The growing concerns surrounding climate change, inequality, and other environmental and social challenges have prompted businesses to reevaluate their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. Advocates have proposed the integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations into corporate finance strategies. While traditional corporate finance has traditionally aimed to maximize shareholder value, there has been a noticeable shift toward prioritizing stakeholder value in recent years. This assignment requires you to reflect on these pertinent themes, draw from your course insights, and compose a report examining the impact of ESG factors on corporate capital structure and financing decisions. The report should revolve around addressing the following three key questions:

1. Analyze the Impact of Incorporating ESG on Firms' Capital Structure Decisions: Based on capital structure theories and corporate financing decisions, assess how the incorporation of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) influences firms' capital structure choices. Consider factors such as bank credit supply, cost of capital, economic uncertainty, and others, and provide explanations for the observed effects.

2. Examine Real-World Cases of ESG's Influence on Firm Capital Structure: Identify and analyze real cases from news reports where ESG considerations have affected a firm's capital structure. Collect relevant financial leverage ratio information from annual reports and compare the financial leverage ratios between two firms: one that is more ESG-friendly and another that is less ESG-friendly. Explain how ESG practices played a role in shaping their capital structures.

3. Assess the Influence of Institutional Investors, Banks, Government, and Media on ESG Engagement and Capital Structure: Investigate how institutional investors, banks, government agencies, and media exert pressure on firms to embrace ESG practices. Analyze the ways in which these stakeholders influence firms' ESG engagement efforts and, in the context of the comparison between two firms as discussed in part (2), examine how their actions moderate the impact of ESG on firm capital structure.

Note : To address these questions comprehensively, a variety of research methods can be employed. Qualitative approaches, like case studies, offer valuable insights, while quantitative analyses can provide empirical support for your arguments. Additionally, you are encouraged to gather data to facilitate empirical analyses that substantiate your findings. Furthermore, the development of mathematical models may prove useful in tackling these complex inquiries. For Master by Research students, the inclusion of data analyses is expected as part of your research approach. There are no correct answers to these questions as these are new questions open to all researchers from academia and practice. Your work will be assessed based on your logic of reasoning and how your arguments are linked theories, literature, and empirical evidence.