymity with 73% of addresses having a spatial k anonymity value less than 5 when compared to other aggregations. We conclude that while offers an exciting opportunity to share data between organizations, researchers and analysts need to be made aware of the potential for serious confidentiality violations.

Examining the convergence of dominant themes related to social entrepreneurship, NGOs and globalization-A systematic literature review.

Social entrepreneurship (SE) is an all-encompassing concept in comparison to a typical non-government organization (NGO). It is a topic that has captured the interest of academics investigating nonprofit, charitable, and nongovernmental organizations. Despite the interest, few studies have examined the overlap and convergence of entrepreneurship and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in congruence with the new phase of globalization. The study gathered and evaluated 73 peer-reviewed papers using a systematic literature review methodology, mainly from Web of Science but also from Scopus, JSTOR, and Science Direct, and supplemented by a search of existing databases and bibliographies. Based on the findings, 71 percent of studies suggest that organizations must reconsider the concept of social work, which has evolved rapidly, aided by globalization. The concept has changed from the NGO model to a more sustainable one, such as that proposed by SE. However, it is difficult to draw broad generalizations regarding the convergence of context-dependent complex variables such as SE, NGOs, and globalization. The results of the study will significantly contribute to a better understanding of the convergence of SE and NGOs, as well as the recognition that many aspects of NGOs, SE, and post-COVID globalization remain unexamined.

For whom does it pay to be a moral capitalist? Sustainability of corporate financial performance of ESG investment.

This paper analyzes the risk-return characteristics of socially responsible investing by employing a time-varying capital gain and Sharpe ratio analysis for various investment horizons. We employ the MSCI ESG (environmental, social and governance) leaders indices in ten markets encompassing Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, UK, USA, China, India, Russia, and South Africa. Our sample ranges from 2007-2020. We document that ESG investments have very desirable return and hedging attributes for investors in these markets, and especially so in the USA and emerging markets.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on CSR Activities of Healthcare Providers.

(1) Background: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is important for every company that cares for sustainable structures. Healthcare providers especially have made social responsibility their goal. However, crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted different activities within the healthcare sector including CSR and its monitoring. However, theory-driven CSR research within the healthcare sector is scarce and monitoring requires a structured understanding of the processes. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the CSR practices and activities which healthcare providers have implemented in an exemplified country namely Germany and the effect of the pandemic in this process. (2) Methods: Participants were sampled based on their field of care (general, psychiatric, or rehabilitation), the type of organization (public, private, or non-profit), and group membership. A total of 18 healthcare providers were initially recruited, out of which nine participated in the interviews. They represent companies with yearly revenue of between EUR 110 million and EUR 6 billion, and have between 900 and 73,000 employees. (3) Results: CSR-related activities were postponed due to times of crisis. There was a necessity to rapidly digitalize processes. Frequent and precise communication turned out to be important for keeping employees' well-being, motivation, and satisfaction levels high. Environmental efforts were counteracted by new hygienic requirements and a shift in priorities. Many study participants expressed the hope that after the pandemic, newly established methods, processes, and structures (e.g., digital meetings, quicker and more inclusive communication) would be maintained and developed further. (4) Conclusions: The pandemic has been challenging and at the same time, these challenges also created opportunities to strike a new path using the learnings to overcome future health-related or economic crises.

From External to Local: Opportunities and Lessons Learned from Transitioning COMSA-Mozambique.

