Discover how companies engage in corporate social responsibility activities and how to better manage weather risk from the last BizTalks of the season, featuring Assistant Professor WANG Danqing of the Department of Management and Associate Professor CHEN Zhanhui of the Department of Finance.
Are Politically Endorsed Firms More Socially Responsible? Selective Engagement in Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been a foreign concept for Chinese firms. Many companies lack adequate knowledge of CSR and institutional support such as NGOs was also underdeveloped. Prof. Wang and her co-authors find that small and medium-sized companies, especially those being endorsed by the government faced a stronger pressure to engage in CSR activities. However, they strategically chose to engage more in donation but much less in environmental protection. Learn more about Wang’s research here.
Managing Weather Risk with a Neural Network-based Index Insurance
Climate change and weather risk affect the economy and livelihood over large scales, especially for agricultural production which depends on weather conditions. Weather index insurance can be employed to hedge against weather risk. Prof. Chen’s research proposes a neural network-based index insurance design that reduces basis risk, lowers insurance premiums, and improves farmers' utility. Learn more about his research here.