Center for Emerging Markets

New research examines how corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs influence the financial performance of emerging market companies. This research proposes and shows that in emerging markets, social investments have a larger impact on financial performance than governance or environmental initiatives because they help create capabilities that more directly compensate for government failures in the provision of public goods and services needed by firms to operate efficiently. It also shows that government policy nudges enhance the efficacy of such initiatives. Thus, in emerging markets, ESG programs, particularly social initiatives, help improve the quality of life of local communities and companies' bottom lines.

In institutional regimes with weak creditors' rights, some company insiders might take advantage of bankruptcy rules by intentionally making their companies look less valuable. This creates problems for creditors and makes it harder for these companies to succeed in the future. To shed new light on the drivers of such opportunistic behaviors, recent research compares bankrupt British, American and Indian firms. It shows that Indian firms were more likely to be classified as “willful defaulters” indicating that bankruptcy decisions may be due to insiders' opportunistic behavior. It also suggests that such fraudulent bankruptcy behaviors can be countered through market reforms.

Protests sparked by the death of a 22-year old Kurdish woman and roaring across Iran for more than a week indicate the depth of grievances Iranians have against the Islamist regime, Northeastern University's experts say, but it is difficult to predict whether they will lead to any change in the country and in the state of women's rights.

“We are looking for a self-starter, innovative thinker who will challenge the status quo.” This phrase is often seen sprawled across almost every job posting you may encounter nowadays. When employers write it, who do you think they have in mind? Who are our most innovative employees? The answer: refugees.

D'Amore-McKim School of Business veteran Todd Alessandri has been named the school's new Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs, effective Aug. 1, 2022. He's leading D'Amore-McKim's undergraduate curricular initiatives and the teams that support students through academic advising, student services, and cooperative education.

The Center for Emerging Markets is proud to be part of India's buzzing startup scene by supporting and strengthening SmartIDEAthon—which may well be one of India's biggest social innovation pitchfests. 

China is rapidly moving from imitation to innovation, with Chinese companies taking a key role in the emerging paths of Chinese company innovation. Non-Chinese executives need to understand the six major paths to innovation taken by Chinese companies. While all these paths have also been taken by many Western companies, we discuss here the unique Chinese adaptation or intensification of each approach. Our findings indicate that the innovation advantages of Chinese companies may well be in the creative combinations of available innovation practices.

China's approach to inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) has remained remarkably consistent since the onset of its economic opening. While the rules governing IFDI have changed, the primary goal of improving the competitiveness of Chinese companies and the secondary goal of enhancing economic development have remained. As Chinese companies become more capable and as China declares more industries “strategic,” the space for foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) may narrow. To address this, FIEs need to demonstrate their full economic impact to make their case for continued access to the world's second largest economy.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region displays distinct corporate governance trends. These differences are due, at least in part, to the influence of Sharia law and the region's varied political regimes. Research suggests that advancing gender diversity on boards, directing attention towards corporate social responsibility, increasing the transparency of corporate disclosures, and investigating different ownership models can help further align local companies with established global best practices in the corporate governance area.