Measuring the economic performance of socially responsible companies

This paper presents a one-dimensional exploratory study which compares the socially responsible companies included in the Spanish sustainability index, FTSE4Good Ibex, with the rest of the indices in the IBEX family. The aim is to use different economic variables to establish whether there are differences in economic performance. Parametric testing was used to study whether there are differences between the two types of companies. The results demonstrate that there are no statistically significant differences in economic performance between the two groups. The study confirms that companies with good practices are as profitable as the rest, but it also demonstrates that the economic-financial behaviour is not better as a result of being in the sustainability index.

Essays on internationalization in the context of heterogeneous firms

The significant increase in global trade flows in last decades has been one of the main features of the globalization process that started in the 1950s. In general, the main factors behind this increase were linked to (i) the significant reductions of trade costs and technical barriers; (ii) the improvements in transport infrastructure and telecommunications; (iii) the progress of the international financial system and the increasing legal certainty; and (iv) the development of a corporate culture that promotes the internationalization of firms as a strategic tool in order to survive and to grow. The remarkable increase of trade openness has also been observed in the Spanish economy. In this regard, it is clear that the entry into force of the Treaty of Accession of Spain to the European Economic Community (now the European Union) in 1986 played a main role in this dramatic increase. In addition, and because of the deep depression of domestic demand caused by the global financial and economic crisis that started in 2008, the external trade has become a key driver in the economic recovery of the Spanish economy...