An Investigation of Corporate Sustainability Value to Investors Before and After the Financial Crisis

During the last decennia there is a shift in corporate sustainability strategies amongst large companies, as they increasingly exhibit an inclination to opt to strategies which do not aim solely on the maximization of shareholders value, but they consider, as well, environmental and social aspects. This paper investigates the impact on the share price of the companies included in or excluded from the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index before (2006-2007) and after (2009-2010) the financial crisis, employing the CAPM-model. The research results reveal that after the financial crisis the investors changed their investment strategies in favor of the more corporate sustainable companies (included in the DJSWI) compared to unsustainable companies (excluded from the DJSWI). However, the exclusion of a company from the DJSWI was not found to have a significant negative impact on the companies’ share price.