• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.287-316
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• 2023

As global energy crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have emerged as social issues, there is a growing demand for companies to move away from profit-centric business models and embrace sustainable management that balances environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. ESG activities of companies vary across industries, and industry-specific weights are applied in ESG evaluations. Therefore, it is important to develop strategic management approaches that reflect the characteristics of each industry and the importance of each ESG factor. Additionally, with the stance of strengthened focus on ESG disclosures, specific guidelines are needed to identify and report on sustainable management activities of domestic companies. To understand corporate sustainability strategies, analyzing ESG reports and news articles by industry can help identify strategic characteristics in specific industries. However, each company has its own unique strategies and report structures, making it difficult to grasp detailed trends or action items. In our study, we analyzed ESG reports (2019-2021) and news articles (2019-2022) of six companies in the 'Finance,' 'Manufacturing,' and 'IT' sectors to examine the sustainability strategies of leading domestic ESG companies. Text mining techniques such as keyword frequency analysis and topic modeling were applied to identify industry-specific, ESG element-specific management strategies and issues. The analysis revealed that in the 'Finance' sector, customer-centric management strategies and efforts to promote an inclusive culture within and outside the company were prominent. Strategies addressing climate change, such as carbon neutrality and expanding green finance, were also emphasized. In the 'Manufacturing' sector, the focus was on creating sustainable communities through occupational health and safety issues, sustainable supply chain management, low-carbon technology development, and eco-friendly investments to achieve carbon neutrality. In the 'IT' sector, there was a tendency to focus on technological innovation and digital responsibility to enhance social value through technology. Furthermore, the key issues identified in the ESG factors were as follows: under the 'Environmental' element, issues such as greenhouse gas and carbon emission management, industry-specific eco-friendly activities, and green partnerships were identified. Under the 'Social' element, key issues included social contribution activities through stakeholder engagement, supporting the growth and coexistence of members and partner companies, and enhancing customer value through stable service provision. Under the 'Governance' element, key issues were identified as strengthening board independence through the appointment of outside directors, risk management and communication for sustainable growth, and establishing transparent governance structures. The exploration of the relationship between ESG disclosures in reports and ESG issues in news articles revealed that the sustainability strategies disclosed in reports were aligned with the issues related to ESG disclosed in news articles. However, there was a tendency to strengthen ESG activities for prevention and improvement after negative media coverage that could have a negative impact on corporate image. Additionally, environmental issues were mentioned more frequently in news articles compared to ESG reports, with environmental-related keywords being emphasized in the 'Finance' sector in the reports. Thus, ESG reports and news articles shared some similarities in content due to the sharing of information sources. However, the impact of media coverage influenced the emphasis on specific sustainability strategies, and the extent of mentioning environmental issues varied across documents. Based on our study, the following contributions were derived. From a practical perspective, companies need to consider their characteristics and establish sustainability strategies that align with their capabilities and situations. From an academic perspective, unlike previous studies on ESG strategies, we present a subdivided methodology through analysis considering the industry-specific characteristics of companies.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.9-16
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to analyze research trends on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), and to present a direction for companies and investors to use ESG information. To this end, text mining, one of the atypical data mining techniques, was used for analysis. Thesis abstracts from January 2014 to February 2023 were collected from the SCOPUS database, and Economics, Econometrics and Finance were the most common. The United States and China published the most ESG papers, and Korea published the 6th most papers in the world. This study is meaningful in that it analyzed the main research trends of ESG using text mining techniques such as LDA and topic modeling. It was confirmed that ESG is being conducted in various fields, not in a specific field, and it is differentiated from previous studies in that it analyzed various influencing factors and ripple effects of ESG.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.131-148
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• 2023

