This paper analyzes whether effective boards of directors in addressing shareholder interests also prove to be effective in guaranteeing the interests of the rest of the firm's stakeholders. We measure board effectiveness based on the shareholder perspective, and test whether it is valid for the stakeholder perspective. The novelty of this paper precisely lies in its approach, given that it considers both perspectives of corporate governance at a time. Using the transparency of sustainability reports as a proxy for the stakeholder perspective in an international sample of 2366 companies, the paper shows that effective boards are more likely to address the interests of both the shareholders and the rest of the firm's stakeholders. Furthermore, we propose a measure of board effectiveness by gathering several board characteristics. Our results contribute to research on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility reporting, and it has implications for policy makers

Transitioning to a circular economy (CE) particularly challenges small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and a deeper understanding of CE financial barriers is needed. We draw on SME and financiers’ views to qualitatively study the risks associated with CE, how such risks limit access to financial resources and how financial institutions perceive those risks. We find that transitioning to a circular economy entails regulatory, cultural and market risks and that CE business success does not depend solely on SME resources or capabilities. Contributions include combining business model perspectives with transition theories and showing that new circular business models entail major reforms to political, regulatory, and market structures, including financial markets. From a practical perspective, to accelerate CE transition, we recommend reducing fragmentation, uncertainty and incoherence in regulation of the remodeling of information and risk assessment systems and new co-financing mechanisms and alternative instruments such as blended finance or “circular finance.”

There is an intimate connection between socially responsible investment (SRI) and corporate social responsibility (CSR): faced with the demands of their investors, listed companies have started to adopt CSR strategies to comply with the demands of ethical fund managers and ethical index managers. This paper is an exploratory study of the obstacles to SRI among individual investors in Spain. Individuals and financial consultants were surveyed about their current investment strategies, their preferences as regards criteria and ethical strategies, and the perceived obstacles for the development of SRI. The findings unveil the factors leading to the limited development of the SRI Spanish retail market. The paper offers guidelines that can be used by Spanish financial consultants and foreign fund managers when approaching the Spanish market. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.