IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v50y2018i4p379-401.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Socially responsible investment portfolios: Does the optimization process matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Oikonomou, Ioannis
  • Platanakis, Emmanouil
  • Sutcliffe, Charles

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of the choice of optimization technique when constructing Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) portfolios. Corporate Social Performance (CSP) scores are price sensitive information that is subject to considerable estimation risk. Therefore, uncertainty in the input parameters is greater for SRI portfolios than conventional portfolios, and this affects the selection of the appropriate optimization method. We form SRI portfolios based on six different approaches and compare their performance along the dimensions of risk, risk-return trade-off, diversification and stability. Our results for SRI portfolios contradict those of the conventional portfolio optimization literature. We find that the more “formal” optimization approaches (Black-Litterman, Markowitz and robust estimation) lead to SRI portfolios that are both less risky and have superior risk-return trade-offs than do more simplistic approaches; although they also have more unstable asset allocations and lower diversification. Our conclusions are robust to a series of tests, including the use of different estimation windows and stricter screening criteria.

Suggested Citation

  • Oikonomou, Ioannis & Platanakis, Emmanouil & Sutcliffe, Charles, 2018. "Socially responsible investment portfolios: Does the optimization process matter?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 379-401.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:50:y:2018:i:4:p:379-401
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2017.10.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838917300719
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2017.10.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ledoit, Olivier & Wolf, Michael, 2004. "A well-conditioned estimator for large-dimensional covariance matrices," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 365-411, February.
    2. Hallerbach, Winfried & Ning, Haikun & Soppe, Aloy & Spronk, Jaap, 2004. "A framework for managing a portfolio of socially responsible investments," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(2), pages 517-529, March.
    3. Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian & Weber, Martin, 2014. "How should individual investors diversify? An empirical evaluation of alternative asset allocation policies," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 62-85.
    4. Darren D. Lee & Robert W. Faff, 2009. "Corporate Sustainability Performance and Idiosyncratic Risk: A Global Perspective," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 44(2), pages 213-237, May.
    5. Victor DeMiguel & Lorenzo Garlappi & Raman Uppal, 2009. "Optimal Versus Naive Diversification: How Inefficient is the 1-N Portfolio Strategy?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(5), pages 1915-1953, May.
    6. Jay B. Barney & Mark H. Hansen, 1994. "Trustworthiness as a Source of Competitive Advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(S1), pages 175-190, December.
    7. Giannone, Domenico & De Mol, Christine & Daubechies, Ingrid & Brodie, Joshua, 2007. "Sparse and Stable Markowitz Portfolios," CEPR Discussion Papers 6474, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Arjan Berkelaar & Roy Kouwenberg, 2011. "A Liability-Relative Drawdown Approach to Pension Asset Liability Management," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Gautam Mitra & Katharina Schwaiger (ed.), Asset and Liability Management Handbook, chapter 14, pages 352-382, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. Ravi Jagannathan & Tongshu Ma, 2003. "Risk Reduction in Large Portfolios: Why Imposing the Wrong Constraints Helps," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1651-1683, August.
    10. Ioannis Oikonomou & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2012. "The Impact of Corporate Social Performance on Financial Risk and Utility: A Longitudinal Analysis," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 41(2), pages 483-515, June.
    11. Carroll, Archie B., 1991. "The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 39-48.
    12. Gunther Capelle-Blancard & Stéphanie Monjon, 2011. "The Performance of Socially Responsible Funds: Does the Screening Process Matter?," Working Papers 2011-12, CEPII research center.
    13. Jeroen Derwall & Kees Koedijk, 2009. "Socially Responsible Fixed-Income Funds," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1-2), pages 210-229.
    14. Bloomfield, Ted & Leftwich, Richard & Long, John Jr., 1977. "Portfolio strategies and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 201-218, November.
    15. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7347 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Jianqing Fan & Jingjin Zhang & Ke Yu, 2008. "Asset Allocation and Risk Assessment with Gross Exposure Constraints for Vast Portfolios," Papers 0812.2604, arXiv.org.
    17. Hoje Jo & Maretno Harjoto, 2012. "The Causal Effect of Corporate Governance on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 106(1), pages 53-72, March.
    18. Victor DeMiguel & Lorenzo Garlappi & Francisco J. Nogales & Raman Uppal, 2009. "A Generalized Approach to Portfolio Optimization: Improving Performance by Constraining Portfolio Norms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(5), pages 798-812, May.
    19. Renneboog, Luc & Ter Horst, Jenke & Zhang, Chendi, 2008. "The price of ethics and stakeholder governance: The performance of socially responsible mutual funds," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 302-322, June.
    20. Xing, Xin & Hu, Jinjin & Yang, Yaning, 2014. "Robust minimum variance portfolio with L-infinity constraints," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 107-117.
    21. Galema, Rients & Plantinga, Auke & Scholtens, Bert, 2008. "The stocks at stake: Return and risk in socially responsible investment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 2646-2654, December.
    22. Fischer, Marcel & Gallmeyer, Michael F., 2016. "Heuristic portfolio trading rules with capital gain taxes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(3), pages 611-625.
