Inclusive Growth Index, Consolidated Database Architecture, and Research on the Role of Boards in ESG Reporting and Financial Resilience of Russian Public Companies — Scientific Seminar at the Corporate Finance Center
On June 9th, the regular research seminar of the Corporate Finance Center was held. The seminar was dedicated to discussing a comprehensive set of metric indicators for assessing business resilience to structural crises and high uncertainty for companies in emerging markets, in the context of challenges posed by new globalization processes, for the purpose of constructing composite indices.
On June 9, the Corporate Finance Center held its regular scientific seminar. The session focused on discussing a comprehensive set of metrics designed to assess business resilience to structural crises and high uncertainty faced by companies in emerging markets. The seminar also addressed the challenges posed by new globalization processes in developing consolidated indices that reflect these dynamics.
At the seminar, three reports were presented.
The first report, delivered by Sergey Grishunin, Associate Professor at the School of Finance, addressed the timely topic of constructing an Inclusive Growth Index tailored for Russian companies. Key questions discussed included: 1) What are the specific features of building such an index for the Russian context; 2) Which main determinants and methodological approaches should be applied to accurately assess the characteristics of Russian public companies; 3) Should universal criteria be prioritized, or should the focus be on industry-specific factors when designing the index; 4) What potential applications does the index have for evaluating resilience patterns across different national environments within the BRICS+ countries?
The second report, presented by Alexander Tomtosov, covered the architecture of a consolidated database for Russian companies at the Corporate Finance Center. Alexander proposed organizing data into a system of tables segmented by country and indicator groups. This structure aims to help research teams optimize time spent on data collection and processing, leveraging data previously used in other projects. For students, this initiative will free up more time to focus on the research components of their theses rather than on data gathering. During Alexander’s presentation, seminar participants prioritized the types of data needed to fulfill the current project goals and assessed progress in populating industry-specific datasets.
The third report, prepared by laboratory research intern Konstantin Popov ahead of his upcoming PhD pre-defense, presented preliminary results from two ongoing studies. The first investigates the role of independent directors in improving the quality of ESG reporting by Russian public companies. The second examines the impact of board activities on the financial resilience of Russian firms. During the discussion, Konstantin received valuable feedback and recommendations on how to refine the proposed models.
We wish our colleagues every success in achieving their research objectives!
