According to classic economic views of social responsibility as esposed by Milton Friedman, one would expect markets to penalize companies for undertaking social or environmental initiatives beyond minimal compliance with legal requirements, because such activities arguably may divert a firm's...

This paper seeks to fill a gap in existing literature by testing whether sustainable companies are able to compete effectively in terms of financial performance and attractiveness to investors. Our sample consists of firms appearing in the Innovest 'Global 100' rankings released annually at the...