Corporate Decision Making and Socio- Environmental Investments In Brazil: An Analysis Based On Social Audits

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse environmental investments made between 1996and 2008 by two hundred Brazilian firms. The study uses traditional techniques to establishthe representativeness and importance of the variables and the extent of correlationsbetween them. The results indicate a significant correlation between the amount ofenvironmental investments and variables such as age, level of education, professionaltraining of employees and profit-sharing policies. However, no significant correlationbetween environmental investments and profitability was found. The analysis revealed alinkage between decisions to invest in the environment and social investments outsidethe firm. Keywords: Environmental Investments, Social Audit, CSP, CSR