Coerenza ESG e sostenibilità finanziaria: un nuovo strumento d’analisi per la strategia aziendale e d’investimento

Scholars and practitioners have long been debating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing. Academics have also studied the correlation between ESG and corporate financial performance, as well as whether investment managers should factor corporate ESG policies and activities in their portfolio investment strategies. However, the typical approach followed so far sees ESG as data enrichment in analysing performance of the target for investment selection. This article elaborates on the recently developed financial/ESG sustainable growth matrix Bellandi (2022, 2023) to show its use by management for more comprehensive growth strategy decisions. The joint reading of ESG strategies and financial policies provides a company with a new pair of lenses for strategic analysis, and investors with a new dimension and tool for stock picking and diagnostics of growth forecasts of the target. Conversely, this paper does not focus on the relationship between ESG and corporate financial performance.