Multivariate sustainability profile of Global Fortune 500 companies using GRI-G4 database

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to find the sustainability gradients of Global Fortune 500 companies and sort them as a function of economic, environmental, and social components using multivariate statistical methods to establish the foundations for better knowledge of the trends and sustainability reporting habits. A combined approach, comprising principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) and logistic regression model (LRM), is proposed to build an external logistics biplot (ELB). Moreover, HJ-Biplot and parallel coordinates are applied. This chapter helps to understand why many companies view their corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports as a way to guarantee the credibility of the published information. In particular, based on the Global Reporting Initiative, the sustainability gradients of the Global Fortune 500 companies are obtained and statistically exploited to analyze how the companies can make improvements in terms of sustainability.