THE IMPACT OF CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY ON MARKETING PERFORMANCE: THE REFLECTION OF ESG SCORES ON BRAND VALUE AND PROFITABILITY

Abstract

This study investigates how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance influences firms’ marketing and financial outcomes. A balanced panel dataset of 1,000 firms drawn from seven geographic regions and nine sectors for the period 2015–2025 (11,000 firm-year observations) is employed. The dataset contains financial indicators profit margin (ProfitMargin) and market growth rate (GrowthRate) together with the composite ESG score and its environmental, social, and governance sub-dimensions. After descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations and fixed-effects panel regressions are estimated. Results show that the overall ESG score exerts no statistically significant direct effect on either profit margin or market growth rate (p > 0.10). By contrast, carbon emissions, water usage, and energy consumption introduced as environmental cost controls display significant negative coefficients on market growth at the 10 percent level. These findings indicate that investors react more strongly to tangible environmental performance metrics than to abstract ESG ratings. Accordingly, firms are advised to frame their sustainability strategies around long-term value creation rather than short-term profit goals.