CCG

Center for Corporate Governance

NFGS III: Literature

NFGS III: Literature

Literature

List of publications – Nordic Finance and the Good Society III “The future of Finance – A Nordic Corporate Governance Perspective”

Selective list of key publications, working papers and cases.

(Updated March 2025)

Track 1: Sustainable Finance & Green transition

Track chair – Prof. Marc Steffen Rapp (Marburg)

  1. Central Banks and Green Transformation
    • Team:
      Dr. Johannes Zahner (Frankfurt), Prof. Marc Steffen Rapp, PhD Scholar Lion Fischer (Marburg)
    • Objective: The project uses central banks’ announcements to participate in the Network for Greening the Financial sector to study the relevance of central banks for green transformation.
    • Status: A working paper has been drafted and presented on a number of conferences. We expect to submit to a journal in May 2025.
  2. EU Taxonomy – A novel way to quantify green transformation
    • Team:
      Prof. Marc Steffen Rapp, PhD Scholar Lion Fischer (Marburg)
    • Objective: The project aims to make use of the EU Taxonomy reporting to describe the transformation of the largest European firms.
    • Status: Data collection has started. A report is expected for summer 2025.
  3. Green Innovation Activities in Family Firms
    • Team:
      Prof. Torsten Wulf (Marburg) and Prof. Marc Steffen Rapp (Marburg) (corresp. author), PhD Scholar Melina Roser (Marburg) and PhD Scholar Ramona Waldau (Marburg)
    • Objective: The paper uses multiple case studies to explore drivers of heterogeneity in green innovation activities in family firms.
    • Status: The paper has been submitted to “Family Business Review”.
  4. EU Taxonomy – How much can we trust third-party estimates
    • Team:
      Prof. Marc Steffen Rapp (Marburg), Lars Schäfer
    • Objective: With regulatory pressure increasing in Europe, asset managers, insurance companies, banks, and other European financial institutions are interested in EU Taxonomy KPIs of firms. However, not all firms have to report these KPIs. So, third-party providers step in and provide estimates. The project aims to study the reliability of these third-party estimates.
    • Status: Data collection has started. A report is expected for summer 2025.
  5. Greenwashing, Carbon Emission, and ESG
    • Team: Sirimon Treepongkaruna (Sasin School of Management), Hue Hwa Au Yong (Monash University), Steen Thomsen (CBS), Khine Kyaw (NTNU Business School)
    • Objective:
    • Status: Published in Business Strategy and the Environment, Vol. 33, No. 8, 12.2024, p. 8526-85
  6. Teaching case #2 Sustainability in Danske Bank
    • Team:
      Prof. Jette Steen Knudsen (CBS) & Prof. Marc Steffen Rapp; research assistance: Agate Mæland (CBS)
    • Objective: The teaching case explores the following problem: How does a large bank undertake change management to meet new demands for sustainability?
    • Status: We have carried out interviews and need to write up the case. Expect to submit case to Ivey July 1, 2025.
  7. Central banks sowing the seeds for a green financial sector? NGFS membership and market reactions
    • Team: Prof. Marc Rapp, PhD Scholar L. Fischer and J. Zahner (Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability)
    • Objective:
    • Status: Working paper Series No.198
  8. Guest editing and contribution to: Special Issue on Governing for Sustainability: Theorizing Business and Government Interactions.
    • Team: Jean-Pascal Gond, Gregory Jackson, Johanna Järvalä, Jette Steen Knudsen and Jeremy Moon (Tufts University)
    • Objective:
    • Status: Accepted article. (forthcoming 2025). Journal of Management Studies. 
  9. National Government Regulation of International Corporate Social Responsibility and the Role of Business. 
    • Team: Erin Leitheiser, Jette Steen Knudsen and Jeremy Moon
    • Objective:
    • Status: Article under review
  10. What Difference Do Sustainability Reports Make?  Greening in the World’s Busiest Ports. 
    • Team: Elizabeth R. Decembres, Jette Steen Knudsen and Molly Elder (Tufts University)
    • Objective:
    • Status: Article under review
  11. What Influences Sustainability Decisions? The Case of Port Greening
    • Team: Elizabeth R. DeSombre, Jette Steen Knudsen and Molly Elder (Tufts University).
    • Objective:
    • Status: Article under review
  12. Book Chapter – Bæredygtighedsstrategi i bestyrelseslokalet in Bestyrelsesbogen by Prof. Steen Thomsen, 2025. DJØF. Copenhagen, Denmark
    • Team: Jette Steen Knudsen
  13. Book Chapter – Business Sustainability and the Role of Government. Chapter 2.  Handbook of Research on Sustainability and Governance, 2025 (Edward Elgar, 2025, co-edited by Sébastien Mena, Cristina Aoki Inoue, Kenneth Amaeshi and Dhanasree Jayaram. 
    • Team: Jette Steen Knudsen
  14. Book Chapter – The Danish Growth and Welfare Model.  In National Growth Strategies and Welfare State Reforms edited by Anke Hassel and Bruno Palier (Oxford University Press), 2025.
    • Team: Christian Ibsen andJette Steen Knudsen 2025