Donor transitions, where externally funded programs transfer to country ownership and management, are increasingly common. The Countrywide Mortality Surveillance for Action - Mozambique (COMSA) project established a nationwide surveillance system capturing vital events at the community level with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. COMSA was implemented in partnership between Johns Hopkins University (a U.S.-based academic institution) and the Instituto Nacional de Saúde (National Institute for Health) and Instituto Nacional de Estatística (National Institute for Statistics), two Mozambican public institutions. Midway through the project, the Gates Foundation directed COMSA's partners to develop and implement a transition plan that ensured COMSA's activities could be institutionalized after Gates Foundation funding ended. Here we describe the process and activities that COMSA underwent for transition planning, including stakeholder engagement and advocacy, securing financial commitments, documenting operational activities, capacity building, and supporting strategic planning. Facilitators included a project model that already embedded significant implementation and management responsibility with local agencies, high-level commitment to COMSA's activities from local stakeholders, establishing dedicated personnel and budget to manage transition, and fortuitous timing for financing. Challenges included needing to engage multiple government agencies to ensure buy-in, navigating tensions around future roles and responsibilities, reviewing and adjusting existing implementation structures, and the reality that this transition involved shifting financing from one development partner to another. Transition implementation was also constrained by the COVID-19 pandemic because key stakeholders were engaged in response efforts. COMSA's experience highlights lessons and threats for future programs facing donor transition in uncertain environments.

Stepping into the Void: Lessons Learned from Civil Society Organizations during COVID-19 in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil experienced some of the highest rates of COVID-19 globally. This was complicated by the fact that 35 million of its citizens have limited access to water, a primary resource necessary to stem the spread of infectious diseases. In many cases, civil society organizations (CSOs) stepped into this void left by responsible authorities. This paper explores how CSOs in Rio de Janeiro helped populations struggling with access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) during the pandemic, and what coping strategies are transferable to similar contexts. In-depth interviews (n = 15) were conducted with CSO representatives in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that COVID-19 exacerbated pre-existing social inequities among vulnerable populations, undermining their ability to protect their health. CSOs provided emergency relief aid but faced the counterproductive actions of public authorities who promoted a narrative that diminished the risks of COVID-19 and the importance of non-pharmacological interventions. CSOs fought this narrative by promoting sensitization among vulnerable populations and partnering with other stakeholders in networks of solidarity, playing a vital role in the distribution of health-promoting services. These strategies are transferrable to other contexts where state narratives oppose public health understandings, particularly for extremely vulnerable populations.

Equitable data sharing in epidemics and pandemics.

BACKGROUND: Rapid data sharing can maximize the utility of data. In epidemics and pandemics like Zika, Ebola, and COVID-19, the case for such practices seems especially urgent and warranted. Yet rapidly sharing data widely has previously generated significant concerns related to equity. The continued lack of understanding and guidance on equitable data sharing raises the following questions: Should data sharing in epidemics and pandemics primarily advance utility, or should it advance equity as well? If so, what norms comprise equitable data sharing in epidemics and pandemics? Do these norms address the equity-related concerns raised by researchers, data providers, and other stakeholders? What tensions must be balanced between equity and other values? METHODS: To explore these questions, we undertook a systematic scoping review of the literature on data sharing in epidemics and pandemics and thematically analyzed identified literature for its discussion of ethical values, norms, concerns, and tensions, with a particular (but not exclusive) emphasis on equity. We wanted to both understand how equity in data sharing is being conceptualized and draw out other important values and norms for data sharing in epidemics and pandemics. RESULTS: We found that values of utility, equity, solidarity, and reciprocity were described, and we report their associated norms, including researcher recognition; rapid, real-time sharing; capacity development; and fair benefits to data generators, data providers, and source countries. The value of utility and its associated norms were discussed substantially more than others. Tensions between utility norms (e.g., rapid, real-time sharing) and equity norms (e.g., researcher recognition, equitable access) were raised. CONCLUSIONS: This study found support for equity being advanced by data sharing in epidemics and pandemics. However, norms for equitable data sharing in epidemics and pandemics require further development, particularly in relation to power sharing and participatory approaches prioritizing inclusion. Addressing structural inequities in the wider global health landscape is also needed to achieve equitable data sharing in epidemics and pandemics.

A comprehensive and healthcare equity promoting response by a civil society-public partnership to COVID-19 in Chiapas, Mexico.

