Sustainable Development and Firm Performance: Evidence from Thailand
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Abstract
The sustainability framework shifts the firm’s management paradigm from simply maximising shareholders’ wealth to also considering the wider interests of stakeholders as well as environmental and social developments. This study aims to examine whether sustainable development has a significant link with firm performance. Since the Stock Exchange of Thailand has just launched the list of firms that were announced as part of the “Thai Sustainability Investment (THSI)” scheme in 2015, we use the firms has passed the sustainability criteria as the representative of firms with superior sustainable developme
The size-matched firms have not passed these criteria are used as a comparative group. The matched pair design is employed to reduce the heteroscedasticity between the groups. The total sample was finalised as 122 firms: 66 from the Thai Sustainability Investment list, and 56 with a similar size, based on market capitalisation. To measure firm performance, we use both accounting base (return on asset – ROA and return on equity – ROE) and economic base (the economic value added – EVA). The results show no differences in performance between the Thai Sustainability Investment firms and the matched ones. However, our result does not discourage the firms or investors to ignore the importance of corporate social responsible (CSR). Rather, the costs of CSR are immediate but the benefits – image and reputation are not often realised in a few years. In addition, the cost incurred from the explicit claims may offset by the gain from CSR.
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