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This study investigates the relationships between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) controversies and insolvency risk in the insurance sector. Drawing from legitimacy and stakeholder theories, the authors explore the impact of ESG controversies on insurers’ insolvency risk and the moderating effect of ESG practices on this relationship.

This study utilises a dataset comprising 120 stock insurance firms spanning from 2011 to 2022. The authors employed system-GMM estimations to control for potential endogeneity and conducted several robustness checks.

ESG controversy positively influences insurers’ insolvency risk, with ESG practices mitigating these positive effects. The Governance (G) component of ESG practices plays a key role in counteracting the effects of ESG controversies on insurance companies’ insolvency risk.

This is the first study to investigate the direct relationship between ESG controversies and insolvency risk in the insurance industry. It underscores the critical influence of stakeholders’ perceptions of the company’s legitimacy, which is determined by the number of ESG controversies undertaken by the insurer company, on its insolvency risk. Additionally, by examining the three components of ESG practices individually, the authors offer insights into how managers can gain a competitive edge, particularly by utilising governance practices as safeguards against the adverse effects of ESG controversies on their financial risk.

Despite the sophisticated regulatory regime established in Solvency II, analysts should be able to consider other less complex indicators of the soundness of insurers. The Z-score measure, which has traditionally been used as a proxy of individual risk in the banking sector, may be a useful tool when applied in the insurance sector. However, different methods for calculating this indicator have been proposed in the literature. This paper compares six different Z-score approaches to examine which one best fits insurance companies. The authors use a final dataset of 183 firms (1,382 observations) operating in the Spanish insurance sector during the period 2010–2017.

In the first stage, the authors opt for a root mean squared error (RMSE) criterion to evaluate which of the various mean and SD estimates that are used to compute the Z-score best fits the data. In the second stage, the authors estimate and compare the explanatory power of the six Z-score measures that are considered by using an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model. Finally, the authors report the results of the baseline equation using the system-GMM estimator developed by Arellano and Bover (1995) and Blundell and Bond (1998) for dynamic panel data models.

The authors find that the best formula for calculating the Z-score of insurance firms is the one that combines the current value of the return on assets (ROA) and capitalization with the SD of the returns calculated over the full sample period.

The main limitation of the research is that it addresses only the Spanish insurance sector, and consequently, the implications of the findings must be framed in this institutional context. However, the authors think that the results could be extrapolated to other countries. Future research should consider including different countries and analyzing the usefulness of aggregated insurer-level Z-scores for macroprudential monitoring.

The Z-score may be a useful early warning indicator for microprudential supervision. In addition to being an indicator of the soundness of insurers simpler than those established in the current regulation, the information provided by this accounting-based measure may help analysts and investors obtain a better understanding of insurance firms' risk factors.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine and compare different approaches to calculating Z-scores in the insurance sector. The few available results on the predictive power of the Z-score are mixed and focus on the banking sector.

雖然在償付能力標準II 內已建立了精密的監管制度，但分析人員應可以考慮以不太複雑的指標，來分析保險公司的穩健程度。Z-分數的估量在銀行業一向作為是個體風險的代理而使用，而Z-分數如應用於保險業，或許會成為有用的工具。唯在文獻裏，學者和研究人員提出了不同的方法來計算這個指標。本文比較六個不同的Z-分數估量方法，以研究出最適合保險公司的方法。我們使用一個最終數據集，包括在2010年至2017年期間在西班牙保險業界營運的183間公司（1382 個觀察）。

在首個階段，我們選擇使用一個方均根誤差(RMSE) 標準來衡量用來計算Z-分數的各個平均值和標準差估量中哪個最適合使用於有關的數據。在第二個階段， 我們以普通最小平方 (OLS) 迴歸模型，去估計並比較被考慮的六個Z-分數估量的解釋力。最後，我們以Arellano與Bover (1995), 以及Blundell與Bond (1998) 為動態追蹤資料模型而發展出來的系統-廣義動差估計推定量，來發表我們基線方程式的結果。

