IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v30y2023i6p2969-2989.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How does demand uncertainty from climate change exposure affect the firms' cost structures? Examining the real effects of climate change on the firms' operational decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Natalie Kyung Won Kim
  • Sera Choi
  • Taejin Jung
  • Sohee Park

Abstract

This article explores how climate change exposure affects the firms' cost structures. We use Sautner et al.'s (2023) measure of firm‐level climate change exposure based on earnings conference calls of publicly‐listed U.S. companies from 2002 to 2020 to capture both the opportunities and threats brought about by climate change and understand the comprehensive impact of climate change on the firms' cost structure decisions. Prior literature has documented that firms strategically alter their cost structure when demand is uncertain and firms are concerned about unusually high or low demand realizations. We build on this prior literature and find that firms exposed to climate change adopt a more rigid cost structure with a higher proportion of fixed costs. Our findings suggest that firms perceive higher congestion costs from unusually high demand realizations caused by long‐term climate change. We find that the effect of climate change exposure on cost rigidity is more pronounced for firms with more positive demand expectations and firms in more competitive product markets. Lastly, we find that investors react positively to the rigid cost structure of firms exposed to climate change. Overall, this article sheds light on the real effects of climate change on the firms' operational decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Natalie Kyung Won Kim & Sera Choi & Taejin Jung & Sohee Park, 2023. "How does demand uncertainty from climate change exposure affect the firms' cost structures? Examining the real effects of climate change on the firms' operational decisions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(6), pages 2969-2989, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:30:y:2023:i:6:p:2969-2989
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.2532
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2532
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.2532?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lijun Ma & Xin Wang & Che Zhang, 2021. "Does Religion Shape Corporate Cost Behavior?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 835-855, May.
    2. Rory Sullivan, 2009. "The management of greenhouse gas emissions in large European companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(6), pages 301-309, November.
    3. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    4. Luigi Guiso & Giuseppe Parigi, 1999. "Investment and Demand Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 185-227.
    5. Mark P. Sharfman & Chitru S. Fernando, 2008. "Environmental risk management and the cost of capital," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 569-592, June.
    6. Downar, Benedict & Ernstberger, Jürgen & Reichelstein, Stefan & Schwenen, Sebastian & Zaklan, Aleksandar, 2021. "The impact of carbon disclosure mandates on emissions and financial operating performance," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 26(3), pages 1137-1175.
    7. Pete Tashman & Jorge Rivera, 2016. "Ecological uncertainty, adaptation, and mitigation in the U.S. ski resort industry: Managing resource dependence and institutional pressures," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7), pages 1507-1525, July.
    8. Martin Holzhacker & Ranjani Krishnan & Matthias D. Mahlendorf, 2015. "The Impact of Changes in Regulation on Cost Behavior," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(2), pages 534-566, June.
    9. Walid Ben‐Amar & Mathieu Gomes & Hania Khursheed & Sylvain Marsat, 2022. "Climate change exposure and internal carbon pricing adoption," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 2854-2870, November.
    10. Nguyen, Justin Hung & Phan, Hieu V., 2020. "Carbon risk and corporate capital structure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    11. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    12. Caroline Flammer & Michael W. Toffel & Kala Viswanathan, 2021. "Shareholder activism and firms' voluntary disclosure of climate change risks," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(10), pages 1850-1879, October.
    13. Mark C. Anderson & Rajiv D. Banker & Surya N. Janakiraman, 2003. "Are Selling, General, and Administrative Costs “Sticky”?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 47-63, March.
    14. Sanjay Kallapur & Leslie Eldenburg, 2005. "Uncertainty, Real Options, and Cost Behavior: Evidence from Washington State Hospitals," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(5), pages 735-752, December.
    15. Sudheer Chava, 2014. "Environmental Externalities and Cost of Capital," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(9), pages 2223-2247, September.
    16. Abeer Hassan & Essam Ibrahim, 2012. "Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: Factors Influencing Companies' Success in Attaining Environmental Awards," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 32-46, January.