Track 2: Nordic Capital Markets: A Life-Cycle View

Track chair – Prof. Trond Randøy

  1. Nordic capital markets and in Life-Cycle Perspective
    • How are the various Nordic capital markets connected – the market for start-ups (angle investors, private funds), for high growth firms (private equity), and for listed firms (IPOs, other issues)?
    • Team:
    • Prof. Lasse Lien, NHH Norway (conceptual theory paper). Prof. Bruce Hearn (U of Southhampton) and Prof. Lars Oxelheim (IFN Sweden)
    • Objective: Understand the Nordic capital markets and their life cycle
    • Status: Draft completed by April 2025.
  2. Labor and Finance: Labor Market Regulation and Cash Holdings of Founding Families
    • Team:
      Prof. Marc Steffen Rapp (corresp. author), Dr. Markus Fütterer (Marburg), Dr. Marina Kononova (Marburg)
    • Objective:
      The paper studies the response of firms to strengthening labor market regulation, to shed lights on the labor-finance nexus. The findings suggest a nuanced view: While non-Founding Family Firms reduce cash holdings to strengthen their bargaining power vis-à-vis labor, Founding Family Firms prioritize financial flexibility and thus increase cash holdings.
    • Status:
      The paper has been accepted for publication in the Review of Corporate Finance and is scheduled for the first Issue in 2026.
  3. Research paper #2:
    Resilience of firms: Economic Policy uncertainty and Founding Family Firms
    • Team:
      Prof. Ignacio Requejo (Salamanca) and Prof. Marc Steffen Rapp, Dr. Markus Fütterer (Marburg)
    • Objective:
      The paper studies the response of firm valuation to economic policy uncertainty, to shed lights on the resilience of firm valuation. Overall, valuation reacts negatively to increasing economic policy uncertainty. However, the valuation discount is smaller for founding family firms, suggesting that founding family firms add stability to a country’s economy. 
    • Status:
      The paper has been invited for a R&R from the Journal of Corporate Finance
  4. CEO pay in the Nordics
    • Team:
    • Prof. Trond Randøy, Øystein Strøm (OsloMET) and research assistant Agate Mæland (CBS)
    • Objective:
    • How is CEO pay functioning as a corporate governance mechanism in listed Nordic firms?
    • Status:
    • Working paper where preliminary results were presented at CBS April 3rd.
  5.  Do Retailers Trade Noise? Macroeconomic Luck and the Mispricing of Stocks in Norwegian firms
    • Team: Prof. Håkan Jankensgård (Stockholm U), Prof. Lars Oxelheim (IFN, Stockholm), Prof. Trond Randøy
    • Objective:
    • Status: Working paper. To be presented at a seminar on CBS May 22nd, 2025
  6. Board Composition and Bank Debt: The Influence of Shared Directors in Private
    • Team: Assistant Prof. Caglar Kaya, PhD Lars Ohnemus
    • Objective:
    • Status: Working paper
  7. Economic policy uncertainty and the founding family firm premium
    • Team: Dr. Markus Fütterer, Prof. Ignacio Requejo, Prof. Marc Rapp (Marbug)
    • Objective:
    • Status: Revise and Resubmit at journal
  8. Better Safe Than Sorry – Labor Market Regulation and Cash Holdings of Founding Family Firms
    • Team: Dr. Marcus Fütterer, Dr. Marina Kononova, Prof. Marc Rapp
    • Objective:
    • Status: Review of Corporate Finance R&R (minor revision)
  9. Listed Founding Family Firms and Labor Cost Stickiness. Industrial Relations,
  10. Board-level Employee Representation and Risk Sharing between Shareholders and Employees: Evidence from the German Codetermination Act of 1976
    • Team: J. Udoieva-Wagner, Prof. Marc Rapp (Marburg)
    • Objective:
    • Status: Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (fortchcoming