Purpose - Since the 2020s, the management philosophy of Chinese firms' ESG has been rapidly established under the leadership of the Chinese government. We empirically analyze the ESG characteristics and effects on corporate value of Chinese firms. Design/methodology/approach - Using OLS and random effect panel regression analysis, we identify ESG determinants. In analyzing the impact on corporate value, likewise a large number of literatures, we adopt a 2SLS methodology using instrumental variables in the reason of endogeneity between ESG and firm value. We analyze using the G2SLS methodology, which is improving the efficiency of the estimation coefficients along with 2SLS. Findings - We find that ESG ratings are high in state-owned and foreign capital invested companies, ESG ratings are low in companies with a high proportion of non-floating stocks which implies information asymmetry. However, there are no significance in the institutional investor's, the major 10 largest shareholders' and manager's ownership. Furthermore, we can support most of the hypotheses that ESG ratings will be high in companies with high management performance. ESG ratings are significantly higher in companies with high ROA, rich in cash asset, low debt ratio, and large size. we strongly support the hypothesis that the higher the ESG rating, the higher the firm value, and ESG has a moderating effect on state-owned companies, non-floating shares, the ownership of institutional investors, manager, and the 10 major shareholder. In particular, state-owned companies, the proportion of non-floating shares, and the ownership of the 10 major shareholders have a negative impact on firm value, however, ESG attenuates this negative effect. Research implications or Originality - This study looks forward to enhancing our understanding of ESG characteristics in East Asia.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.45-60
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• 2020

Recently, ESG bond issuance has been gradually spreading to banks and non-financial private companies in Korea. However, the Korean ESG bond market is still in its infancy in terms of size, diversity and investor base compared to the global ESG bond market. In other words, ESG bonds are rapidly forming in the global market, but are still in the formation stage in the domestic market, and various policy and practical measures such as system, incentives, and infrastructure are needed to activate them. In this paper, we examine the domestic and international status of ESG bonds in relation to responsible investment. In addition, this paper explores specific measures to revitalize the domestic ESG bond market in four aspects: establishing ESG bond standards, procedures and regulations, increasing ESG bond investment demand, increasing ESG bond issuance, building market infrastructure and market efforts. This study is expected to contribute to the development of the domestic ESG bond market and responsible investment.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.117-137
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• 2024

ESG has become a necessity for all companies, and major Korean banks are actively practicing ESG management. Banks are playing a role in providing ESG finance as intermediaries in the supply of funds. Recently, they have launched ESG digital banking products that offer preferential interest rates for eco-friendly activities in combination with digital technologies. However, indiscriminate provision of preferential interest rates can adversely affect profitability of banks, and they may face the problem of 'Greenwashing' if they do not contribute to improving environmental awareness. Therefore, this study selected ESG digital savings products linked to electricity savings as the subject of the study, and empirically analyzed consumers' environmental awareness and savings behavior through actual data of consumers (N=2,478). The main findings of this study are as follows First, the analysis of the consumer status of ESG digital banking products shows that the 30-50s are the main consumer base, and the MZ generation shows relatively high performance in achieving preferential interest rates through electricity saving practices. Second, consumers' environmental awareness has a significant impact on achieving the goals of ESG banking products. ESG banking products can contribute to environmental awareness while fulfilling the basic function of saving. Third, environmental awareness did not drive consumers' savings contribution behavior, suggesting the need for continued consumer engagement. Based on environmental awareness and the theory of saving behavior, this study provides a theoretical explanation in ESG financial products. The results suggest that the appropriateness of the preferential interest rate design of ESG financial products is important.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.9
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• pp.229-239
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• 2022

The primary objective of the current study is to ascertain the effect of transparency and disclosure (T&D) on the value of banks operating in the Indian banking sector. It also includes finding the moderating impact of financial distress (FD) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) on the association between T&D and the valuation of banks. The study employs Panel data analysis (PDA) to analyze data and produce novel results thereafter. The authors of the study have considered using data of secondary nature which is sourced from banks operating in the Indian banking industry. Data in the current study has been considered for ten financial years, i.e., 2010 to 2019. The results reveal that T&D positively impacts a firm's valuation. We have also found evidence that financial distress and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) significantly impact the value of firms under the influence of T&D. As far as we are aware, no study of this kind has been done yet in any developing nation to determine the effect that T&D, FD, and ESG have on the value of Indian banks. This paper can help future researchers in their respective studies that will involve the study variables (FD, T&D, and ESG).

