Firm Risk Research Articles

How Does Financial Flexibility Strategy Impact on Risk Management Effectiveness?

In the context of emerging countries trying to attract foreign investors, building governance strategies and risk management of firms is an increasing concern. This study investigates the impact of financial flexibility strategies on the risk management effectiveness of firms and mechanism of these impacts by focusing on Vietnamese listed firms by applying the fixed effect and system GMM methods on a sample of 635 Vietnamese listed firms during the 2010 to 2021 period to derive empirical models under the high risk-high return approach. We also applied robustness tests to ensure that the results are reliable. We also investigate the level of risk management effectiveness among these firms during the 2010 to 2021 period. We found that financial flexibility strategies negatively impact risk management effectiveness of firms through reducing both firm risk and firm performance. Furthermore, we found that the degree of risk management effectiveness differs between low- and high-risk firms in Vietnam, with low-risk firms displaying more effective risk management compared to high-risk firms. Our research shows that financial flexibility strategies are not conducive to risk management effectiveness; however, firms can control the impact of flexibility strategies on risk management by controlling firm performance and risk. JEL Classification: G30, G32, G39

ESG and ESG controversies on firm risks in the emerging markets: The moderating roles of Shariah screening and legal origins

Purpose – This study examines the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) and ESG controversies on firm risk, and proposes the moderating roles of Shariah screening and legal systems over the relationship. Design/Methodology – The research data were 522 firms from 16 emerging markets over the period 2013-2021 (4689 observations). The data (i.e., ESG, financial data, etc.) obtained from the Refinitiv Eikon database. The panel regression model was used to examine the relationships of variables studies. Findings – We find that ESG is negatively related to risks while ESG controversy is positively related to risks. This suggests that when firms engage in more ESG activities, stakeholders’ relationships are reinforced, and lead to reduced firm risks. Further, this study also finds that both Shariah screening and legal environment play significant moderating roles in reducing risks via their influence on ESG and ESG controversies. The evidence is consistent with the stipulation that Shariah-compliant firms are more inclined to engage in ESG activities. Originality/Value – This study is unique as it is an attempt to examine the moderating role of Shariah screening and legal system in influencing the impact of ESG and ESG controversies on firm risk. Practical Implications – The findings suggest engaging more aggressively in ESG activities can benefit from their risk mitigating effect. Further, the present evidence of the positive impact of Shariah screening in mitigating risk via ESG and corporate controversies. This evidence lends credibility for firms to be considered as Shariah-compliant.

Impact of Board Gender Diversity and Derivatives Use on Firm Risk

In the wake of the recent global pandemic, COVID-19, companies need to maintain performance and manage firm risk. Companies should understand what can affect the firm's risk. This paper investigates the impact of board diversity and derivatives use on firm risk. The sample consists of 35 Indonesian LQ45 listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange with an observation period of 2016–2020. The company's risk is proxied by the standard deviation of stock returns. This study uses a panel data regression model, namely fixed effect regression and random effect regression. The results of this study indicate that female board directorship is negatively associated with firm risk. It shows the significant role of female board directors in the company's board. Meanwhile, the use of derivatives has no significant effect on the firm risk. These results impact the development of literature that examines the influence of board diversity and the use of derivatives for hedging in Indonesia so that companies can determine company policies to reduce risk.

Firm-specific climate risk and market valuation

In alignment with the call in Engle et al. (2020) to improve the measurement of firm-level climate risk exposure, we explore usefulness of a firm-specific measure based on 10-K disclosures of climate risk. We find that our measure has incremental explanatory power for firm valuation over climate risk-related measures currently used in the literature. Further, our measure is broadly available, which extends the span of questions related to firm-specific climate risk that can be investigated. Corroborating its usefulness, we find that relative to hedge portfolios based upon the other measures, the return on a hedge portfolio that is long (short) on firms with high (low) values of our climate risk measure has the strongest negative association with a US-news based measure of climate change concerns. By exploiting the broad climate-related disclosures in 10-Ks, our measure provides a tool to better understand valuation implications of climate risk for firms.

