Sustainability and financial market: performance study of companies that composes the corporate sustainability index (ISE)

In recent decades, the sustainability theme was thoroughly discussed by conferences and establishing protocols. Therefore, corporations had to adapt to the new expectations of the society and the government that seek the balance between social, environmental and economic spheres. The impact on the capital market reflects the creation of theoretical portfolios composed by companies considered benchmark in sustainable corporate management. In this context, the research's objective is to evaluate the performance of corporations listed on the Corporate Sustainability Index of Sao Paulo Stock Market (ISE), in opposition to companies of the same economic sector but which are absent from this index. Eight companies belonging to four different segments were analyzed in the 2006 to 2014-time period, considering quantitative aspects such as volatility of stock prices and profitability were evaluated. The results showed that from a strictly quantitative point of view, based on the companies that this paper have considered, those listed on the index and from Banks and Petrochemical segments had a good performance, while the ones from Electricity and Paper segment showed unsatisfactory performance. In this sense, it was impossible to determine a specific relationship between ISE and appreciation of shares or their volatility. (C) 2016 Departamento de Administracao, Faculdade de Economia, Administracao e Contabilidade da Universidade de Sao Paulo - FEA/USP. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda.