IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-01423571.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Are environmentally responsible firms less vulnerable when investing abroad? The role of reputation

Author

Listed:
  • Rémi Bazillier

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Sophie Hatte

    (UNIL - Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne)

  • Julien Vauday

    (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Globalization allows multinational firms to locate strategically the polluting activities in lax countries. This paper revisits the empirical evidence by exploiting heterogeneity in firms' environmental image. While locating in countries with weak environmental standards is likely to be detrimental for a firm's image and reputation, investing in corporate environmental responsibility can help firms to convince consumers that they have good environmental practices, even when investing in the "dirty" countries. Exploiting an original database that records an index of environmental responsibility for large European firms, we find that the firms viewed as environment-friendly are more often than others located in countries with weak environmental regulations. We show that our findings are not likely to be driven by omitted variables bias, specific sectors nor particular countries. Interestingly, this relationship is observed only among the firms with a well-established reputation for environmental responsibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Rémi Bazillier & Sophie Hatte & Julien Vauday, 2017. "Are environmentally responsible firms less vulnerable when investing abroad? The role of reputation," Post-Print hal-01423571, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01423571
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2016.12.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chen, Maggie Xiaoyang & Moore, Michael O., 2010. "Location decision of heterogeneous multinational firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 188-199, March.
    2. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/14otokka698nb83lk2n7bhqbo2 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Dam, Lammertjan & Scholtens, Bert, 2008. "Environmental regulation and MNEs location: Does CSR matter?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 55-65, August.
    4. Bruce A. Blonigen & Jeremy Piger, 2019. "Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 1, pages 3-54, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Fernández-Val, Iván, 2009. "Fixed effects estimation of structural parameters and marginal effects in panel probit models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 150(1), pages 71-85, May.
    6. David Campbell, 2003. "Intra‐ and intersectoral effects in environmental disclosures: evidence for legitimacy theory?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(6), pages 357-371, November.
    7. Matthew A. Cole & Robert J. R. Elliott & Per G. Fredriksson, 2006. "Endogenous Pollution Havens: Does FDI Influence Environmental Regulations?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 108(1), pages 157-178, March.
    8. Altomonte, Carlo & Rungi, Armando, 2013. "Business Groups as Hierarchies of Firms: Determinants of Vertical Integration and Performance," Economy and Society 148920, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    9. Robert Goodland, 2012. "Responsible Mining: The Key to Profitable Resource Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(9), pages 1-28, August.
    10. David M. Konisky, 2007. "Regulatory Competition and Environmental Enforcement: Is There a Race to the Bottom?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(4), pages 853-872, October.
    11. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export Versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March.
    12. Katariina Nilsson Hakkala & Pehr-Johan Norbäck & Helena Svaleryd, 2008. "Asymmetric Effects of Corruption on FDI: Evidence from Swedish Multinational Firms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(4), pages 627-642, November.
    13. Stephen Leider & Markus M. Möbius & Tanya Rosenblat & Quoc-Anh Do, 2009. "Directed Altruism and Enforced Reciprocity in Social Networks," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1815-1851.
    14. Cole, Matthew A. & Elliott, Robert J.R. & Okubo, Toshihiro, 2010. "Trade, environmental regulations and industrial mobility: An industry-level study of Japan," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 1995-2002, August.
    15. William Greene, 2004. "Fixed Effects and Bias Due to the Incidental Parameters Problem in the Tobit Model," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 125-147.
    16. Eskeland, Gunnar S. & Harrison, Ann E., 2003. "Moving to greener pastures? Multinationals and the pollution haven hypothesis," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 1-23, February.
    17. David P. Baron, 2001. "Private Politics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Integrated Strategy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 7-45, March.
    18. Rezza, Alief A., 2015. "A meta-analysis of FDI and environmental regulations," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 185-208, April.
    19. Mark Doms & Eric J. Bartelsman, 2000. "Understanding Productivity: Lessons from Longitudinal Microdata," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 569-594, September.
    20. Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2004. "Trade, Growth, and the Environment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(1), pages 7-71, March.
    21. Josh Ederington & Arik Levinson & Jenny Minier, 2005. "Footloose and Pollution-Free," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 92-99, February.
    22. Driffield, Nigel & Jones, Chris & Crotty, Jo, 2013. "International business research and risky investments, an analysis of FDI in conflict zones," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 140-155.
    23. Donald S. Siegel & Donald F. Vitaliano, 2007. "An Empirical Analysis of the Strategic Use of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 773-792, September.
    24. Hoffman, Elizabeth & McCabe, Kevin & Smith, Vernon L, 1996. "Social Distance and Other-Regarding Behavior in Dictator Games," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 653-660, June.
    25. Bruno S. Frey & Iris Bohnet, 1999. "Social Distance and Other-Regarding Behavior in Dictator Games: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 335-339, March.
    26. Jean-Pascal Gond & Jacques Igalens, 2005. "Measuring Corporate Social Performance in France. A Critical and Empirical Analysis of ARESE Data," Post-Print halshs-00005808, HAL.
    27. Danny Leung & Césaire Meh & Yaz Terajima, 2008. "Firm Size and Productivity," Staff Working Papers 08-45, Bank of Canada.
    28. 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.
    29. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2010. "The worldwide governance indicators : methodology and analytical issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5430, The World Bank.
    30. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    31. Rauscher, Michael, 2005. "International Trade, Foreign Investment, and the Environment," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1403-1456, Elsevier.
    32. 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.
    33. David P. Baron, 2009. "A Positive Theory of Moral Management, Social Pressure, and Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 7-43, March.
    34. Cole, Matthew A. & Fredriksson, Per G., 2009. "Institutionalized pollution havens," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1239-1256, February.
    35. Michael E. Porter & Claas van der Linde, 1995. "Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 97-118, Fall.
    36. Michael D. Grubb, 2011. "Developing a Reputation for Reticence," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 225-268, March.
    37. Kellenberg, Derek K., 2009. "An empirical investigation of the pollution haven effect with strategic environment and trade policy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 242-255, July.
    38. J. Pillarisetti & Jeroen Bergh, 2010. "Sustainable nations: what do aggregate indexes tell us?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 49-62, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mariana Hatmanu & Christiana Brigitte Sandu & Elisabeta Jaba, 2019. "A Comparative Study on Drivers for Corporate Environmental Responsibility, EU15 vs. EU-NMS13," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-27, November.
    2. Jun Wang & Rui Ma & Xinman Lu & Baoqin Yu, 2022. "Emission reduction cooperation in a dynamic supply chain with competitive retailers," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(12), pages 14261-14297, December.
    3. Jun Wang & Qian Zhang & Xinman Lu & Rui Ma & Baoqin Yu & Huming Gao, 2022. "Emission reduction and coordination of a dynamic supply chain with green reputation," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 3945-3988, September.
    4. Thais Nunez-Rocha & Camelia Turcu, 2019. "Trade in Fuels and Environmental Regulation: A Two-Sided Story," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 61(2), pages 302-343, June.
    5. Morakinyo O Adetutu & Kayode A Odusanya & Eleni Stathopoulou & Thomas G Weyman-Jones, 2023. "Environmental regulation, taxes, and activism," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(2), pages 460-489.
    6. Sylvain Marsat & Guillaume Pijourlet & Muhammad Ullah, 2021. "Is there a trade‐off between environmental performance and financial resilience? International evidence from the subprime crisis," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4061-4084, September.