Confucian culture and cost stickiness

AbstractCultural features may exert significant impact on firm behaviour. Through a sample of listed A‐share firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, we find that Confucian culture may significantly lower firms' cost stickiness. Our mechanism tests suggest that ideologies of self‐discipline and prudence embedded in Confucian culture may mitigate agency issues as well as overestimation of firm earnings. Furthermore, such impact is more pronounced among firms of lower shareholding by institutional investors or of weak internal control, which suggests that Confucian culture may help rectify the imperfection of corporate governance. Lower cost stickiness may also reduce firm risk.

Across the faultlines: A multi-dimensional index to measure and assess board diversity

Drawing on faultline theory, this article proposes a multidimensional diversity index (MDI) to measure and assess board diversity. Herein, we contest that diversity needs to be considered across multiple dimensions, or faultlines. Based on the FTSE all-share non-financial firms (2005–2018), the proposed MDI captures the joint effect of differences in director attributes across four faultlines (surface, identity, demographic, and meso-level). After constructing our MDI, we examine how shifts in diversity impact firm risk. Our analysis indicates that moderate levels of diversification (between 0.25 and 0.75) are both typical across our sample and reduce riskiness. At extreme levels of diversification, however, we find that risk increases. We perform further analysis that supports these findings while also showing that, regardless of whether boards are moderately or extremely diversified, their faultline scores are significantly correlated with industry competition and financial risk.

Political risk of green public procurement and firms' green innovation

This paper examines the relation between the political risk of green public procurement and green innovation. Using government leadership change as a research setting, we find that political risk in GPP impedes firms’ green innovation. Moreover, firms that rely more on external financing for green innovation are more vulnerable to this risk. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of political risk in GPP positively varies with the firm's property right affiliation. Overall, we can conclude that government clients are not entirely low-risk for firms’ green transition.

Board gender diversity, firm risk, and the intermediate mechanisms: A meta‐analysis

AbstractResearch questionThe primary focus of this meta‐analysis is to synthesize previously discordant findings on the relationship between board gender diversity (BGD) and different types of firm risk and to explore potential moderating and mediating mechanisms underlying these relationships.Research findingsWe statistically combine the results from 193 studies and find a negative association between BGD and firm risk. Further investigation indicates that different measures of risk lead to systematically different effect sizes. Our meta‐analysis structural equation modeling (MASEM) analysis reveals that BGD's impact on risk operates primarily through the monitoring rather than advising function of the board. Regarding the moderating role of national institutions, we find that several aspects of the national institutional context (e.g., investor protection, gender equality, and national culture) influence the relationship between BGD and different types of risk.Theoretical implicationsOverall, our results suggest that agency theory has more explanatory power than resource dependence theory for understanding the association between BGD and risk, and women's board representation is more likely to reduce downside risk than upside risk. Our moderating effect analysis also highlights interesting avenues for further research on the interplay of BGD and different risks in national environments with varying institutional attributes.Practitioner/policy implicationsOur meta‐analysis offers important practical implications for corporate risk management, suggesting that BGD significantly mitigates downside risks associated with poor corporate transparency without stifling board support for corporate decisions shaping future growth potential. In an era of rising board vulnerability to litigation for insufficient transparency, this study contributes evidence supporting trends toward greater gender diversity.

