The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance

Robert G. Eccles; Ioannis  Ioannou; George  Serafeim

Article | Management Science | November 2014

The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance

by Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

Abstract

We investigate the effect of corporate sustainability on organizational processes and performance. Using a matched sample of 180 U.S. companies, we find that corporations that voluntarily adopted sustainability policies by 1993—termed as High Sustainability companies—exhibit by 2009 distinct organizational processes compared to a matched sample of companies that adopted almost none of these policies—termed as Low Sustainability companies. The boards of directors of High Sustainability companies are more likely to be formally responsible for sustainability, and top executive compensation incentives are more likely to be a function of sustainability metrics. High Sustainability companies are more likely to have established processes for stakeholder engagement, to be more long-term oriented, and to exhibit higher measurement and disclosure of nonfinancial information. Finally, High Sustainability companies significantly outperform their counterparts over the long-term, both in terms of stock market and accounting performance.

Keywords: sustainability; Sustainability Management; Sustainability Research; sustainability reporting; sustainability targets; corporate social responsibility; corporate accountability; reporting; corporate governance; investor clientele; investor communication; stock market; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Performance; United States;

Format: Print

SSRN Find at Harvard Read Now

Citation:

Eccles, Robert G., Ioannis Ioannou, and George Serafeim. "The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance." Management Science 60, no. 11 (November 2014): 2835–2857.

Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2019

Decarbonization Factors

Alex Cheema-Fox, Bridget LaPerla, George Serafeim, David Turkington and Hui (Stacie) Wang

In the face of accelerating climate change, investors are making capital allocations seeking to decarbonize portfolios by reducing the carbon emissions of their holdings. To understand the performance of portfolio decarbonization strategies and investor behavior towards decarbonization we construct decarbonization factors that go long low carbon intensity sectors, industries, or firms and short high carbon intensity. We consider several portfolio formation strategies and find strategies that lowered carbon emissions more aggressively performed better. Decarbonization factor returns are associated with contemporaneous institutional flows into the factors. Buying decarbonization factors when coincident flows are positive while selling when they are negative produces significantly positive alphas. Combining decarbonization factors that have positive contemporaneous flows would provide investors with significantly superior returns and continuous exposure to low carbon portfolios. The results are more pronounced in Europe relative to the U.S. Our results suggest that institutional investor flows contain information about anticipated fundamentals related to climate change developments.

Keywords: climate change; ESG; investment management; factor investing; investor behavior; Weather and Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Investment; Management;

Citation:

Cheema-Fox, Alex, Bridget LaPerla, George Serafeim, David Turkington, and Hui (Stacie) Wang. "Decarbonization Factors." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-037, September 2019. View Details

Cite View Details SSRN Read Now

Analyzing data from approximately 1.5 million employees across 1,100 established public and private U.S. companies, we find that the strength of employee beliefs about their firm’s purpose is lower in public companies. This difference is most pronounced within the salaried middle and hourly ranks rather than among senior executives. Among public companies, purpose becomes progressively lower with more concentrated shareholders, especially in firms with high hedge fund ownership. These patterns can be partly explained by differences in CEO backgrounds and compensation: public firms, particularly those with strong shareholders, choose outsider CEOs at higher rates and pay them more relative to their employees. Our analyses suggest that these results are not driven solely by sorting effects but appear attributable in part to the impact that firm owners have on their employees. In summary, shareholders appear to influence the strength of corporate purpose deep within organizations via the leadership and corporate practices they enable at the top.

Aperture Investors is a startup investment firm that seeks to disrupt the asset management industry through competitive differentiation by charging investors primarily when its portfolio managers outperform the marketplace. Headed by Wall Street veteran Peter Kraus and backed with substantial and patient seed capital, Aperture seeks to attract both star portfolio managers and assets from mutual funds and hedge funds. Kraus believes that his innovative business model addresses the current dysfunctional fee and incentive structures in the industry, which have led to long-term market underperformance, and that Aperture will address the reasons that are motivating investors to shift to cheaper, passively-managed index and exchange-traded funds.

Faculty & Research

The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance

Abstract

Citation:

About the Author

More from the Author