Sustainable Practice and Business Profitability in Brazil

Expenditures relating to sustainability practices are still institutional options and they occur based on demands of shareholders, with the reflection of social expectations. Porter and Kramer (2006) claim that investments in social value creation should be viewed as long-term strategy of the company, not influencing their immediate financial results. The aim of this study was to identify, through analysis of selected economic and financial indicators, if significant variations of these indicators as a result of the certification of companies by the Corporate Sustainability Index (SRI), used as a proxy for sustainable practices. The methodology used was the study of event with accounting data. Data from three separate chronological series: before preparing for certification (implementation), pre-certification and post certification series. Data were obtained from the Economatica database and of CVM and the study followed the Quarterly Information (ITR's) of business for a period of five years. The main results indicate that the analyzed indices (ROA, ROE, ROS e EBTIDA) fit in the pre-certification and do not reveal significant changes in the period up to two years post-certification – thereby validating the assertion of Porter and Kramer (2006).