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The United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs) put together a global framework in an attempt to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns. Measuring a company’s contribution to the SDGs relies heavily on ESG reporting. This paper aims to examine the impact of ESG reporting on the corporate profitability of listed companies in Thailand over the period of 2019–2021.

Using 147 listed firms in the ESG group, content analysis was used to quantify the ESG reporting (within 11 themes), while corporate profitability was measured by return on asset and return on equity. Descriptive analysis, correlation matrix and panel regression are used to analyze the data of this study.

Consistent with the legitimacy, stakeholder and signaling theories, the authors found a statistically significant and positive impact of ESG reporting on corporate profitability in Thailand.

The findings highlight the importance of incorporating ESG considerations into companies’ reporting and decision-making processes, as these can enhance firm profitability and performance, attract stakeholders, improve their competitive advantage and step toward sustainability.

This paper aims to revisit the relationship between sales growth and profitability by exploring the direct and indirect effects of cost stickiness in the growth process. Cost stickiness refers to asymmetric variations of costs associated with increases and decreases in sales. Cost stickiness is analyzed as a strategic liability that negatively affects profitability because it contributes to organizational rigidity that causes opportunity costs.

The empirical design is based on a large sample of 65,599 French firms drawn from the Amadeus database and it covers the period 2010 to 2019. The authors take advantage of the presentation of expenses made by nature in Amadeus to calculate cost stickiness in a more direct way than what is commonly done in the literature. The authors use various regression models to test the hypotheses.

For firms that experience rapid growth in sales, cost stickiness has a positive moderating effect on the relation between sales growth and profitability because of a higher asset turnover efficiency. However, for firms that experience slow growth, no growth or a decrease in sales, cost stickiness plays a negative moderating effect on the relation between sales and profitability.

This work contributes to the discussion about the conditions under which high growth is associated with greater profitability and conceptualizes cost stickiness as a strategic liability. The empirical context, privately held firms, has been overlooked by previous research.

This study examines the role of industry competition, market capitalization, and debt levels in the relationship between profitability and firm value (FV). The sample included companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in the manufacturing sector in 2017–2019. This study provides empirical evidence that the high level of industrial competition (IC), low level of market capitalization (market value of equity, MVE), and high levels of debt (debt-to-assets ratio, DAR) weaken the effect of profitability as measured by return on assets (ROA) on FV as measured by Tobin’s Q. Profitability is not even related to FV for firms facing high industry competition. In addition, profitability only has a marginal positive relationship with FV for firms with relatively small market capitalizations. These findings suggest that the relationship between profitability and FV is not monotonous but is influenced by the level of industry competence, market capitalization, and debt.

This study aims to investigate the impact of liquidity creation (LC) on the profitability and stability of banks while considering the moderating role of corruption.

Panel data from 23 conventional banks and five Islamic banks in Pakistan spanning from 2008 to 2021 were used for analysis. The study used fixed effect and random effect models, along with the generalized method of moments estimation to ensure robustness of the results.

The study reveals a negative relationship between LC and banking profitability, but a positive association with banking stability. Additionally, corruption is found to play a moderating role in the relationship between LC, profitability and stability in the banking sector of Pakistan.

The findings have practical implications for bank managers and investors, emphasizing the negative relationship between LC and profitability in Pakistan. Moreover, the study highlights the significant impact of corruption on bank performance, which can guide policymakers in formulating strategies to strengthen the banking sector and prevent financial turmoil in the future.

This study makes a significant contribution to the existing literature by examining the moderating role of corruption in the relationship between LC, profitability and stability in both conventional and Islamic banks.

Introduction: Commercial banks play a vital role in the global economy, facilitating economic growth and providing essential financial services. As key intermediaries between savers and borrowers, these institutions operate in a dynamic and complex environment characterised by various risk factors that can significantly impact their profitability and overall stability. Understanding the interconnected relationships between credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, and profitability is crucial for effective risk management strategies and the development of appropriate regulatory frameworks.

Purpose: Commercial banks play a critical role in the global economy by facilitating economic growth and providing financial services. This study examines the interconnected relationships between credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, and profitability in commercial banking.

Methodology: The sample consists of licenced scheduled commercial banks on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) from 2015 to 2022. Using the Smart PLS-SEM 3.0 path analysis technique, the study evaluates the combined influence of these risk factors on profitability and provides evidence-based recommendations for risk management strategies.

Findings: The findings can assist banks in enhancing their risk management practices, and regulators in developing appropriate regulatory frameworks. By understanding the key risk factors and their impact on profitability, banks and regulators can mitigate risks, enhance transparency, and promote stability within the banking sector.

Significance/value: The value of this study lies in its focus on the interconnectedness of risk factors, profitability, and the potential implications for decision-making, risk management strategies, regulatory frameworks, and the overall stability of the commercial banking sector.

Insurance companies play a significant role in every economy; hence, it is essential to investigate and understand the factors that propel their profitability. Unlike previous studies that present a linear relationship, this study provides initial evidence by exploring the non-linear impacts of the determinants of profitability amongst life insurers in South Africa.

The study uses a panel dataset of 62 life insurers in South Africa, covering 2013–2019. The generalised method of moments and the dynamic panel threshold estimation technique were used to estimate the relationship.

The empirical results from the direct relationship reveal that investment income and solvency significantly predict life insurance companies' profitability. On the other hand, underwriting risk, reinsurance and size reduce profitability. Further, the dynamic panel threshold analysis confirms non-linearities in the relationships. The results show that insurance size, investment income and solvency promote profitability beyond a threshold level, implying a propelling effect on life insurers' profitability at higher levels. Below the threshold, these factors have an adverse effect. The study further points to underwriting risk, reinsurance and leverage having a reduced effect on life insurers' profitability when they fall above the threshold level.