Track 3. Financial institutions and the Nordic corporate governance model

Track chair – Ph.D. and Project Leader Lars Ohnemus

  1. The future of European Competitiveness – The Nordic Corporate Governance model a lighthouse or an Illusion?
    • Team: PhD. Lars Ohnemus (CBS), Ass. Prof. Caglar Kaya (Aalborg University)
    • Objective:
    • Status: working paper.
  2. The impact on online board meeting on corporate Governance
    • Team: Prof. Niels Hermes, Prof. Dennis Veltrop (University of Groningen), Prof. Trond Randøy (CBS)
    • Objective:
    • Status: Working paper. To be presented at a seminar on CBS May 7th, 2025.
  3. Corporate Governance Across the Lifecycle of the Firm: Ownership Competence and Governance Strategies
    • Team: Prof. Lasse Lien (NHH, Norway), Prof. Trond Randøy
    • Objective:
    • Status: Working paper

Track 4: New Regulation: Drivers and Impact on Societal Development and Market Structures View

Track chair – Prof. Jette Steen Knudsen (CBS and Tufts)

  1. Sustainable Corporate Governance Mechanisms: Driving or Decoupled from Environmental Performance?
    • Team: Prof. Steen Thomsen (CBS) and Prof. Jette Steen Knudsen. Research assistant Juyeong Jeong (CBS)
    • Objective:  
    • Do sustainable corporate governance practices make companies greener or are they decoupled from sustainability outcomes?
    • Status: Preliminary results were presented in March 2025.
  2. Teaching case – Sustainability in Danske Bank The teaching case explores the following problem: How does a large bank undertake change management to meet new demands for sustainability?
    • Team: Prof. Jette Steen Knudsen and Prof. Marc Steffen Rapp (Marburg). Research assistant Agate Mæland (CBS)
    • Objective: We have carried out interviews and need to write up the case
    • Status: Expect to submit case to Ivey July 1, 2025
  3. Book chapter on regulatory changes. Chapter 2: A Rise in State Governance for Sustainability
    • Team: Prof. Jette Steen Knudsen (CBS). Research Assistant Agate Mæland (CBS).
    • Objective: To investigate if/how has the governance of corporate sustainability changed around the world?
    • Status: To be published in Handbook of Research on Sustainability and Governance, 2025 edited by Sébastien Mena (Hertie School), Cristina Y. Aoki Inoue (Radboud University), Kenneth Amaeshi (European University Institute), and Dhanasree Jayaram (Manipal Academy of Higher Education)

Track 5. The next generation in the financial sector

Track chair – Prof. Kasper Meisner Nielsen (CBS)

  1. Team: Kasper Meisner Nielsen
  2. Objective: Investigate the financial crisis depress the ability to draw talent to the financial sector? Over 15 years after the Financial Crisis, it seems appropriate to assess its long-term impact on the financial industry’s ability to attract talented employees., including bank defaults and reputational shocks.
  3. Status: Working paper