Analysis of the influence of sustainability on profitability ratios of Switzerland pharmaceutical companies

Abstract

Nowadays most of the companies which implement sustainability in their activities are facing the assessment of the results issue. Sustainable companies run their business while combining environmental, social aspects and achieving economic benefits. The increased demand for assessment of sustainability activities has resulted in an increasing interest in a relation between sustainability and the company’s financial results. The question of sustainability’s impact on a company's financial results is relevant and widely recognised. Moreover, companies which percept sustainability as an important element of competitiveness and pay a lot of attention to implement it in all their business activities, quietly pose a question, how to develop sustainably and still remain profitable. The aim of the article is to analyse the influence of sustainability on Switzerland pharmaceutical companies' financial profitability ratios. Invoking the Sustainable Value Added method and regression analysis the influence of sustainability, expressed as Sustainable Value, on a company's financial ratios is hypothesised. The results disclose that there is no strong dependency between sustainability and financial profitability ratios of all analysed companies. Several aspects, which could course the results, in a form of discussion, were distinguished and could lead to further researches.