Following the first COVID-19 case in Chiapas, Mexico in March 2020, the non-governmental organisation Compañeros En Salud (CES) and the state's Ministry of Health (MOH) decided to join forces to respond to the global pandemic. The collaboration was built over 8 years of partnership to bring healthcare to underserved populations in the Sierra Madre region. The response consisted of a comprehensive SARS-CoV-2 infection prevention and control programme, which included prevention through communication campaigns to combat misinformation and stigma related to COVID-19, contact tracing of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases and their contacts, outpatient and inpatient care for patients with respiratory symptoms, and CES-MOH collaboration on anti-COVID-19 immunisation campaigns. In this article, we describe these interventions and their principal outcomes, as well as reflect on notable pitfalls identified during the collaboration, and we suggest a series of recommendations to prevent and mitigate their occurrence. As with many cities and towns across the globe, the poor preparedness of the local health system for a pandemic and pandemic response led to the collapse of the medical supply chain, the saturation of public medical facilities and the exhaustion of healthcare personnel, which had to be overcome through adaptation, collaboration and innovation. For our programme in particular, the lack of a formal definition of roles and clear lines of communication between CES and the MOH; thoughtful planning, monitoring and evaluation and active engagement of the communities served in the design and implementation of health interventions affected the outcomes of our efforts.

Study on the Global Sustainability of the Korean Construction Industry Based on the GRI Standards.

This study began with the increasing importance of ESG through sustainable management evaluation across all industries, predicting market demand through the ESG management paradigm and financial environment changes in the global industry, and establishing international strategies for the construction industry. Compared to other industries, the construction industry is in the early stages of ESG formation, and it is unclear how to expand its base by establishing evaluation system standards such as innovation of individual services, interaction of social capital, and definition of stakeholders. Currently, some large construction companies in the construction industry are publishing sustainability management reports at the group level, but given the recently strengthened global sustainability of ESG by GRI Standards, efficient analysis of global construction markets and strategic orders are needed. Therefore, this study focuses on assessing the sustainability strategies and directions of the construction industry from an ESG perspective. To this end, sustainability issues and insights, as well as global issues in Korea and the worldwide construction sector, were analyzed. The analysis showed that global construction companies were highly interested in business management approaches, such as safety and health, as critical issues regarding the construction industry's sustainability strategy. In contrast, South Korean construction companies prioritize business values such as value creation, fair trade, and win-win. Both global and South Korean construction companies have been working on greenhouse gas reduction and energy sustainability. Regarding other issues, cultivating construction specialists, enhancing the job training system, and limiting serious accidents and safety mishaps were all significant from a social standpoint among South Korean construction companies. Conversely, global construction companies appeared to focus on issues related to ethical and environmental management from an organizational standpoint.

Using 10-K text to gauge COVID-related corporate disclosure.

During the pandemic era, COVID-related disclosure has become quite critical for shareholders and other market participants to understand the uncertainties and challenges associated with a firm's operation. However, there is no well-grounded and systematic measure to gauge the intensity of COVID-related disclosure and its plausible impact. Therefore, this study develops and validates various COVID-related disclosure measures. More specifically, using a sample of publicly listed U.S. firms and applying natural language processing (NLP) on 10-K reports, we have developed two types of COVID dictionaries (or COVID-related disclosure measurement tools): (a) overall COVID dictionary (count of all COVID-related words/phrases) and (b) contextual COVID-dictionary (count of COVID related words/phrases preceded or followed by positive, negative tones, or financial constraints words). Subsequently, we have validated both types of COVID dictionaries by investigating their association with corporate liquidity events (e.g., dividend payment, dividend change). We confirm that the overall COVID dictionary effectively predicts a firm's liquidity event. We find similar results for contextual COVID dictionaries with a negative spin (i.e., COVID disclosures with a negative tone or an indication of financial constraints). Our results further show that better-governed firms (e.g., greater board independence, and more female directors) tend to have more COVID-related disclosures, despite the fact that more COVID-related disclosures suppress a firm's market-based stock performance (e.g. Tobin's Q). Our results suggest that better-governed firms prefer greater transparency, even if it may hurt their market performance in the short run.

Dynamic analysis of NGO emergency relief goods supply: 2020 Hubei COVID-19 as a case.