Impact of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure on firm risk: A meta‐analytical review

AbstractWhile the relationship between ESG disclosures and firm risk has been researched substantially, the results remain inconclusive, and contradictory, as of 2023. Through meta‐analysis, we investigate the effect of ESG disclosures measured by studies using E, S, G, or ESG disclosure on firm risk measured as total, systematic, or idiosyncratic risk with a sample of 76 papers published between 1991 and 2023. To the best of our knowledge, this is the pioneering attempt to investigate the impact of ESG disclosure on firm risk by adopting a meta‐analytical procedure to assess the significance of estimated mean effect size followed by meta‐regression analysis to test the effect of potential moderators. E, S, and G disclosures were found to be inversely related to firm risk as proposed by stakeholder and legitimacy theories. Further, the relationship between ESG disclosures and firm risk was found to be more pronounced for idiosyncratic risk rather than systematic risk. Results confirmed that firm size and female participation significantly moderated the relation between ESG disclosures and the level of firm risk. However, R&D, financial flexibility, disclosure index, and ROA had an insignificant but negative impact on the relationship. Our findings provide solace to managers and policymakers who may increasingly invest in ESG activities without worrying as ESG investing results in reducing firm risk. In addition, to manage risk, portfolio managers may include more stocks of environmentally as well as socially responsible firms in their portfolios. Future studies may suggest new moderators in the field of ESG disclosures and firm risk, thereby broadening the theoretical realm. Subsequent studies should examine the influence of specific environmental concerns such as carbon emissions, as well as social concerns such as gender equality and employee compensation, on stock returns. It contributes to the prevailing debate on ESG disclosures and firm risk nexus as well as attempts to shed light on pertinence of moderators affecting the relationship.

Cash Flow Ratios and Business Failure of Healthcare Firms in Nigeria

The study examined cash flow ratios as predictors of business failure of healthcare firms in Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to ascertain the effect of operating cash flow ratio, cash flow to debt ratio, and price to cash flow ratio on Altman’s zeta score of healthcare firms in Nigeria. The study adopted ex-post-facto research design, covering a period of 10 years (from 2013 to 2022). Secondary data used for the study were extracted from annual reports and accounts of selected healthcare firms listed on the Nigeria Exchange Group (NGX) from 2013 to 2022. Multiple regression technique was used to test the hypotheses. The result of the test of hypotheses revealed that the operating cash flow ratio has a statistically non-significant negative effect on the Altman z-score of healthcare firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.3397). The finding also indicates that the cash flow to debt ratio has a statistically non-significant negative effect on the Altman z-score of healthcare firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.2937). Lastly, the finding reveals that the price to cash flow ratio has a non-significant positive effect on the Altman z-score of healthcare firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.5281). The policy implications of these findings suggest that when assessing the financial health and bankruptcy risk of healthcare firms in Nigeria, policymakers and regulators should consider factors beyond cash flow ratios. It was recommended therefore that healthcare firms in Nigeria should diversify their sources of cash flow beyond operating cash flow to improve financial stability and mitigate bankruptcy risk. Healthcare firms should have a careful evaluation of debt management practices is necessary to maintain a healthy balance between cash flow generation and debt obligations in healthcare firms. Market sentiment reflected in the price to cash flow ratio should not be relied upon as the sole indicator of financial stability. Healthcare firms should prioritize fundamental financial and operational indicators to assess their financial health and mitigate bankruptcy risk.

Oil price uncertainty and corporate diversification: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms

This study examines the effect of oil price uncertainty on corporate diversification using the Chinese manufacturing listed firms for the period from 2007 to 2019. From the risk hedging perspective, we find that firms are more likely to diversify across industries when oil price uncertainty increases. These findings are robust to utilize alternative measures of key variables, perform an instrumental variable regression, system GMM approach, the change regression, and consider other contemporaneous shocks. Further mediation analyses reveal that the increased diversification mainly results from the heightened operational risk and financing constraints of firms. Finally, we observe that the relation between oil price uncertainty and corporate diversification is more pronounced for firms with higher exposure to oil price and those with higher external profit pressure. Overall, our study sheds new light on the impact of oil price uncertainty on the firm-level activities, and contributes to the debate about the driving factors for the diversification trend in emerging markets.

