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The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the implementation of a defined competitive strategy – differentiation or cost leadership – brings about different value creation levels, where “value” is defined in a twofold perspective as “shareholder value” vs “stakeholder value” and “social capital”.

A sample of 169 European companies is investigated. Simple linear regressions and t-tests for the equality of means are conducted.

While no significant differences are found in the creation of value for the shareholders, firms following differentiation strategies generate considerably higher value for all the stakeholder groups than companies pursing cost leadership strategies. Results also show that size and reputational considerations play a significant role in explaining the different stakeholder value performances.

Some data such as off-balance sheet items could have influenced the calculation of the discriminant values for strategy classification.

Although the two groups manage to achieve comparable levels of profitability, the differentiators, presumably because of their structural outward-facing orientation, seem to be better positioned to meet the challenges of the next wave of growth, which resides in the substantial interconnection between economic and societal value. Companies need a better understanding of how the stakeholder value theory and social capital can influence value creation and long-term success.

In light of the importance of competitive strategy as a value-creation tool, the paper sheds new light on the relationship between competitive strategies and value creation.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the existence of a relationship between socially responsible behavior of companies and price trends of their stocks.

The analysis is conducted by empirically testing data of environmental, social and governance ratings of a sample of European firms between December 2005 and December 2010. A disaggregate analysis is also performed to infer whether a specific contribution of all the different factors that make a business socially responsible can be observed in the value generation process.

The results show that the application of a sustainable approach are successful in creating value, both to the investor and the issuer companies.

Findings of this work are significant with respect to portfolio management, because they suggest, on one hand, the myopia of a short-term approach (short-termism), and on the other hand, the importance of sustainable investing.

This paper focusses on the integration that has led many international groups to explicitly include extra-financial risk factors in their decision-making processes, by applying the by the four-factor model on a brand new data set.