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2021.11a
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• pp.1253-1256
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• 2021

떠오르는 ESG 펀드(ETF·ELF)에 투자하는 서비스로 행동하는 소비자가 적극적인 ESG 펀드 기업의 사회적 변화를 주도록 변화를 만들어갈 수 있도록 핀테크와 ESG 플랫폼 통합서비스를 제시한다. 행동하는 소비자들은 증권사가 투자/운용하는 ESG 펀드(ETF·ELF)에 투자하고, 증권사는 발생하는 이익 일부를 사회 취약계층에 기부하여 사회적 책임을 다하는 기업으로 이미지 제고와 증권사 고객 증가, 펀드 자금 증가, 투자받는 기업들은 ESG 경영을 위한 자금 확보를 통해, 소비자와 증권사 그리고 ESG 경영 기업으로 이루어진 선한 영향력의 사이클을 선순환하는 비즈니스 모델과 아키텍쳐를 제시한다.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2019

This paper examines how corporate social responsibility is related to the degree of asymmetric information in the Korean financial market. Recent theory argues that there is a negative relationship between a firm's corporate social responsibility and its information asymmetry. To test this hypothesis, we use the environment, social and governance (ESG) score, published by the Korean Corporate Governance Service, to proxy a firm's management practices toward socially responsible activities. In the entire sample of the Korean firms, we find contrasting results; the ESG score shows negative relationships with the price impact measure but statistically insignificant relationships with the dispersion of analyst forecasts. However, the ESG score shows negative relationships with both measures when we exclude chaebol affiliates from the sample. These findings are robust when we examine environmental, social and corporate governance scores separately. This set of results argues for the extant theory, expecting a negative relationship between a firm's engagement in corporate social responsibility and asymmetric information. It further argues for the importance of firm characteristics in determining the influence of socially responsible activities.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.106-118
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• 2021

Global governments and initiatives have attempted and integrated various organizational efforts to implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), presenting a new paradigm of sustainable development to address global issues (climate change, poverty eradication, and human rights). Recently, investment in sustainable finance has expanded to finance the attainment of goals set out in the Paris Agreement and SDGs. Non-financial factors such as environment, social responsibility, and governance (ESG) have become intangible assets that determine the future competitiveness and profitability of companies. Domestic and foreign institutional investors and asset management companies have been expanding their investments based on the ESG performance of companies. In this study, we aim to derive international standards and initiatives that require disclosure of information on corporate social responsibility activities and ESG performance and analyze construction companies' ESG activities and performance levels. The results of this study can be used as the basis to develop platforms for the construction industry ESG ecosystem and the measurement and management of intangible assets. These could ultimately contribute to overcoming the crisis in the future due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, fostering net-zero emissions, and preventing fatal workplace accidents in the construction industry.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.47-65
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• 2023

As stakeholder demands and sustainable finance grow, ESG management and ESG evaluation are becoming important. SMEs should also prepare for the trends of ESG rating practices that affects supply chain management and financial transactions. However, SMEs have no choice but to focus on survival first, so there are restrictions on putting into ESG management. In addition, there is a lack of research on the legitimacy of ESG management by SMEs, and volatility in ESG evaluation systems and rating grades is also increasing. Accordingly, it is necessary to review ESG evaluation trends and practical guidelines along with the review of previous studies. As a result of the exploratory study, SMEs need to implement ESG management and make efforts to specialize in ESG related new businesses under conditions in which their survival base is guaranteed in terms of implementation strategies. In addition, it is necessary to focus on the strategic use of various evaluation results along with accumulating information favorable for ESG evaluation through organizational learning and software management. The implications of this study are that various studies such as the classification criteria for SMEs and the relationship between ESG evaluation grades and long-term survival rates are needed in ESG evaluation of SMEs. At the government policy level, it is time to consider the ESG evaluation system exclusively for SMEs so that ESG management can be implemented and ESG evaluation at different levels by industry and size.