    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. Rémi BAZILLIER & Sophie HATTE & Julien VAUDAY, 2016. "Is Reputation at Stake When Environmentally Responsible Multinationals Invest Abroad? An Empirical Investigation," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2315, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    2. Rémi Bazillier & Sophie Hatte & Julien Vauday, 2013. "Environmental Responsibility and FDI: Do Firms Relocate Their Irresponsibilities Abroad?," PSE - G-MOND WORKING PAPERS halshs-00960651, HAL.
    3. Rémi Bazillier & Sophie Hatte & Julien Vauday, 2013. "Environmental Responsibility and FDI: Do Firms Relocate Their Irresponsibilities Abroad?," CEPN Working Papers halshs-00960651, HAL.
    4. Ben Kheder, Sonia & Zugravu, Natalia, 2012. "Environmental regulation and French firms location abroad: An economic geography model in an international comparative study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 48-61.
    5. Sylwia Bialek & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2021. "Do Stringent Environmental Policies Deter FDI? M&A versus Greenfield," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(3), pages 603-636, November.
    6. Ulltveit-Moe, Karen Helene & Forslid, Rikard & Okubo, Toshihiro, 2011. "Why are firms that export cleaner? International trade and CO2 emissions," CEPR Discussion Papers 8583, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Sunghoon Chung, 2012. "Environmental Regulation and the Pattern of Outward FDI: An Empirical Assessment of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis," Departmental Working Papers 1203, Southern Methodist University, Department of Economics.
    8. Candau, Fabien & Dienesch, Elisa, 2017. "Pollution Haven and Corruption Paradise," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 171-192.
    9. Chung, Sunghoon, 2014. "Environmental regulation and foreign direct investment: Evidence from South Korea," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 222-236.
    10. Candau, Fabien & Dienesch, Elisa, 2017. "Pollution Haven and Corruption Paradise," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 171-192.
    11. Zhonghua Cheng & Lianshui Li & Jun Liu, 2018. "The spatial correlation and interaction between environmental regulation and foreign direct investment," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 124-146, October.
    12. Rikard Forslid & Toshihiro Okubo & Mark Sanctuary, 2017. "Trade Liberalization, Transboundary Pollution, and Market Size," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(3), pages 927-957.
    13. Edward Manderson & Richard Kneller, 2012. "Environmental Regulations, Outward FDI and Heterogeneous Firms: Are Countries Used as Pollution Havens?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 51(3), pages 317-352, March.
    14. Forslid, Rikard, 2019. "Trade, Transportation and the Environment," CEPR Discussion Papers 14228, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Sonia Ben Kheder & Natalia Zugravu, 2008. "The pollution haven hypothesis: a geographic economy model in a comparative study," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne v08083, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    16. José-Antonio Monteiro & Madina Kukenova, 2008. "Does Lax Environmental Regulation Attract FDI When Accounting For "Third-Country" Effects?," IRENE Working Papers 08-01, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    17. Millimet, Daniel L. & Roy, Jayjit, 2011. "Three New Empirical Tests of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis When Environmental Regulation is Endogenous," IZA Discussion Papers 5911, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Patricia Crifo & Vanina Forget, 2013. "La responsabilité sociale et environnementale des entreprises : mirage ou virage ?," Working Papers hal-00830642, HAL.
    19. Baomin Dong & Jiong Gong & Xin Zhao, 2012. "FDI and environmental regulation: pollution haven or a race to the top?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 216-237, April.
    20. Choi, Gunae, 2022. "Determinants of target location selection for acquirers in the manufacturing sector: Pollution intensity, policy enforcement, and civic environmentalism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 308-324.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Reputation; Regulation; Multinationals; Corporate Social Responsibility; Environment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    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:hal:journl:hal-01423571. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.