The findings suggest that insurers interested in boosting their profit position must commit more resources to maintain their solvency and manage their assets and returns on investment. The study further recommends that effective control of underwriting risk is critical to the profitability of the life insurance industry.

The study contributes to the literature by providing first-time evidence on the determinants of life insurance companies' profitability by way of exploring threshold effects in South Africa.

This study investigated how working capital management (WCM) influences the profitability of listed halal food and beverage companies.

The study utilized a sample of 56 listed halal food and beverage companies operating in Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Unbalanced panel data were generated from the Bloomberg database between 2008 and 2021. Besides, the study employed the two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) technique for the estimation, which can address the models' endogeneity, heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation problems. Also, feasible generalized least square (FGLS) regression was applied to check the robustness of the results.

The study revealed that the cash conversion cycle (CCC) and accounts receivable period (ARP) significantly reduced firm profitability. Also, the inventory conversion period (ICP) significantly reduced return on assets (ROA) but insignificantly influenced return on equity (ROE). However, the results showed that the accounts payable period (APP) significantly increased firm profitability. These findings are robust to the results obtained by applying FGLS regression.

The study utilized a sample of only the listed halal food and beverage firms that operate in Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The study suggests that the management of listed halal firms should adopt an aggressive policy in managing their working capital in order to enhance their financial performance. This could be attained by lowering CCC when ARP and ICP are reduced and APP is increased.

This study contributes to the literature by providing cross-country empirical evidence showing how working capital and its components affect the financial performance of firms that solely produce or buy and sell halal food and beverage products in five countries.

This study aims to investigate the impact of stakeholders’ nonfinancial resources (NFRs) on companies’ profitability, filling a significant gap in the literature regarding the role of NFRs in value creation.

Data from 76 organizations from 2017 to 2019 were collected and analyzed. Four primary NFRs and their key value drivers were identified, representing core elements that support different dimensions of a company’s performance. Statistical tests examined the relationship between stakeholders’ NFRs and financial performance measures.

When analyzed collectively and individually, the results reveal a significant positive influence of stakeholders’ NFRs on a firm’s profitability. Higher importance assigned to NFRs correlates with a higher return on sales.

This study contributes to the literature by empirically bridging the gap between stakeholder theory and the resource-based view, addressing the intersection of these perspectives. It also provides novel insights into how stakeholders’ NFRs impact profitability, offering valuable implications for research and managerial practice. It suggests that managers should integrate nonfinancial measures of NFRs within their performance measurement system to manage better and sustain companies’ value-creation process.

This study aims to seek to analyse the relationships between profitability, productivity, external debt and growth in SMEs. The authors also analyse firm size and age as explicative variables of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth.

In this paper the data were collected for 3309 SMEs for the period 2010–2019. The authors estimate the model using the system generalised method of moments dynamic estimator.

The results show that after a certain level of profitability, this determinant positively impacts SME growth. Productivity influences positively the firm growth. There is a positive effect of external debt on SME growth, which can be explained by the insufficiency of internally generated funds. The authors obtained a negative signal between size and firm growth, contradicting Gibrat's Law (1931). Moreover, the results suggest that SMEs grow less after a certain age, suggesting that small firms grow less after reaching the minimum scale of efficiency.

For SME owner-managers, this study enhances the importance of profitability and labour productivity for firm growth. For policymakers, the results suggest the need for favourable conditions for SMEs in accessing external finance.

Profitability negatively impacts on SME growth. However, the authors found that above a certain level of profitability, probably, as firms accumulate retained earnings, profitability has a positive effect on SME growth. Moreover, this study shows that labour productivity and debt positively impact on SME growth, evidencing the importance of the availability of financial resources to sustain the growth of these firms.

The rapid, yet low-profit, expansion of the production capacity of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) represents a remarkable phenomenon. However, the motivation behind this key operational decision remains underexplored, especially concerning the prioritization of sociopolitical and financial goals in operations management. Drawing on the multiple-goal model in the behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF), the authors' study aims to examine how SOE capacity expansion is driven by performance feedback regarding the sociopolitical goal of employment provision and how SOEs differently prioritize sociopolitical and financial goals based on negative versus positive feedback on the sociopolitical goal.

The authors' study uses panel data on 826 Chinese SOEs in manufacturing industries from 2011 to 2019. The authors employ the fixed-effects model with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors, which are robust to heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation and cross-sectional dependence.

The authors find that SOEs increase capacity expansion as sociopolitical feedback becomes more negative, but they may not increase capacity expansion in response to positive sociopolitical feedback. Moreover, negative profitability feedback strengthens SOEs' capacity expansion in response to negative sociopolitical feedback. In contrast, negative profitability feedback weakens their response to positive sociopolitical feedback.

The authors' study offers a novel behavioral explanation of SOEs' operational decisions regarding capacity expansion. While the literature has traditionally assumed multiple goals as either hierarchical or compatible, the authors extend the BTOF's multiple-goal model to illuminate when firms pursue sociopolitical and financial goals as compatible (i.e. the activation rule) versus hierarchical (i.e. the sequential rule), thereby reconciling their tension in distinct performance situations. Practically, the authors provide fine-grained insights into how operations managers can prioritize multiple goals when making operational decisions. The authors' study also shows how policymakers can influence SOE operations to pursue sociopolitical goals for public benefit.