The impact of external and internal drivers on value creation

Abstract

Protecting the environment and climate change are the main talking points in the modern world. This leads to increasing political involvement in the matter. This circumstance, as well as changing macroeconomic parameters, are the background to the investigation undertaken in this paper. The main objective of the paper is to evaluate the impact of value drivers on company value and the relationship between them. Based on the research questions, an identification and quantification of internal drivers of company value constitutes the first step. Analysis 1 is done by means of a multiple linear regression analysis. In the second step, these examined internal drivers are used in an investigation to verify and quantify the influence of external drivers (GDP, environmental tax and the Fraser index). Analysis 2 is done via a specific structural equation model (path analysis). Data in this paper are drawn from selected industrial sectors (metal, paper, and chemical) of three European countries (France, Germany, and Italy) within the period of 2006-2015. The findings show that size and profit margin are the most relevant internal drivers. GDP is the most relevant external driver with an impact on internal drivers. GDP always has a positive impact on added value. The results also indicate that the impact of GDP is higher in periods of economic crisis. Another outcome of the paper is that only in France do the environmental tax and the Fraser index have a clear impact on added value.