Intention: Global emergencies cause significant damage to lives, assets, and the economy. Therefore, the supply of relief goods is essential in emergency relief contexts, which is generally the function of non-government organizations (NGOs) as they have unique relief goods supply advantages. However, few studies have explored the influencing factors on NGO relief goods supply efficiency. To systematically explore the factors affecting supply efficiency, we aim to develop a supply chain model for simulating and providing policy suggestions. Method: Taking the 2020 Hubei COVID-19 as case study, this research developed a system dynamic (SD) model for the NGO relief supply system to evaluate and quantify the impact of factor changes on relief supplies. Conclusion: It was found that transportation and information delays aggravated the NGO emergency supply chain bullwhip effect and caused large supply fluctuations. The initial relief goods inventory was found to be a decisive factor in reducing shortages in disaster areas; however, government support was found to play only a limited role in reducing information and transportation delays. Value: This study enriches NGO emergency supply chain literature and provides suggestions for guiding NGO relief goods supplies in the future.

Managerial Perception of Risk in an Organization in a Post-COVID-19 Work Environment.

The COVID-19 pandemic drew the attention of all industries and organizations to the importance of comprehensive preparation for various types of crises and disruptions. Without proper risk management for crisis situations, it is impossible to talk about organizational resilience, maintaining organizational continuity, or ensuring the company's ability to protect workers' lives and health in a crisis. While the COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly reshaping the work environment, significant challenges related to risk management are emerging. The purpose of this research paper is to examine the impact of a pandemic on the risk perception in an organization by managers of all three levels (strategic, operational, and line level) and to examine the impact of broadly understood risk management on organizational performance. For the examination of operational risk perception, empirical research was conducted in Polish enterprises. The methodology of the survey is based on a questionnaire of operational risk and risk management perception in a post-COVID-19 work environment. According to the survey results, risk management was generally perceived better than the level of operational risk, compared to the period before the pandemic. Therefore, a substantial improvement in risk management during the crisis allowed the surveyed organizations to cope with the pandemic, and even slightly enhance their performance. Organizations have been able to achieve their goals mainly by slightly reducing risk appetite and lowering the tolerable risk level threshold. Even so, organizations have improved their ability to adapt and seize opportunities.

How gender is socially constructed in policy making processes: a case study of the Adolescent and Youth Health Policy in South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Gender equality remains an outstanding global priority, more than 25 years after the landmark Beijing Platform for Action. The disconnect between global health policy intentions and implementation is shaped by several conceptual, pragmatic and political factors, both globally and in South Africa. Actor narratives and different framings of gender and gender equality are one part of the contested nature of gender policy processes and their implementation challenges. The main aim of this paper is to foreground the range of policy actors, describe their narratives and different framings of gender, as part exploring the social construction of gender in policy processes, using the Adolescent Youth Health Policy (AYHP) as a case study. METHODS: A case study design was undertaken, with conceptual underpinnings combined from gender studies, sociology and health policy analysis. Through purposive sampling, a range of actors were selected, including AYHP authors from government and academia, members of the AYHP Advisory Panel, youth representatives from the National Department of Health Adolescent and Youth Advisory Panel, as well as adolescent and youth health and gender policy actors, in government, academia and civil society. Qualitative data was collected via in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 30 policy actors between 2019 and 2021. Thematic data analysis was used, as well as triangulation across both respondents, and the document analysis of the AYHP. RESULTS: Despite gender power relations and more gender-transformative approaches being discussed during the policy making process, these were not reflected in the final policy. Interviews revealed an interrelated constellation of diverse and juxtaposed actor gender narratives, ranging from framing gender as equating girls and women, gender as inclusion, gender as instrumental, gender as women's rights and empowerment and gender as power relations. Some of these narrative framings were dominant in the policy making process and were consequently included in the final policy document, unlike other narratives. The way gender is framed in policy processes is shaped by actor narratives, and these diverse and contested discursive constructions were shaped by the dynamic interactions with the South Africa context, and processes of the Adolescent Youth Health Policy. These varied actor narratives were further contextualised in terms of reflections of what is needed going forward to advance gender equality in adolescent and youth health policy and programming. This includes prioritising gender and intersectionality on the national agenda, implementing more gender-transformative programmes, as well as having the commitments and capabilities to take the work forward. CONCLUSIONS: The constellation of actors' gender narratives reveals overlapping and contested framings of gender and what is required to advance gender equality. Understanding actor narratives in policy processes contributes to bridging the disconnect between policy commitments and reality in advancing the gender equality agenda.

