IEM PhD student from China spoke about the relationship between ESG and attractiveness of companies for investors at the Yasin Conference at HSE University

IEM PhD student from China spoke about the relationship between ESG and attractiveness of companies for investors at the Yasin Conference at Higher School of Economics

Zhang Jie finished the IEM’s “International Management” master’s program in 2022 and now is undergoing PhD studies under the guidance of IEM professor Olga Nedospasova. The topic of his dissertation is "Exploring the Influence of Corporate Environmental Responsibility on Company Sustainability: Experience from China”. The Yasin International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development was his first time presenting a report, during which he spoke in detail on how the implementation of ESG principles in companies and ESG disclosure increases attractiveness to investors.

“It should be noted that the HSE’s Yasin Conference is one of the most authoritative in the country, their selection process is very thorough, so it was necessary to show the level of research right at the application stage,” says Olga Nedospasova, academic supervisor. Zhang Jie succeeded, and he was immediately invited to participate. The report caused great interest and many questions from colleagues.

The PhD student analyzed financial data on more than 2 thousand Chinese companies from 2013 to 2021:

“The topic of ‘green economy’ is very popular in China right now," says Zhang Jie. “So it was interesting to investigate what impact it has on activities of companies. We can already see that good ESG performance helps companies gain trust and support from stakeholders, which in turn can improve their financial position, as well as reduce financial constraints. The trend is clear: environmental, social, and corporate governance disclosure will gradually become even more valuable to the capital market. However, right now there is still an information gap in terms of the availability of this information to investors.”

In his conclusion Zhang Jie offers some recommendations: companies should create a new model of environmentally friendly development, and the government, in turn, should encourage ESG disclosure by listed companies in various industries, moving from voluntary to semi-compulsory and even to fully compulsory disclosure. Investors, on the other hand, should pay more attention to ESG information, as it is an objective indicator of the long-term development of companies with sustainable development potential.