我們發現，計算保險公司Z-分數的最佳公式是把資產收益率及資本總額的現值，和在整個樣本期間計算出來的囘報的標準差結合起來的公式。

我們研究主要的局限為：研究只涉及西班牙的保險業；因此，研究結果的含意，必須在這個體制的背景框架下來闡釋。唯我們相信研究結果或許可外推至其它國家。未來的研究，應考慮納入不同國家作為研究對象，並分析保險公司層面的集成Z-分數的功用，以求達到宏觀審慎監控的目的。

Z-分數或許就微觀審慎監管而言是一個有用的早期警告器。這些以會計為基礎的估量而提供的資訊，除了較現時規例内已建立顯示保險公司穩健程度的各個指標更簡單外，還會幫助分析人員和投資者更了解保險公司的風險因素。

據我們所知，本研究為首個研究，去探討並比較保險業內的Z-分數的計算方法。以前關於Z-分數預測能力的，為數不多並可供取閱的研究結果均不統一；而且，這些研究都聚焦探討銀行業。

The purpose of this paper is to offer pointers to local government executives on the qualities of leadership that drive social innovation (SI) as well as locate the roles of leadership and participation in the output and outcome of SI. Further, the findings of the study can hopefully contribute to the discourse on leadership for a sustainable future.

The purpose of the study was to highlight the forms of participation among the actors in the different stages of SI, the qualities of the leaders that drove SI and the roles of leadership and participation in the output and outcome of SI. To answer the research questions, the researcher applied the case study research design and employed the grounded theory approach for data analysis and interpretation.

The cases showed leadership that encourages, as leadership qualities of the governors. These were manifested in terms of being empowering, giving the freehand, being goal-oriented, resource mobilizer, consultative and practicing both bottom-up and top-bottom approaches to make sure that the outputs are achieved, as well as having the qualities of a supportive leader. The cases showed all three employed forms of participation, as categorized by Lowndes et al. (2001). Government can indeed foster innovation when there is close involvement and participation of the workforce in innovation. Leadership and participation play a big role in achieving output and outcome of SI.

The study is a review of the unpublished dissertation by Gallardo (2014) at the National College of Public Administration and Governance, University of the Philippines.

The purpose of this paper is to characterize the situation in the Spanish banking industry through the identification of strategic groups based on a set of variables.

To do so, the authors use a 13-year data set and a time inhomogeneous hidden Markov model (HMM) in which the time variable transition matrix captures institutions’ group switching behavior to identify these strategic groups. In fact, the authors consider a mixture model is the data generation process.

Two groups are identified. These groups are primarily characterized by size and other strategic variables. The probability of remaining in a group is generally high: 87.28 per cent for SG1 and 61.84 per cent for SG2. The probability of switching groups is low: 12.72 per cent probability of switching from SG1 to SG2 and 38.16 per cent probability of switching from SG2 to SG1. Banks in SG1 seem more stable over time; they have low levels of switching behavior and well-defined long-term behavior. Banks in SG2 seem to evolve in terms of group membership.

Using an inhomogeneous HMM with time-variable transition matrix, this paper allows for time-varying parameters in the distributions to analyze the evolution of strategic group membership in this industry to detect changes in group strategy, changes in membership and the stability of groups over time.

Latin American countries must prioritize energy efficiency and renewable energies in their energy policies. This has been debated for the past few decades. However, it is impossible to deny that energy efficiency and renewable energies have significant potential to mitigate the adverse effects of ever-increasing energy consumption induced by economic growth and the transformation of societies toward more energy-intensive models. This chapter identifies how sustainable energy policies could be considered successful in various Latin American economies through an active review and comparison of traditional energy models and their transition and respective consequences. The chapter concludes that there are national energy plans in countries in the region with a sustainable approach, and that clean energy and renewable sources have great potential. But it is also concluded that there is still a long way to go concerning legislation and legal frameworks.