The Impact of Cooperative Behavior between Social Organizations during the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak in Shanghai: A Simulation Approach.

In 2022, a new outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic created considerable challenges for the Shanghai public health system. However, conventional prevention and control strategies, which only rely on formal organizations, inefficiently decrease the number of infections. Thus, a multi-organization management mode is needed for pandemic prevention. In this paper, we applied a stochastic actor-oriented model (SAOM) to analyze how these social organizations cooperate with others and further identify the mechanism that drives them to create a reliable and sustainable cooperative relationship network from the perspective of social network analysis. The model allowed us to assess the effects of the actor's attributes, the network structure, and dynamic cooperative behavior in RSiena with longitudinal data collected from 220 participants in 19 social organizations. The results indicated that the number of cooperative relationships increased during the pandemic, from 44 to 162, which means the network between social organizations became more reliable. Furthermore, all the hypotheses set in four sub-models were significant (t-ratio < 0.1, overall max t-ratio < 0.25, and e/s > 2). Additionally, the estimated values showed that four factors played a positive role in forming the cooperative relationship network, i.e., all except the "same age group effect (−1.02)". The results also indicated that the social organizations tend to build relationships with more active actors in the community in every time period. This paper is of great significance regarding the innovation of public health system management and the improvement of Chinese grassroots governance.

Health systems resilience: is it time to revisit resilience after COVID-19?

The concept of health system resilience has been challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even well-established health systems, considered resilient, collapsed during the pandemic. To revisit the concept of resilience two years and a half after the initial impact of COVID-19, we conducted a qualitative study with 26 international experts in health systems to explore their views on concepts, stages, analytical frameworks, and implementation from a comparative perspective of high- and low-and-middle-income countries (HICs and LMICs). The interview guide was informed by a comprehensive literature review, and all interviewees had practice and academic expertise in some of the largest health systems in the world. Results show that the pandemic did modify experts' views on various aspects of health system resilience, which we summarize and propose as refinements to the current understanding of health systems resilience.

Academic Productivity of Equity-Deserving Physician Scholars During COVID-19: A Scoping Review.

PURPOSE: The COVID-19 pandemic presented new barriers and exacerbated existing inequities for physician scholars. While COVID-19's impact on academic productivity among women has received attention, the pandemic may have posed additional challenges for scholars from a wider range of equity-deserving groups, including those who hold multiple equity-deserving identities. To examine this concern, the authors conducted a scoping review of the literature through an intersectionality lens. METHOD: The authors searched peer-reviewed literature published March 1, 2020, to December 16, 2021, in Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, and PubMed. The authors excluded studies not written in English and/or outside of academic medicine. From included studies, they extracted data regarding descriptions of how COVID-19 impacted academic productivity of equity-deserving physician scholars, analyses on the pandemic's reported impact on productivity of physician scholars from equity-deserving groups, and strategies provided to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic productivity of physician scholars from equity-deserving groups. RESULTS: Of 11,587 unique articles, 44 met inclusion criteria, including 15 nonempirical studies and 29 empirical studies (22 bibliometrics studies, 6 surveys, and 1 qualitative study). All included articles focused on the gendered impact of the pandemic on academic productivity. The majority of their recommendations focused on how to alleviate the burden of the pandemic on women, particularly those in the early stages of their career and/or with children, without consideration of scholars who hold multiple and intersecting identities from a wider range of equity-deserving groups. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate a lack of published literature on the pandemic's impact on physician scholars from equity-deserving groups, including a lack of consideration of physician scholars who experience multiple forms of discrimination. Well-intentioned measures by academic institutions to reduce the impact on scholars may inadvertently risk reproducing and sustaining inequities that equity-deserving scholars faced during the pandemic.