Business Strategy and The Environment最新文献

{"title":"ESG and Financial Data Extraction and Correlation Analysis Using Multi‐Agent LLMs on Bank Reports","authors":"Danqing Lin, Dan He, Yu Zhao","doi":"10.1002/bse.71620","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71620","url":null,"abstract":"Assessing the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and financial performance has become a central concern in sustainable finance. However, existing studies largely depend on commercial ESG ratings, which lack transparency and obscure the contribution of individual indicators. In addition, ESG disclosures vary substantially across institutions, years and reporting formats, making cross‐bank comparison difficult. To address these challenges, this study introduces a unified multi‐agent framework powered by large language models (LLMs) to extract ESG and financial indicators directly from banks' annual reports. The framework employs category‐specific prompt designs that enable the models to recognise synonymous terminology, differing measurement scales and inconsistent reporting units, thereby transforming heterogeneous textual disclosures into structured and comparable datasets. Applying this LLM‐based approach to hundreds of reports from approximately 50 global banks over 7 years, we construct a harmonised dataset and conduct indicator‐level correlation analyses between ESG and financial performance measures. The results reveal heterogeneous yet systematic associations between specific ESG indicators and financial outcomes, with environmental variables showing relatively stronger and more consistent correlations with return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). This study presents the first scalable, transparent and reproducible LLM‐driven framework for ESG–finance analysis based on unstructured public disclosures, offering a methodological foundation that can be extended to other industries and domains.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149093430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Which Environment, Social and Governance Indicators Influence the Financial Distress Prediction? Evidence From Explainable Neural Networks","authors":"Iulia Voicila Voicila, Elena Urquía Grande","doi":"10.1002/bse.71628","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71628","url":null,"abstract":"This study identifies which disaggregated environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators influence financial distress prediction, combining an explainable artificial neural network, multinomial logistic regression and random forest on 9715 UK private firms (2020–2023). Relative to a benchmark using financial predictors alone, adding disaggregated ESG indicators raises holdout accuracy from 66.5% to 74.4% and the macro F1‐score from 0.657 to 0.748. Material information is concentrated in specific indicators rather than in the aggregate ESG score: executive remuneration and workforce‐ and stakeholder‐related practices provide the most convergent evidence, corporate governance receives moderate support and environmental indicators are heterogeneous. The aggregate score is consistently signed across methods but in the wrong direction, associated with a higher probability of distress, showing how composite ratings can invert the signals of their components. Materiality is stage‐ordered: long‐horizon practices are most informative among sound firms, governance controls among distressed firms and incremental value peaks in the grey zone.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149093426","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Fading Premium: Environmental and Financial Performance Across Nordic Industries","authors":"Ane C. H. Jensen, René Goduscheit, Amjad Naveed","doi":"10.1002/bse.71627","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71627","url":null,"abstract":"The relationship between environmental and financial performance remains one of the most studied and least settled questions in business research. Using a panel of 741 Nordic listed firms from 2018 to 2025, we study how industry, time, firm resources, and the substance of engagement condition it. Industry determines where a relationship exists at all. Most of the economy shares no common emissions‐performance relationship, one reason pooled studies disagree; the one group that does is led by machinery manufacturing. Within industries, cleaner firms outperformed peers in accounting returns and valuation during 2018–2021. The premium concentrated in slack‐rich firms, followed financial strength rather than producing it, and attached to measured reductions rather than announced targets. After 2021 the market‐wide accounting premium is gone, a formally tested change, leaving a valuation markdown for the dirtiest firms. The payoff has changed form, from a premium for leading to a penalty for lagging.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149093441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Circular Ecosystem‐Orchestrating Leadership: Microfoundations of Ecosystem‐Related Dynamic Capabilities for a Circular Economy Transition","authors":"Felix Carl Schultz, Vladislav Valentinov, Andrea Urbinati, Julian Kirchherr","doi":"10.1002/bse.71613","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71613","url":null,"abstract":"The transition to a circular economy (CE) increasingly depends on circular ecosystems: networks of autonomous yet interdependent actors that must coordinate material, information, and value flows to narrow, slow, and close resource loops. This creates a governance problem: Circularity requires orchestration, yet no single actor can impose coordination hierarchically. Combining an integrative review of peer‐reviewed articles at the intersection of CE, dynamic capabilities (DCs), and leadership research with theory synthesis, we introduce Circular Ecosystem‐Orchestrating Leadership (CEOL): an actor‐level, boundary‐spanning leadership capability that helps convert coordination barriers into governance outputs. We theorize three mechanisms: (1) narrative bridging translates divergent circularity meanings into shared interpretive frames; (2) platform convening creates credible multilateral commitments for coordinated investment; and (3) institutional entrepreneurship produces legitimate rule adaptation across public and private arenas. Each mechanism has a primary pathway to collective sensing, seizing, or reconfiguring respectively, but the mechanisms interact laterally and are recursively reshaped by the collective capabilities they support. Through these governance outputs, CEOL microfounds ecosystem‐level DCs. The framework advances CE leadership research beyond firm‐level adoption, extends DC theory by specifying governance‐mediated microfoundations of collective capabilities, and reframes circular ecosystem governance as a contested, territorially conditioned achievement vulnerable to narrative capture, platform capture or exclusion, and regulatory capture.