Publication: Impact of corporate sustainability reporting on firm performance / investor decisions - evidence from Turkey
Abstract
18. yüzyılda ortaya çıkan Sanayi Devrimi, el emeğine dayalı küçük atölyelerin büyük ölçekli endüstriyel işletmelere dönüşmesini hızlandırarak sermaye piyasalarının gelişmesini ve genişlemesini sağlamıştır. Bu devrim ekonomide yeni bir teknolojik çağ açarak toplumsal refahı arttırmış gibi görünse de ‘daha fazla üretim’ felsefesi, bir yandan işçilerin insan haklarına aykırı çalışma koşullarına maruz kalarak sömürülmesine; diğer yandan üretim tesislerindeki zehirli gazların ve atıkların sorumsuzca doğaya salınarak ekolojik dengenin bozulmasına sebepolmuştur. Zaman içerisinde yaşanan doğal felaketler ve toplumsal bunalımlar, bu durumun insanlığın ortak geleceğine tehdit oluşturduğunu açığa çıkarmış ve sürdürülebilir kalkınma kavramını gündeme getirmiştir. Böylece işletmelerin esas amacının yalnızca pay sahiplerine kar sağlamak olması, yerini işletmelerin paydaşlarına karşı her türlü çevresel, sosyal ve yönetişim (ÇSY) faaliyetinden sorumlu olmaya bırakmıştır. Günümüzde sermaye piyasaları işletmelerin eylemleriyle çevreye ve paydaşlarına nasıl değer kattıklarını ya da nasıl değer azalttıklarını şeffaflık ve hesap verilebilirlik ilkelerine uygun olarak kamuya açıklamalarını talep etmekte; işletmelerse bu bilgilerin raporlanmasıyla ÇSY risklerini azaltıp paydaşların güvenini artırmayı, dolayısıyla finansal performanslarını iyileştirmeyi hedeflemektedir. Bu doğrultuda ÇSY raporlamasıyla ilgili standart ve kavramsal çerçeve yayınlayan birçok kurum, uluslararası işbirlikleri yürüterek faydalı ve önemli finansal olmayan bilgilerin güvenilir bir şekilde raporlanmasını teşvik edici çalışmalar yürütmektedir. Genel olarak Sürdürülebilirlik Raporlaması (SR) olarak adlandırılan bu raporlar, yapılan girişimlere rağmen halen finansal raporlama kadar yaygın ve sistematik değildir. Bu tezin amacı, Sürdürülebilirlik Raporları’nda açıklanan finansal olmayan bilgilerin raporlayan işletmelerin finansal performansına etkisini ölçmektir. Bu doğrultuda 2009-2018 yılları arasında Borsa İstanbul Metal Eşya Endeksi’nde yer alan 25 işletmenin finansal performansı regresyon analizi ile incelenmiştir. Analiz sonucunda Sürdürülebilirlik Raporlaması ve Finansal Performans arasında anlamlı bir ilişki bulunamamıştır.
The Industrial Revolution which took part in the 18th century fostered the developmentand the growth of capital markets by transforming sweatshops that had been based on handcraftinto large-scale industrial businesses. Although the revolution purports to have increased socialwelfare by ushering in a new epoch with technological advances in economies, the philosophy of 'more production' has led to the exploitation of workers suffering from working conditions antithetical to human rights and to the disruption of the ecological balance by irresponsiblydumping the wastes in the production facilities. Natural disasters and social crises experienced over time have revealed the menace to the common future of humanity and brought the concept of sustainable development to the agenda. Thus, the main purpose of businesses which had been only to provide profit to the shareholders has been transformed into being responsible for all environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities of the businesses towards their stakeholders. Nowadays, while capital markets require businesses to disclose the way how they add or reduce the value to the environment regarding transparency and accountability to their stakeholders; reporting entities aim to reduce ESG risks and increase stakeholder trust thereby improving their financial performance. Accordingly, many international conceptual frameworks and standard-setters ESG reporting have decided to cooperate to promote the disclosure of useful and material non-financial information. Commonly referred to as ‘Sustainability Reporting’ (SR), these reports are still not as extensive and systematic as financial reporting despite efforts. The purpose of this thesis is to measure the impact of nonfinancial information disclosed in Sustainability Reports on the financial performance of reporting entities. The financial performance of 25 companies traded in the Borsa Istanbul Metal Products Machinery Index between 2009-2018 was analyzed with regression analysis. No significant relationship existed between Sustainability Reporting and Financial Performance.
The Industrial Revolution which took part in the 18th century fostered the developmentand the growth of capital markets by transforming sweatshops that had been based on handcraftinto large-scale industrial businesses. Although the revolution purports to have increased socialwelfare by ushering in a new epoch with technological advances in economies, the philosophy of 'more production' has led to the exploitation of workers suffering from working conditions antithetical to human rights and to the disruption of the ecological balance by irresponsiblydumping the wastes in the production facilities. Natural disasters and social crises experienced over time have revealed the menace to the common future of humanity and brought the concept of sustainable development to the agenda. Thus, the main purpose of businesses which had been only to provide profit to the shareholders has been transformed into being responsible for all environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities of the businesses towards their stakeholders. Nowadays, while capital markets require businesses to disclose the way how they add or reduce the value to the environment regarding transparency and accountability to their stakeholders; reporting entities aim to reduce ESG risks and increase stakeholder trust thereby improving their financial performance. Accordingly, many international conceptual frameworks and standard-setters ESG reporting have decided to cooperate to promote the disclosure of useful and material non-financial information. Commonly referred to as ‘Sustainability Reporting’ (SR), these reports are still not as extensive and systematic as financial reporting despite efforts. The purpose of this thesis is to measure the impact of nonfinancial information disclosed in Sustainability Reports on the financial performance of reporting entities. The financial performance of 25 companies traded in the Borsa Istanbul Metal Products Machinery Index between 2009-2018 was analyzed with regression analysis. No significant relationship existed between Sustainability Reporting and Financial Performance.