Hybrid Approach for Robust Identification and Measurement of Investors Driving Corporate Sustainability and Innovation. Design of Policy Tools for Evaluating the Impact of Specific Investors and Assessing the Quality of Companies’ Investor Bases.
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- Projektleiter/in : Dr. Tomasz Orpiszewski, Prof. Jörg Osterrieder, Prof. Marc Wildi
- Projektteam : Branka Hadji Misheva, Dr. Jan-Alexander Posth
- Projektvolumen : CHF 98'000
- Projektstatus : abgeschlossen
- Drittmittelgeber : SNF (Spark / Projekt Nr. 190703)
- Kontaktperson : Tomasz Orpiszewski
Beschreibung
Following several decades of profit-oriented research in finance
and economics, we have recently been observing a profound
transformation in investor perception and a visible shift towards a
sustainable financial system. The list of UN PRI signatories
includes already over 2,000 large asset owners and keeps growing
every year. Several reports (US SIF 2018) indicate that over 20% of
professionally managed assets in the U.S. is already being invested
according to the principles of socially responsible investing
(SRI). While an increasing number of institutional investors are
indicating their commitment to social and environmental
sustainability, it remains unclear which investors have the most
substantial and lasting effect on the sustainability of
companies.
In this project, we intend to measure the extent to which specific
investors influence the sustainability of companies they invest in.
We focus on the measurable side of sustainability, in particular
the environmental impact of the activity of companies, and the
level of corporate innovation, measured using patents data. By
combining a previously untested dataset with a novel, hybrid
methodology, we seek to answer deep-rooted scientific and practical
questions such as whether the investor base affects the
sustainability and innovation potential of a company. If so, can we
identify and highlight investors who are effectively driving the
future development of companies across the globe?
By answering these questions, we will provide clear guidance on the
design of policy tools to support investors and monitor the
investor bases of companies. To maximize the societal and
scientific impact of this project, we will use our findings to
design two practical tools for policymakers and investors, which
will empower them to make more viable and future-oriented decisions
concerning sustainability and innovation. The first tool will
enable an evaluation of the impact of a specific investor on
sustainability, based on their historical behavior. The second tool
will provide information whether company’s investor base is likely
to promote its sustainable development.
Our approach differs sharply from other projects in this field:
While the bulk of existing studies either use investor groups, we focus on the impact of individual investors on the evolution of sustainability of the companies they invest in. This will involve building and using untested dataset on investors and company data.- We extend the scope of the analysis to include crucial investors such as insurers, banks, pension funds, hedge funds as well as sovereign wealth funds.
- We focus simultaneously on sustainability and innovation, which has not been investigated in a comprehensive analysis so far.
- We include European and U.S. companies and investors, in
contrast to U.S.-focused studies.
- The proposed hybrid methodology combines linear and non-linear approaches as well as machine learning. It provides a variety of novelties over conventional approaches such as: adaptivity and time variation, addresses the spurious regression problem, and combines linear and non-linear dynamics. We also include a multi-tier data aggregation technique.
- We provide user-friendly assessment tools and seek to maximize
usability of results.
Through contacts with national and international organizations as well as public and private sector investors, we will disseminate the research and tools to an academic and non-academic audience.