ESG and SME: an analysis about disclosure and sustainability in Italian Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

The dissertation is about an issue of growing interest namely ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance). The focus is on the relationship between Italian Small and Medium Enterprises and ESG disclosure. At the beginning it is given a quick panoramic on ESG and what disclosure and materiality mean for firms. Then, the sample made of fifty small and medium Italian enterprises is described giving summary statistics and it is analyzed whether there is a correlation between the size, the sector of belonging and the geographical location. After that, the main analysis of the thesis is about the relation between the performance of a company and ESG disclosure in a ten-year period. To do so it is used the WACC as indicator of the performance of a firm and both the existence of a sustainability report and the presence of a certification as a measure of disclosure. In the last part of the thesis the social sphere is examined, usually it is considered a less important aspect but nowadays the non-financial statements are becoming fundamental in the evaluation of each firm independently of the sector of belonging and the size.