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Corporate governance, law, culture, environmental performance and CSR disclosure: A global perspective?

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the impact of corporate governance and culture background on firms’ environmental performance and CSR disclosure from a global perspective. It provides evidence of a positive relationship between environmental performance and CSR disclosure, supporting the voluntary disclosure theory. We find that common internal corporate governance best practices (such as CEO non-duality, ESG committees and gender diversified boards) are associated with better environmental performance and more disclosure of CSR related information. Debt is an effective internal governance vehicle and positively affects firms’ environmental performance and CSR disclosure. Cross-listed firms perform better environmentally and disclose more CSR information. Firms residing in countries with stronger legal systems have less voluntary CSR disclosure, implying that external governance is functional and may partially serve as a substitute for internal governance. In terms of culture influence, we find that firms in countries with low power distance, individualism, femininity, high uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation perform better environmentally. Firms in low power distance, collectivistic, feminine, long-term oriented, high uncertainty avoidance and restrained countries disclose more CSR information.

SUBMITTER: Lu J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7550273 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundA major challenge to transforming food systems to promote human health and sustainable development is the global rise in the manufacture and consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). A key driver of this dietary transition is the globalization of UPF corporations, and their organized corporate political activity (CPA) intended to counter opposition and block government regulation. UPF industry CPA and the corporate interest groups who lobby on their behalf have been well described at the national level, however, at the global level, this network has not been systematically characterized. This study aims to map, analyse, and describe this network, and discuss the implications for global food policy action on UPFs, global food governance (GFG), and food systems transformation.MethodsWe conducted a network analysis of the declared interest group memberships of the world's leading UPF corporations, extracted from web sources, company reports, and relevant academic and grey literature. Data on the characteristics of these interest groups were further extracted for analysis, including year founded, level, type, and headquarter location.ResultsWe identified 268 interest groups affiliated with the UPF industry. The UPF manufacturers Nestlé (n = 171), The Coca-Cola Company (n = 147), Unilever (n = 142), PepsiCo (n = 138), and Danone (n = 113) had the greatest number of memberships, indicating strong centrality in coordinating the network. We found that this network operates at all levels, yet key actors now predominantly coordinate globally through multistakeholder channels in GFG. The most common interest group types were sustainability/corporate social responsibility/multistakeholder initiatives, followed by branding and advertising, and food manufacturing and retail. Most corporate interest groups are headquartered where they can access powerful government and GFG decision-makers, nearly one-third in Washington DC and Brussels, and the rest in capital cities of major national markets for UPFs.ConclusionsThe UPF industry, and especially its leading corporations, coordinate a global network of interest groups spanning multiple levels, jurisdictions, and governance spaces. This represents a major structural feature of global food and health governance systems, which arguably poses major challenges for actions to attenuate the harms of UPFs, and to realising of healthy and sustainable food systems.

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Corporate governance, law, culture, environmental performance and CSR disclosure: A global perspective?

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