The moderating effect of tax risk on the relationship between tax avoidance and firm risk: empirical evidence in the French context

PurposeThis paper aims to study the impact of tax avoidance on corporate risk. It also examines the moderating impact of tax risk on the relationship between tax avoidance and firm risk.Design/methodology/approachBased on available information in the DATASTREAM database about a sample of French firms listed in the CAC 40 from 2010 to 2022, the study uses the feasible generalized least squares method to investigate the impact of tax avoidance on firm risk and the moderating impact of tax risk. To check the robustness of our results, the authors changed the measurement of variables to identify potential biases and they significantly mitigated the endogeneity concerns using instrumental variable regression. Additional estimations were performed, first by using book-tax differences (BTD) and its components, i.e. temporary and permanent, and second by retesting hypotheses of years before the outbreak of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.FindingsThe results show that tax avoidance negatively affects the firm risk while tax risk has a positive effect on firm risk. More importantly, tax risk moderates the negative impact of tax avoidance on the firm risk. When tax avoidance is associated with a high level of tax risk, it leads to a high firm risk. Accordingly, tax avoidance should be considered in conjunction with tax risk when studying the effect put on the firm risk. Further analyses indicate that tax risk moderates the negative relationship between permanent BTD and firm risk.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitation of this study is that it focuses only on French-listed firms, which make it difficult to generalize the results. Furthermore, the authors did not introduce governance variables into our models. An effective governance system and transparent information can reduce some of the perverse effects of risky tax avoidance by reducing the tax avoidance costs. The obtained results are of great interest to researchers who need to include the tax risk concept in their examination of the tax avoidance impacts.Practical implicationsThe results are useful for investors wishing to make sound decisions regarding risky tax avoidance practices. Furthermore, the results may signal the need for French policymakers to make more efforts to reduce risky tax avoidance activities that are harmful to investors. They must enforce the existence and the reporting of a tax risk management strategy by firms.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the growing body of literature on the tax avoidance effects with a special focus on firm risk. This study provides the first French evidence of the role of tax risk in the relationship between tax avoidance and firm risk.

Foreign investments and firm risk: Evidence from Germany

Using a sample of publicly traded nonfinancial firms in Germany from 2000 to 2020, we empirically test whether the share of foreign investments positively affects firm risk and the cost of debt. Although the share of foreign investments is positively related to operating risk, it is not related to systematic risk, idiosyncratic risk, or industry-adjusted operating risk. Furthermore, the share of foreign investments is unrelated to the cost of debt or firm performance. If the realized firm risk adequately represents the expected firm risk, our results suggest no relationship between the degree of foreign investments and the expected firm risk. As expected, we find a positive relationship between firm risk and the cost of debt.

Asset pricing implications of firms' profit sharing

This study examines the asset pricing implications of a profit-sharing policy by measuring a profit-sharing coefficient (PSC) that captures the firm's tendency to share profits with its employees. We find that firms with a high PSC earn higher future stock returns than firms with a low PSC. This arises because investors underestimate the positive effects of PSC on worker productivity while overreacting to the potential costs due to the high PSC. We further reveal PSC to be inversely associated with firm risk by showing that the earnings and stock returns of high-PSC firms are less sensitive to aggregate risk than those of low-PSC firms.

The Impact of Corporate ESG Activities on Firm’s Risk - China Listed Companies from 2013 to 2022

The impact of corporate social activities on corporate financial performance has become a popular topic in recent decades. Using data from 102 companies listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange markets from 2013 to 2022, this paper examines the correlation between corporate performance, evaluated through three aspects, environmental, social responsibility, and governance (“ESG”), and the firm risk. We obtain data from the China Securities ESG Index System and CSMAR database. The OLS two-way fixed effect regression model is utilized in this study after the Hausman test to examine the association between corporate ESG activity development and company risk. Our empirical results show that ESG and business risk have a negative relationship, and this relation is significant. This paper conducts a robustness test, and we find that the results are still robust after considering more firm characteristics as control variables. Based on this result, this paper also discusses the implications for stakeholders, such as employees, business managers, and financial analysts. Further research prospects are also provided based on the limitations of this research.

