Relação entre desempenho sustentável e desempenho de mercado

Society has shown relevant attention and growing awareness regarding sustainability, but studies on the subject have controversial evidence. Thus, the present study aimed to assess the cause-effect relationship between sustainable performance and market performance of companies listed on the stock exchange of the twenty most sustainable countries in the world according to the Environmental Performance Index, resulting in a sample of 1,027 companies. Regarding the methodology, the data were collected in the Thomson Reuters® database and relate to the period from 2008 to 2017. Sustainability was measured based on the synthesis of environmental indicators (use of resources, emissions, environmental innovation), social (workforce, human rights, community and product responsibility) and economic-financial (return on assets, return on equity and return on sales) the Multicriteria Evaluation Based on Distance from Average Solution method was used for this synthesis. Market performance was measured from the synthesis of the indicators (Tobin's Q, Market-to-book, share price, earnings per share and Price / Earnings index). From the synthesis of these indicators, it was possible to apply linear regression. The results indicate the existence of bidirectionality between sustainable performance and market performance, however it is evident that the greatest explanatory power verified is in the sense that, based on good market performance, organizations are able to improve their sustainable performance. It is noteworthy in the results that over the years there has been a significant increase in the influence of sustainable performance in relation to market performance, evidencing the growing concern of investors in relation to sustainable development.