Accelerating Sustainability Research at London Business School
The Challenge A Master's student at London Business School needed robust data for a thesis on ESG disclosure trends in European mid-cap companies. The research aimed to quantify the impact of recent EU sustainability regulations on reporting transparency. However, gathering consistent historical data for hundreds of mid-cap firms across diverse jurisdictions posed a significant challenge. Manual collection was unfeasible within the academic timeline, and existing university databases lacked the granular, full-text filing history required for deep textual analysis.
The Solution FinancialReports supported the student with a Targeted Academic Export.
- Scope Definition: We worked with the student to define a precise universe of European mid-cap companies, ensuring the dataset was relevant and manageable for a Master's thesis.
- Full-Text History: We provided a historical export of Annual Reports and Sustainability Reports for the target companies, enabling longitudinal analysis of disclosure changes over time.
- Searchable Format: The data was delivered in a format conducive to textual analysis, allowing the student to search for specific ESG keywords and themes across thousands of documents efficiently.
The Result The student completed their thesis on schedule, producing a high-quality empirical study backed by a comprehensive dataset. The ability to access standardized historical filings eliminated weeks of manual data gathering, allowing the student to focus on methodology and analysis. This project demonstrated the value of accessible, high-quality financial data in enabling rigorous academic research at the Master's level.
"FinancialReports provided the critical data foundation for my thesis. Accessing a clean, historical dataset of European filings allowed me to focus on analyzing ESG trends rather than chasing down documents. It was a game-changer for my research."