Operating risk of enterprises when adopting environmental regulation: Evidence from environmental protection law in China

Addressing the negative externality of pollutant emissions requires environmental regulations. The well-designed environmental regulation can stimulate innovation and reinforce management, which may lead to operating risk decreases in heavily polluting firms. This study evaluates the effect of environmental regulations using the enactment of the Chinese New Environmental Protection Law (NEPL) in 2015 as an exogenous shock. Our difference-in-differences estimation shows that the deterrent of the NEPL reduces the operating risk of heavily polluting firms, and the relationships are robust to different specifications and alternative settings. We also find that the impact of the NEPL is more pronounced in subsamples with higher ex-ante innovation and improved environmental management. Further evidence shows that innovative firms may be better positioned to develop green technologies by patenting to comply with environmental regulations. Moreover, the improved environmental management practices under regulations may attract more analyst attention which help firms build a positive reputation in the market. Such responses to comply with environmental regulations ultimately reduce the operating risk of firms. Overall, our study sheds light on the micro mechanisms behind the NEPL's effect on firms' operating risk, providing implications and references for policymakers and firm managers.

The impact of the environmental, social and governance dimensions of sustainability on firm risk in the hospitality and tourism industry

AbstractThis paper explores the relationship between adherence to corporate social responsibility goals and firm financial risk. Data on an international sample of 209 firms were collected for the period 2002 to 2022. Firm risk was proxied using stock return volatility and probability of default. The results show that the environmental performance of hospitality and tourism firms unequivocally influences firm risk, whether this risk is quantified as probability of default or volatility of stock market returns. This finding confirms that the adoption of environmentally sustainable and responsible practices is crucial not only for the environment but also for the stability of hospitality and tourism firms.

The impact of firm risk on the value of cash holdings: The moderating role of corporate social responsibility

This study investigates the impact of firm risk on the value of cash holdings, and how corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects this relationship considering controlling shareholders. Using a sample of Taiwanese publicly listed firms from 2005 to 2018, we find that firms' CSR activities are more positively associated with the value of cash holdings because of controlling shareholders' incentive effects in most cases. Moreover, the precautionary view suggests that high-risk firms positively influence the value of cash holdings. Interestingly, considering controlling shareholders weakens the moderating impact of CSR engagement on the relationship between firm risk and value of cash holdings. Thus, CSR is an important determinant of corporate cash policies among Taiwanese firms. Our empirical results provide managers, investors, and policymakers with important decision-making insights.

Fintech development and corporate credit risk: Evidence from an emerging market

This paper analyzes the impact of fintech development on the credit risk of non-financial firms. Using the city-level fintech development index constructed based on data from Ant Finance Service Group, we find that: (1) non-financial firms in cities with better fintech services have lower credit risk; (2) two channels identified are financial constraints and corporate investment efficiency; (3) the role of fintech development in reducing corporate credit risk are more pronounced for non-state-owned firms, small and medium-sized firms, firms in regions with a lower level of marketization, and firms experiencing economic contraction. Our research provides implications for the development of fintech in an emerging market.

Family control, institutional investors, and financial distress: Evidence from China

AbstractThe effect of family control on corporate governance and risk‐taking behaviours remains disputed worldwide. We examine how family control affects the financial distress of firms listed on the Chinese stock market. Our empirical findings suggest that family firms, particularly those with descendant CEOs, face significantly higher financial distress risk. Higher debt levels and more diversified acquisitions of family firms can partially explain their higher financial risk. Further analysis indicates that institutional investors help reduce the financial distress risk of Chinese family firms. We contend that institutional investors play vital roles in enhancing the corporate governance of family firms in China. Taken together, our study urges attention to the financial distress risk of family firms in a transient economy.