Sustainability, ESG Ratings and Corporate Performance in the Manufacturing Sector: A Research Review

The objective of this study is to provide insight into the broad topic of sustainability, as encompassed by ESG ratings and scores, and its influence on the performance of companies at a global scale, with a focus on the manufacturing sector. This study involves a thorough examination of existing literature and a detailed bibliometric analysis, providing valuable insights about the progression of scientific papers related to this subject matter. The bibliometric technique refers to a quantitative examination of publications that is primarily concerned with the utilization of information functions in relation to the advancement of research within a specific field. The present study utilizes the Scopus database and the VOSviewer visualization tool to show the outcomes derived from a comprehensive analysis of pertinent literature and bibliometric evaluation of scholarly publications pertaining to the relationship between sustainability, ESG ratings, and business value. The work shows that although the concept of ESG has been around for decades, businesses and institutions have begun to take issues related to it seriously in the 2010s. Since 2009 there was an exponential increase in the number of papers published until 2023.