Research areas/topics on Business Sustainability at Finance Division include:

• Corporate social responsibility and firm value: Evidence from Mergers – Acquiring firm’s social performance impacts the post-merger value of firm.
  

• Impact of environmental liability on capital structure - Firms with higher environmental liability maintain low leverage and long-term debts.
  

• Layoff announcements and corporate social responsibility

Publications in: Journal of Financial Economics.

Professors Jun-koo Kang and Buen Sin Low published the paper “Corporate Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Value Maximization: Evidence from Mergers”, in the Journal of Financial Economics in 2013. Their study found that the acquiring firm’s social performance is an important determinant of the probability of merger completion, the time required to complete the merger, and the post-merger value of the firm.

Professors Jun-koo Kang and Xin Chang, together with Kang Kang Fu investigated how environmental liability impacts a firm’s capital structure. Their study provides evidence for the view that environmental liability, an off-book liability, works as a substitution for conventional debt, and firms with high environmental liability maintain low leverage ratio, shift the maturity structure of debt from short-term to long-term, and hold more cash for precautionary motives. The working paper is now under review at a top journal.

Selected publications:

Journal Papers

• Jun-Koo KANG, “Corporate Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Value Maximization: Evidence from Mergers,” (With Xin Deng and Buen Sin Low), Journal of Financial Economics 110 (2013), 87-109.

Others

• Charoenwong, Chanika “Achieving Growth through Sustainable Finance” Business times, November 4, 2015: page 29.
• Xin Chang, Corporate Environmental Liabilities and Capital Structure (With Kang Kang Fu, Tao Li, Lewis Tam and George Wong) Working Paper.
• Charoenwong, Chanika “Corporate Social Performance and Firm Value: A US Perspective” Working paper. ​