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149093429","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Environmental, Social, and Governance Information Disclosure: Who Discloses Wins?","authors":"Siqi Wang, Jun‐Hwa Cheah, Christoph Wu, Weng Marc Lim","doi":"10.1002/bse.71603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71603","url":null,"abstract":"As Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Information Disclosure (ESG‐ID) transitions from voluntary to mandatory disclosure, its drivers and impacts have become focal points of discussion. Existing research, however, lacks integration, which, in turn, has led to fragmented theoretical and practical insights. This study conducts a multi‐layered systematic literature review on ESG‐ID following the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews (SPAR‐4‐SLR) protocol. At Layer 1, a broad bibliometric analysis is performed on 1507 articles retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science to delineate the field's developmental trajectory. At Layer 2, a TCCM‐ADO‐based content analysis is applied to 437 articles published in ABDC A*/A‐ranked journals, uncovering the theoretical underpinnings (T), contextual settings (C), characteristic patterns (C), and methodological approaches (M) that inform ESG‐ID research while simultaneously examining the antecedents (A), disclosure decisions (D), and outcomes (O) of ESG‐ID. Through this review, an integrated knowledge framework was established to serve as a reference point for the theoretical advancement and practical application of ESG‐ID. Notably, the framework posits that firms' ESG disclosure choices regarding strategy, form, and quality are driven and impeded by internal and external <jats:italic>antecedents</jats:italic> . These choices translate into economic, informational, and relational outcomes through specific transmission mechanisms. Key <jats:italic>mediators</jats:italic> include analyst attention, corporate culture, financing constraints, green innovation, information transparency, and profit sustainability. Disclosure effectiveness may be conditioned by key <jats:italic>moderators</jats:italic> such as ownership structure, digital transformation, industry exposure, and public attention. However, the positive impact of ESG‐ID is not universal, as such disclosure may lose its effectiveness or even lead to negative consequences when assurance is insufficient or greenwashing is detected.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149093434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Driven by SDGs, Powered by Human Capital: Managing Emotional Health in SMEs","authors":"Jesús Barrena‐Martínez, María‐José Foncubierta‐Rodríguez, Dara Hernández‐Roque, María del Carmen Peces Prieto","doi":"10.1002/bse.71612","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71612","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the mediating role of human capital between company emotional capital and managerial perceptions of employees' emotional health, analysing how this relationship is conditioned by the pursuit of specific sustainable development goals (SDGs 3, 4, 5, 8) and perceived institutional pressures in SMEs. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted among 96 Spanish SME managers to analyse these contingent relationships. Results indicate that external pressures predict a higher strategic integration of the SDGs, strengthening the mediating role of human capital. This mediating mechanism is contingent, as its indirect effects vary significantly depending on the specific SDG pursued. SME managers should proactively embed SDGs into HR strategies to leverage human capital and transform institutional compliance into improvements in managerial perceptions of employees' emotional health, thereby contributing to public welfare. Building on prior work that has already linked emotional capital and the SDGs, this study advances the literature by specifying how and under what conditions this link operates in SMEs. It proposes a novel dual‐mechanism model in which company human capital acts as an internal mediator between company emotional capital and managerial perceptions of employees' emotional health, whereas external pressure associated with specific SDGs (3, 4, 5 and 8) operates as an external conditioning factor shaping perceived workplace well‐being dimensions.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149093435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Waste Management for Sustainable Port Development: A Two‐Stage Data Envelopment Analysis","authors":"Sun‐Ho Bang, Mark Goh, Min‐Ho Ha, Young‐Joon Seo, Jia‐Rong Chen","doi":"10.1002/bse.71632","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71632","url":null,"abstract":"Environmental efficiency is a pillar of overall sustainable efficiency, where the capacity to regulate carbon dioxide emissions serves as a key constraint on sustainable port development. Consequently, amid the global transition toward sustainable port operations, improving environmental performance alongside environmental governance capabilities is imperative to ensure long‐term operational viability. Applying a two‐stage data envelopment analysis methodology, this paper examines 12 major trading ports in South Korea, delineating the sustainable port development process into a waste management stage and an environmental efficiency stage. The results inform that South Korean ports generally fare well on waste management efficiency, but not on environmental efficiency, leaving room for improvement in overall sustainable efficiency. These findings provide a reference for port decision makers and policymakers in formulating targeted decarbonization and green transition frameworks.