Abstract- The agrochemical industry has become renowned for high levels of public scrutiny, as consumers become warier of the environmental and health effects of industrial activities. As a result, companies in environmentally... [ view full abstract ]
Abstract- The agrochemical industry has become renowned for high levels of public scrutiny, as consumers become warier of the environmental and health effects of industrial activities. As a result, companies in environmentally sensitive industries are increasing voluntarily publishing environmental disclosures. Although multinational corporations operating in developed countries are leaders in corporate environmental disclosure (CED), this is often not true for subsidiaries operating in developing countries. There are many benefits to standardizing the disclosures for all operations of a multinational corporation, including improved performance targets, more effective corporate policy and auditing for subsidiaries, and better communication to corporate stakeholders. The majority of CED research that has been conducted focuses primarily on large multinational corporations, leaving a gap of knowledge regarding the subsidiary operations of large multinational corporations. This research aims to: a) determine if corporate environmental disclosures from multinational subsidiaries operating in India are more similar to the parent corporation or the local domestic corporations in terms of quality, quantity, and diversity of reporting, and b) analyse the evolution of reporting practices over time. This study provides insight to whether or not multinational corporations are implementing comprehensive disclosure practices throughout the entirety of operations and if reporting practices are more strongly influenced by country of origin or country of operation. The influence of legitimacy theory and regulatory requirements are considered. Consolidated narrative interrogation (CONI) is used to quantify corporate environmental disclosures presented in annual reports and stand-alone sustainability reports published between 2002 and 2016 by companies from three categories of corporations: multinational parent companies (P-MNC), multinational subsidiary companies (I-MNC) and domestic Indian corporations. Results from analysis from 2002 up to 2011 indicate a lack of standardization of reporting practices within multinational corporations, with significant difference of reporting diversity and quality between the three categories of corporations. Average quantity scores of corporations in 2002 were 230.3, 50.0, 69.5 for P-MNC, I-MNC and domestic corporations, respectively. Whereas, in 2011 the average quantity scores were 574.3, 101.0 and 84.25 for P-MNC, I-MNC and domestic corporations, respectively. The analysis of the data for the period covering 2012 – 2016 is currently ongoing and will be completed prior to the conference. Preliminary results for the average quantity score in 2016 are 128.25 for I-MNC and 199.75 for domestic corporations. Completion of data analysis will provide better insight into future reporting policies and regulations, reporting to better satisfy stakeholders and reducing liability of foreignness. Results can also be used to inform decisions to implement programs to improve environmental disclosure in multinational corporations or in developing countries.
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Keywords- agrochemical, consolidated narrative interrogation (CONI), environmental disclosure, multinational subsidiaries, standardized reporting
5a. Corporate sustainability and CSR
