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Assessing the Sustainability of High-Value Brands in the IT Sector

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  • María Ángeles Alcaide

    (Center of Economic Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain)

  • Elena De La Poza

    (Center of Economic Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain)

  • Natividad Guadalajara

    (Center of Economic Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain)

Abstract

Nowadays, companies have more freedom on how they can report their corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions and outcomes, despite them being increasingly important for how investors and shareholders can obtain knowledge about companies’ non-financial aspects. This is why more importance is being attached to sustainability rankings as an additional tool to seek excellence and distinguish between companies. The main objective of the present research was to analyze the degree of similarity in sustainability valuations among the most important open-access sustainability rankings that have appeared in the last decade (Green Ranking, RepTrack, Global 100 most sustainable corporations, and Finance Yahoo Sustainability). The secondary objective was to study whether these rankings incorporated the most de facto prestigious brands, and the third objective was to learn of the influence of the level of controversy in Finance Yahoo Sustainability scores in technological companies. Our results reveal wide variability among open-access CSR rankings. Not all the most valued brands appear in the sustainability rankings, which indicates the differences between the rankings of brands and CSR rankings. Finally, the level of controversy was found to be an important aspect in companies’ CSR scores.

Suggested Citation

  • María Ángeles Alcaide & Elena De La Poza & Natividad Guadalajara, 2019. "Assessing the Sustainability of High-Value Brands in the IT Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1598-:d:214404
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    2. Manuel Muñoz-Suárez & Natividad Guadalajara & José M. Osca, 2020. "A Comparative Analysis between Global University Rankings and Environmental Sustainability of Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-19, July.
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    4. Merello, Paloma & Barberá, Antonio & la Poza, Elena De, 2022. "Is the sustainability profile of FinTech companies a key driver of their value?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
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    6. de la Poza Elena & Jódar Lucas, 2019. "Modelling Human Behaviour in the Digital Era: Economic and Social Impacts," Economics, Sciendo, vol. 7(2), pages 43-47, December.

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