On the afternoon of September 25, 2024, at the invitation of the School of Management, Associate Professor Zhou Qing from Macquarie University Business School engaged in academic exchange with faculty and students at the School of Management in Lecture Hall 214, Chang'an Campus, and delivered an academic lecture titled "Media as a Reinforcer of ESG Regulatory Risk: Evidence from Supply Chains." This lecture was the 24th session of the School of Management's 2024 Overseas Lecture Series, chaired by Associate Professor Tian Haowen, with the participation of faculty and students from the Accounting Department of the School of Management.

Before the meeting began, Tian Haowen provided a brief introduction to Zhou Qing's personal background and academic achievements, and the attendees warmly welcomed her presence. Zhou Qing introduced that against the backdrop of increasingly stringent regulatory scrutiny of ESG practices in supply chains, supplier ESG risks have become an important consideration for downstream companies. The study analyzed the impact of negative environmental media reports from 495 major Chinese newspapers on procurement decisions during the period from 2001 to 2021. The results indicated that after the 2015 Paris Agreement, there was a significant reduction in corporate procurement from suppliers that were negatively reported by state-owned media. Zhou Qing stated that reports from state-owned media would lead to more regulatory actions, suggesting that the regulatory risk channel influenced supply chain strategies. This effect was more pronounced in media with high circulation, severe reports, less bias, strong governance, and low switching costs. The study highlights the role of the media, especially state-owned media, in promoting ESG practices in supply chains.

At the end of the lecture, Zhou Qing engaged in a thorough discussion and exchange with the attending faculty and students regarding the lecture topic, and everyone expressed that they had gained new insights into the research on supplier ESG risks.

[Written by Tian Haowen, Reviewed by Shao Jing and Zhang Shuang]

Introduction to the Speaker:

Dr. Zhou Qing (Clara) is an Associate Professor of Finance at Macquarie University Business School and a doctoral supervisor. Her research focuses on corporate finance, the relationship between corporate finance and capital markets, and corporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) issues. Her articles have been published in journals such as the Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, and Journal of Empirical Finance. She serves as the Deputy Editor for Accounting and Finance, Guest Editor for the Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Information Systems.