Strategic sustainability: is there return in the long term performance?

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to assess the long term impact of sustainability investments in the companies' performance. Two hypotheses are developed based on literature. First, companies that strategically invest in social and environmental projects perform better after an exogenous effect. Second, companies that implement and report sustainability have those investments aligned with the core business and competence. From a panel of 252 companies suggests that those companies reporting that invested in sustainability performed better than others that did not in the post-financial crisis of 2008. Additionally, evidence of a company (Brazil Foods) studied in a historical context expose the evolution of strategic investments in sustainability and their relation with the competences and the core business of the company.