    17. Gary King & Patrick Lam & Margaret E. Roberts, 2017. "Computer‐Assisted Keyword and Document Set Discovery from Unstructured Text," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(4), pages 971-988, October.
    18. Jeremy Martinich & Allison Crimmins, 2019. "Climate damages and adaptation potential across diverse sectors of the United States," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(5), pages 397-404, May.
    19. Michele Piccione & Ran Spiegler, 2012. "Price Competition Under Limited Comparability," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(1), pages 97-135.
    20. Robert G. Eccles & George Serafeim & Michael P. Krzus, 2011. "Market Interest in Nonfinancial Information," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 23(4), pages 113-127, December.
    21. Guay, Wayne R. & Kepler, John D. & Tsui, David, 2019. "The role of executive cash bonuses in providing individual and team incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(2), pages 441-471.
    22. Federica Gasbarro & Jonatan Pinkse, 2016. "Corporate Adaptation Behaviour to Deal With Climate Change: The Influence of Firm‐Specific Interpretations of Physical Climate Impacts," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(3), pages 179-192, May.
    23. Sen, Rik & Tumarkin, Robert, 2015. "Stocking up: Executive optimism, option exercise, and share retention," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 399-430.
    24. Peter Demerjian & Baruch Lev & Sarah McVay, 2012. "Quantifying Managerial Ability: A New Measure and Validity Tests," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(7), pages 1229-1248, July.
    25. Konstantinos Evangelinos & Ioannis Nikolaou & Walter Leal Filho, 2015. "The Effects of Climate Change Policy on the Business Community: A Corporate Environmental Accounting Perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(5), pages 257-270, September.
    26. Elizabeth Stanny & Kirsten Ely, 2008. "Corporate environmental disclosures about the effects of climate change," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(6), pages 338-348, November.
    27. Erin M. Reid & Michael W. Toffel, 2009. "Responding to public and private politics: corporate disclosure of climate change strategies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(11), pages 1157-1178, November.
    28. Cristina Ciocirlan & Caroline Pettersson, 2012. "Does Workforce Diversity Matter in the Fight against Climate Change? An Analysis of Fortune 500 Companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 47-62, January.
    29. Dhaliwal, Dan & Judd, J. Scott & Serfling, Matthew & Shaikh, Sarah, 2016. "Customer concentration risk and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 23-48.
    30. Gerard Hoberg & Gordon Phillips & Nagpurnanand Prabhala, 2014. "Product Market Threats, Payouts, and Financial Flexibility," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(1), pages 293-324, February.
    31. Erin Marie Reid & Michael W. Toffel, 2008. "Responding to Public and Private Politics: Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Strategies," Harvard Business School Working Papers 09-019, Harvard Business School, revised Jun 2009.
    32. Henry He Huang & Joseph Kerstein & Chong Wang, 2018. "The impact of climate risk on firm performance and financing choices: An international comparison," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(5), pages 633-656, July.
    33. Silvana Secinaro & Valerio Brescia & Davide Calandra & Buerhan Saiti, 2020. "Impact of climate change mitigation policies on corporate financial performance: Evidence‐based on European publicly listed firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2491-2501, November.
    34. Timo Busch & Marcel Richert & Matthew Johnson & Sven Lundie, 2020. "Climate inaction and managerial sensemaking: The case of renewable energy," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2502-2514, November.
    35. Riccardo Rodella & Maria Rosa De Giacomo, 2023. "How do financial markets reward companies tackling climate change concerns? A natural experiment based on the Brexit referendum," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 979-990, March.
    36. Bettis, J. Carr & Bizjak, John & Coles, Jeffrey L. & Kalpathy, Swaminathan, 2018. "Performance-vesting provisions in executive compensation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 194-221.
    37. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2011. "When Is a Liability Not a Liability? Textual Analysis, Dictionaries, and 10‐Ks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(1), pages 35-65, February.
