Kimitaka Nishitani

• Kobe University

The purpose of this study is to bridge the gap between conventional assumptions of legitimacy and voluntary disclosure theories and current practices of corporate nonfinancial reporting. The analysis conducts regressions using data on 244 Japanese companies in 2019 to clarify whether the triadic relationship between a company's nonfinancial reporti...

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call on all firms to apply their creativity and innovation to solving sustainable development challenges. There is then an argument that firms should address the SDGs by applying the creating shared value (CSV) framework. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that this is nothing more th...

This study investigates the relationship between consumers’ evaluation on sustainable development goal (SDG)-related characteristics and the actual payment for these values, while revealing effective governmental policies and business activities to enhance sustainable consumption. Using survey data from the USA, Germany, and Japan, the following re...

The purpose of this study is to clarify how material flow cost accounting (MFCA) can contribute to the SDGs and indicate how to introduce it into a company. First, we undertake a literature review to examine which SDGs MFCA can potentially contribute to. We then analyse the interplay between MFCA and management decision-making on the SDGs using an...

In the original version of the book, the following belated corrections have been made.

Motivated by the novel viewpoint that the two major corporate sustainability disclosure theories – that is, legitimacy theory and voluntary disclosure theory – are not exclusively competing, this study re-evaluates the two theories using our quality-based climate disclosure measures developed based on the 2018 CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Projec...

This paper examines the relationship between ownership structure, corporate governance, and the adoption of assurance in sustainability reporting in Japan. Using stakeholder theory hypotheses, we test the impact of ownership structure (the mix of financial institution, business corporation, and foreign investors) and corporate governance characteri...

In this chapter, we examine how emergent responsible management can be applied to new issues such as fulfilling sustainable development goals (SDGs). After briefly discussing what SDGs are and the SDGs Guideline for companies, this chapter illustrates the significance and limitations of working on the SDGs as the main business and proposes that eme...

The aim of this chapter is to provide a discussion of the business case of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group, which is the largest machine manufacture in Japan and known as the core company of Mitsubishi Group along with MUFG bank and Mitsubishi Corporation. This case study illustrates the application of emergent responsible management by investiga...

Emergent responsible management has already been practised by certain companies; thus, it is not simply a utopian dream. This chapter and following four chapters aim to provide examples by examining how activities reflecting its fundamental elements have been practised in those companies. This chapter analyses the experience of OMRON, a major elect...

The purpose of this study is to address the question of whether material flow cost accounting (MFCA) can contribute to the circular economy. Because MFCA is an environmental management accounting tool that simultaneously assesses company material and financial flows, it is expected to contribute to the circular economy by assisting companies to ach...

The purpose of this study is to address the criticism that corporate environmental activities to meet the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) are simply greenwashing. To this end, we clarify whether and why corporate environmental activities are effective in achieving SDGs from the stakeholder management perspective. Using data on Vietnamese co...

The swift development of integrated reporting as a genre within corporate reporting and the rapid spread of organizations adopting the International Integrated Reporting Council's (IIRC) vision for such shows that corporate voluntary reporting is now moving to a new stage. This provides an opportunity for companies to refine or reveal their hithert...

The demand for assurance in sustainability reporting has increased significantly in recent years. The objective of this study is to examine the views of corporate managers on the current state of, and future prospects for, this emerging assurance practice in Japan. The research is based on a small program of six semi-structured interviews and a que...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to test the legitimacy theory (LT) argument in the context of the banking industry of a developing country, taking Bangladesh as a case by interpreting the bank managers’ perceptions in legitimizing corporate social (CS) reporting. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) liste...

The purpose of this study is to clarify the patterns of influence of a firm’s environmental performance on its economic performance, with consideration of sustainable consumption and production (SCP). It is well known that environmental performance generally influences economic performance through an improvement in the production process and an inc...

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical insights into whether third-party reviews such as comments and assurances promote financial accountability in environmental reporting by ensuring the credibility of reported information. This paper empirically tests the hypothesis, based on voluntary disclosure theory, that companies proactively imp...

This paper, using data derived from a questionnaire survey of Indonesian firms, analyzes whether a firm’s environmental performance enhances its financial performance and why this happens. Due to the fact that the breakeven point of improving environmental performance will decrease in theory by implementing environmental management voluntarily rath...

The focus of corporate environmental initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has shifted from individual firms to supply chains, and to so-called low-carbon supply chain management (LCSCM). Because LCSCM is a more advanced environmental initiative than existing initiatives, this study empirically analyzes the influence of manufacturing...

The purpose of this study is to determine whether environmentally friendly attributes that are innovated in response to environmental standards contribute to creating a competitive advantage. Because manufacturers of products with only commoditized value cannot achieve a competitive advantage, they need to add differentiated value including environ...

This paper analyzes how a firm’s management of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions affects its economic performance. The theoretical model we derive from Cobb–Douglas production and inverse demand functions predict that in conducting GHG emissions management, a firm will enhance its economic performance because it promotes an increase in demand for its...

This paper analyzes the relationship between a firm's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and its profitability in Japanese manufacturing. Defining the difference between the marginal revenue and cost of reducing GHG emissions as the 'net benefit,' which is endogenously characterized by various factors, we estimate a switching regression model where the...

This paper examines the influence of firms’ reductions of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on firm value, measured by Tobin's q. If the stockholders/investors regard the reduction of GHG emissions as a form of intangible value, the reduction of GHG emissions will enhance firm value. To prove this relation more precisely, this paper analyzes not only...

The purpose of this study is to empirically analyze the relationships between financial structures and corporate governance on the one hand, and corporate employment systems, particularly female employment, on the other. We tested two hypotheses regarding governance and female employment. The first is that the long-term employment system is changin...

In this paper, to clarify whether a firm's voluntary approach to environmental protection is beneficial for both the environment and business, we analyze whether a firm's voluntary implementation of an environmental management system (EMS) simultaneously reduces its environmental impacts and improves its productivity. Using data on Japanese manufac...

This paper analyzes whether the reduction of pollution emissions improves a firm’s economic performance through the increase in sales to environmentally conscious customers and the cost reductions associated with the improvement in productivity. Because the selection of the control (end-of-pipe) or prevention (cleaner production) approach different...

This paper investigates whether environmental management system (EMS) implementation influences a firm’s value added, one of the indices of economic performance. Because it is expected that EMS implementation increases a firm’s value added through an increase in demand and an improvement in productivity, a simple model to identify how these effects...

This paper analyzes the environmental preferences and pressures of customers in environmentally conscious markets influencing the number of adoptions of ISO 14001--the international standard certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) concerning an Environmental Management System (EMS)--in a country. Customers in different...

This paper analyzes stakeholders' environmental preferences/pressures and the financial flexibility that together influence firms to adopt ISO 14001, which is the international standard primarily concerned with an Environmental Management System (EMS). Since firms retain ISO 14001 once they have adopted it, a firm's decision to adopt ISO 14001 is c...

The main purpose of this paper is to distinguish specific foreign markets where environ- mental concern is greatest; al lc ountries have different priorities and ideas with regard to the environment and its management. This paper analyzes the external pressure, particularly from foreig nm arkets in Japan, the EU, the US and Australia, on those comp...

This paper analyzes how a firmfs reduction of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions affects its economic performance. The theoretical model used is derived from the Cobb-Douglas production function and the inverse demand function, and predicts that in reducing its GHG emissions, a firm will increase its value added because it promotes an increase in d...