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149093433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Circular Economy—A New Resilience Paradigm?","authors":"Julian Kirchherr, Felix Carl Schultz","doi":"10.1002/bse.71607","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71607","url":null,"abstract":"The circular economy (CE) has traditionally been positioned as a central instrument of the sustainability paradigm. Yet escalating geopolitical volatility and supply chain fragility have elevated resilience to a parallel strategic imperative, and the conceptual integration of CE and resilience remains underexplored. This article bridges this gap by reconceptualizing CE as a foundational instrument for (systemic) resilience. We advance eight theoretically grounded propositions specifying how core CE strategies (i.e., narrowing, slowing, and closing loops) can foster resilience across three nested levels: macro (socioeconomic systems), meso (territorial ecosystems and supply chains), and micro (organizations and products). A nested‐level proposition specifies the coupling between these levels and shows that cross‐level cascades may be reinforcing or countervailing. We argue that CE's future value lies in securing long‐term system continuity under exogenous shocks. By positioning CE as an instrument through which a resilience paradigm can be operationalized alongside sustainability, i.e., a paradigmatic evolution rather than a replacement, we offer a theoretical trajectory and research agenda for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers navigating an increasingly volatile global context.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149093438","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beyond Transparency: Governing Visibility–Opacity Tensions in Circular Supply Chains","authors":"Aamir Rashid, Rizwana Rasheed","doi":"10.1002/bse.71614","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71614","url":null,"abstract":"Circular supply chains are widely promoted as mechanisms of environmental regeneration, yet they generate a fundamental and underexplored operational tension: The same processes that require high levels of material transparency also create strong incentives for strategic information concealment. Circular supply chain research has predominantly emphasized the benefits of transparency and traceability, while adjacent research on alliances, coopetition, and knowledge protection recognizes that firms must also protect commercially sensitive information. What remains insufficiently explained is how this sharing–protection tension becomes embedded in circular supply chain operations, where the same lifecycle and recovery information can be simultaneously necessary for coordination and commercially appropriate. To address this gap, this study examines how firms manage the visibility–opacity tension through operational supply chain management (OSCM) processes. Drawing on a qualitative multiple‐case study of 32 US manufacturing firms and approximately 80 semistructured interviews, we identify three distinct tension‐management logics. Selective disclosure sequencing governs the timing and recipients of information across the partner lifecycle. Boundary‐anchored opacity recurrently reproduces comparatively stable information boundaries through institutionalized access restrictions. Adaptive transparency recalibration involves ongoing adjustment of disclosure practices in response to changing market and regulatory conditions. Collectively, these logics reveal distinct operational implications and trade‐offs that informants associate with different forms of visibility–opacity governance, particularly regarding coordination, protection of commercially sensitive knowledge, and responsiveness to changing conditions. These implications are interpreted as perceived process‐level consequences rather than independently measured performance effects. The study reconceptualizes transparency not as a governance target to be maximized, but as a boundary to be actively managed. For managers, the findings provide guidance on configuring disclosure practices to balance coordination needs with competitive protection. By theorizing disclosure as a processually governed boundary rather than a transparency outcome, this study shifts the information governance problem in circular supply chains from visibility maximization to boundary management.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149093436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Three Musketeers of Coevolutionary Circular Design","authors":"Katia Picaud‐Bello, Hervé Legenvre","doi":"10.1002/bse.71610","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71610","url":null,"abstract":"The transition from a linear to a circular economy necessitates systemic changes in product design, data sharing, and material flows. Applying a coevolutionary framework, this study shows how these three dimensions interact dynamically in circular economy transitions. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews with experts in sustainability, procurement, R&amp;D, and suppliers engaged in circular product design, we analyze the mutual adaptation of product design practices, data sharing initiatives, and material flows within three industrial companies. By advancing the coevolutionary perspective, the study provides theoretical insights into the interdependencies that shape the emergence of a circular economy. These interdependencies concern the development of shared material data across internal, upstream and downstream actors; their alignment with the growth of active secondary markets, the increasing need for transparent information exchange; and sustained investments in traceability systems that support both circular product design and stable secondary material markets. The study also offers actionable guidance for firms seeking to embed circularity in product design and business models.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149093466","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}