    38. Henry He Huang & Joseph Kerstein & Chong Wang & Feng (Harry) Wu, 2022. "Firm climate risk, risk management, and bank loan financing," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(13), pages 2849-2880, December.
    39. Rory Sullivan & Andy Gouldson, 2016. "Comparing the Climate Change Actions, Targets and Performance of UK and US Retailers," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(3), pages 129-139, May.
    40. Pii‐Tuulia Nikula, 2022. "Beyond compliance – Voluntary climate mitigation by New Zealand firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1456-1464, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Agoraki, Konstantina K. & Giaka, Maria & Konstantios, Dimitrios & Negkakis, Ioannis, 2024. "The relationship between firm-level climate change exposure, financial integration, cost of capital and investment efficiency," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    2. Liu, Yang Stephanie & Zhou, Xiaoyan & Yang, Jessica Hong & Hoepner, Andreas G.F. & Kakabadse, Nada, 2023. "Carbon emissions, carbon disclosure and organizational performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    3. Walid Ben-Amar & Millicent Chang & Philip McIlkenny, 2017. "Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Response to Sustainability Initiatives: Evidence from the Carbon Disclosure Project," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 369-383, May.
    4. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    5. Kira R. Fabrizio & Eun-Hee Kim, 2019. "Reluctant Disclosure and Transparency: Evidence from Environmental Disclosures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(6), pages 1207-1231, November.
    6. Chowdhury, Hasibul & Rahman, Shofiqur, 2023. "Do tournament incentives affect corporate dividend policy?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    7. Zahra Borghei, 2021. "Carbon disclosure: a systematic literature review," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(4), pages 5255-5280, December.
    8. Matthias Damert & Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2018. "External Pressures or Internal Governance – What Determines the Extent of Corporate Responses to Climate Change?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 473-488, July.
    9. Abreu, Mônica Cavalcanti Sá de & Webb, Kernaghan & Araújo, Francisco Sávio Maurício & Cavalcante, Jaime Phasquinel Lopes, 2021. "From “business as usual” to tackling climate change: Exploring factors affecting low-carbon decision-making in the canadian oil and gas sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PA).
    10. Saibal Ghosh, 2024. "Do bankers on board fulfill their role? Corporate social responsibility, environmental concerns and firm leverage," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3297-3311, July.
    11. Bo Wang & Zehui Wang & Jun Wen & Xiaotian Tina Zhang, 2021. "Executive Gender and Firm Environmental Management: Evidence from CFO Transitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-14, March.
    12. Walid Ben‐Amar & Philip McIlkenny, 2015. "Board Effectiveness and the Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Information," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 704-719, December.
    13. Hossain, Ashrafee T. & Masum, Abdullah-Al, 2022. "Does corporate social responsibility help mitigate firm-level climate change risk?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    14. Nguyen, Justin Hung & Shi, Jing, 2021. "Are banks really special? Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    15. Siamak Javadi & Abdullah‐Al Masum & Mohsen Aram & Ramesh P. Rao, 2023. "Climate change and corporate cash holdings: Global evidence," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 52(2), pages 253-295, June.
    16. Chen, Jason V. & Kama, Itay & Lehavy, Reuven, 2024. "The managerial perception of uncertainty and cost elasticity," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1).
    17. Chowdhury, Hasibul & Hossain, Ashrafee & Tan, Kelvin & Zheng, Jiayi, 2022. "Do external labor market incentives improve labor investment efficiency?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    18. Hossain, Ashrafee & Masum, Abdullah-Al & Saadi, Samir & Benkraiem, Ramzi, 2023. "Generalist CEO and carbon emissions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 68-86.
    19. Christine Chou & Robin Clark & Steven O. Kimbrough, 2023. "What do firms say in reporting on impacts of climate change? An approach to monitoring ESG actions and environmental policy," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2664-2678, September.
    20. Ozgur Isil & Rose Sebastianelli, 2020. "Arcs of carbon awareness in the value chain and their antecedents," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 503-518, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:30:y:2023:i:6:p:2969-2989. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.