It is essential to understand how the countries with the highest number of tourist arrivals have managed to recover or not based on the competitiveness of the tourism industry during the pandemic stage. It is necessary to evaluate the policies implemented by each government to maintain the competitive performance of their industries. This chapter proposes a comprehensive review of the policies implemented in the 10 most visited countries according to UNWTO data. Most of these policies are geared toward economic and financial flexibility strategies for companies and individuals in the industry under study. The effectiveness of these policies is evaluated with statistical information extracted from a unified UNWTO database to reduce biases in the effectiveness analysis. Finally, concluding remarks are offered on the effectiveness of the policies and their contribution to the sector's recovery.

This chapter explains how smart cities can be resilient in pandemic times through small business continuity strategies. A review of definitions of smart cities and urban and business resilience is presented to understand smart cities' resilience. The City Resilience Index is introduced as a tool that cities can use to measure and monitor their resilience in which the economy and social dimension highlight business continuity as a factor in promoting a sustainable economy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses, as the engine of smart cities, have made their vulnerability to crises more evident and lack a roadmap or guideline to help them become resilient; for this reason, some business continuity strategies are proposed based on business paper reviews.

The sport consumer experience is becoming an important aspect to sport center’s management. From this point, the purpose of this paper is to explore and examine the relationship between sport centers’ absorptive capacity and sport consumer experience, proposing that internal knowledge management processes act as mediators in this relationship.

The study offers empirical insights by applying the consistent PLS algorithm (PLSc-SEM) in an analysis of data from 156 sport centers in Andalusia (Spain) and a sample of 3,150 sport users from these sport centers.

The results demonstrate that a sport center’s absorptive capacity for external knowledge is crucial for enhancing the sport consumer experience and also that this effect requires additional knowledge management, such as the sport center’s knowledge storage and knowledge application.

The practical implication for sport center managers is that knowledge management processes have a very strong influence on the sport consumer experience, when they are managed in a sequential way.

The main value of this paper is draw conclusions using a study of sport managers and sport consumers to increase value experience of those ones.

This article aims to examine whether the organizational changes brought about by digital transformation (DT) -such as a new organizational culture, new leadership and new business models-influence talent management, with the latter being seen as one of the major challenges facing companies in their process of digital transformation.

Using a quantitative methodology, a survey was applied to 314 companies in order to analyze the results of their talent management in the DT process. DT is not only digitalization as demonstrated in this study. Talent management is the key piece that can facilitate or block achieving high levels of digital maturity.

The study finds that the changes brought about by DT impact talent attraction, talent retention, and talent management in general, and also shows that digital transformation does not depend on digitalization, but rather that talent management is the key to either helping or preventing high levels of digital maturity being achieved.

The originality of this work lies in examining the influence of the changes that DT entails in talent management.

Explore the factors making emergency procurement more prone to corruption by advancing explanations for when rules and transparency are relaxed allowing corrupt practices to emerge. Describe institutional factors, such as corruption syndrome (Johnston, 2005, 2015) and legal system, and their impact on procurement rules changes.

A qualitative event study using publicly available data offer a timeline and explanation of government procurement control mechanisms and transparency roles in emergencies by comparing two countries. Argentina and Canada had very similar and advanced food procurement systems prior to COVID-19, but they took different stances when the pandemic broke out.

Legal systems and corruption syndrome are linked, where Civil Law is related to Elite Cartels (Argentina) and Common Law with Influence Markets (Canada). The study contributes to understand the role of transparency to minimize the opportunity for direct purchases (electronic trails of decisions, justifications and approvals). Judicial system's actions favor corrupt practices and are aligned with elites despite the civil society outcry.

Research on corrupt practices has limited access to primary data due to fear of reprisals. Informal conversations revealing glimpses of corruption were used to identify publicly available documents. Numbers play a role in emergencies and performativity theory literature is enriched by providing an example of different interpretation of information when frameworks differ between civil society and courts.

A comparative analysis that evidences the role of pre-existing institutional and social conditions shows when emergency situations will be used as an excuse to relax procurement control and transparency mechanisms which in turn facilitate corrupt practices.