Despite the general agreement that a firm embodies its own culture, there is still a lack of empirical research on how a firm’s culture affects its value. Another caveat on previous studies is that they implicitly assume that a firm’s culture does not vary over time. In this paper, we examine the following two questions to address this lack: (1) Does a firm’s culture affect the firm’s value? (2) If a firm’s culture varies at different life cycle stages, do these changes have an impact on firm value? By using a competing values framework, we identify four types of corporate culture—adhocracy, market, clan, and hierarchy—and use life cycle stages to proxy for changes in a firm’s environment. The results reveal that adhocracy culture has a positive effect on a firm’s value. In contrast, we find a negative association between hierarchy culture and a firm’s value. This can be interpreted as the features of adhocracy culture, which gives autonomy to its members (flexible and discretion) and keeps challenging a firm to grow (external focus and differentiation), positively impacting firm value more than the other cultures. Furthermore, at a growth stage in which a firm faces dynamic environmental changes, both adhocracy and clan cultures have an incrementally positive effect on firm value. This implies that firms in mature or decline stages lose dynamic changes in their operational environment, therefore, the effect of culture on firm value is restricted in those stages.

This study examines the role of industry-level comparability with regard to voluntary adoption of the international financial reporting standards (IFRS) by unlisted firms in Korea. Mandatory adoption of the IFRS for listed firms in 2011 inhibits financial statement comparability between listed and unlisted firms. Our empirical findings reveal that unlisted firms in industries with higher ratios of listed firms tend to adopt the IFRS voluntarily. After this adoption, such unlisted firms seem to attract greater investment in the public debt market.

We investigate the effect of debt financing on the voluntary adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by unlisted firms and such adoption’s effect on bond credit rating. We find that unlisted firms with public debts are more likely to voluntarily adopt IFRS. Subsequent to the voluntary application of IFRS, the unlisted firms exhibit, on average, enhanced credit ratings. These findings suggest that the public debt market’s demand for high-quality financial reporting may drive those unlisted firms to voluntarily adopt IFRS. Furthermore, rating agencies seem to reward such firms by elevating their bond credit ratings.

This study examines the impact of the environmental protection tax (EPT) on the liquidity and green technological innovation of listed companies in China from 2013 to 2023. Using a difference-in-differences (DID) approach, we analyze the short-term financial consequences of the EPT, focusing on liquidity ratios while also examining its effects on innovation through research and development investments. The results suggest that the EPT significantly reduces corporate liquidity, particularly in industries with high environmental compliance costs, thereby placing financial pressure on firms. Although the EPT stimulates innovation, the inherent time lag in realizing financial returns from R&D investments exacerbates short-term liquidity problems. This research offers important insights for policymakers seeking to balance sustainability goals with corporate financial health.