    23. Elton, Edwin J & Gruber, Martin J, 1977. "Risk Reduction and Portfolio Size: An Analytical Solution," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(4), pages 415-437, October.
    24. Statman, Meir, 1987. "How Many Stocks Make a Diversified Portfolio?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(3), pages 353-363, September.
    25. Edmans, Alex, 2011. "Does the stock market fully value intangibles? Employee satisfaction and equity prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 621-640, September.
    26. Frazzini, Andrea & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2014. "Betting against beta," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 1-25.
    27. Urs von Arx & Andreas Ziegler, 2014. "The effect of corporate social responsibility on stock performance: new evidence for the USA and Europe," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(6), pages 977-991, June.
    28. Qiu, Yan & Shaukat, Amama & Tharyan, Rajesh, 2016. "Environmental and social disclosures: Link with corporate financial performance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 102-116.
    29. Deng, Xin & Kang, Jun-koo & Low, Buen Sin, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility and stakeholder value maximization: Evidence from mergers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 87-109.
    30. Bouslah, Kais & Kryzanowski, Lawrence & M’Zali, Bouchra, 2013. "The impact of the dimensions of social performance on firm risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1258-1273.
    31. Pflug, Georg Ch. & Pichler, Alois & Wozabal, David, 2012. "The 1/N investment strategy is optimal under high model ambiguity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 410-417.
    32. Blume, Marshall E & Friend, Irwin, 1975. "The Asset Structure of Individual Portfolios and Some Implications for Utility Functions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 30(2), pages 585-603, May.
    33. Lynn, Murray, 1992. "A note on corporate social disclosure in Hong Kong," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 105-110.
    34. Zyglidopoulos, Stelios C. & Georgiadis, Andreas P. & Carroll, Craig E. & Siegel, Donald S., 2012. "Does media attention drive corporate social responsibility?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 1622-1627.
    35. Alois Geyer & William T. Ziemba, 2008. "The Innovest Austrian Pension Fund Financial Planning Model InnoALM," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 56(4), pages 797-810, August.
    36. Ioannis Oikonomou & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2014. "The Effects of Corporate Social Performance on the Cost of Corporate Debt and Credit Ratings," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 49-75, February.
    37. Anderson, Robert M. & Bianchi, Stephen W. & Goldberg, Lisa R., 2012. "Will My Risk Parity Strategy Outperform?," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt23t2s950, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    38. Jianqing Fan & Jingjin Zhang & Ke Yu, 2012. "Vast Portfolio Selection With Gross-Exposure Constraints," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 107(498), pages 592-606, June.
    39. Franziska Becker & Marc Gürtler & Martin Hibbeln, 2015. "Markowitz versus Michaud: portfolio optimization strategies reconsidered," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 269-291, March.
    40. Ledoit, Olivier & Wolf, Michael, 2003. "Improved estimation of the covariance matrix of stock returns with an application to portfolio selection," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 603-621, December.
    41. Kempf, Alexander & Osthoff, Peer, 2007. "The effect of socially responsible investing on portfolio performance," CFR Working Papers 06-10, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    42. Utz, Sebastian & Wimmer, Maximilian & Hirschberger, Markus & Steuer, Ralph E., 2014. "Tri-criterion inverse portfolio optimization with application to socially responsible mutual funds," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 234(2), pages 491-498.
    43. Bryan W Husted & David B Allen, 2006. "Corporate social responsibility in the multinational enterprise: strategic and institutional approaches," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 838-849, November.
    44. Jorion, Philippe, 1991. "Bayesian and CAPM estimators of the means: Implications for portfolio selection," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 717-727, June.
    45. Harry Markowitz, 1952. "Portfolio Selection," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 7(1), pages 77-91, March.
    46. Stephen Brammer & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Corporate Social Performance and Stock Returns: UK Evidence from Disaggregate Measures," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 97-116, September.
    47. Green, Richard C & Hollifield, Burton, 1992. "When Will Mean-Variance Efficient Portfolios Be Well Diversified?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(5), pages 1785-1809, December.
    48. Alexander Kempf & Peer Osthoff, 2008. "SRI Funds: Nomen est Omen," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(9-10), pages 1276-1294.
    49. Dowd, Kevin, 2000. "Adjusting for risk:: An improved Sharpe ratio," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 209-222, July.
    50. Gordon Alexander, 2009. "From Markowitz to modern risk management," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5-6), pages 451-461.
    51. Rudolf, Markus & Ziemba, William T., 2004. "Intertemporal surplus management," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 975-990, February.
    52. Gunther Capelle†Blancard & Stéphanie Monjon, 2014. "The Performance of Socially Responsible Funds: Does the Screening Process Matter?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 20(3), pages 494-520, June.
    53. Michael Schröder, 2007. "Is there a Difference? The Performance Characteristics of SRI Equity Indices," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1‐2), pages 331-348, January.
    54. Wolfgang Bessler & Heiko Opfer & Dominik Wolff, 2017. "Multi-asset portfolio optimization and out-of-sample performance: an evaluation of Black–Litterman, mean-variance, and naïve diversification approaches," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 1-30, January.
    55. Howard D. Bondell & Brian J. Reich, 2008. "Simultaneous Regression Shrinkage, Variable Selection, and Supervised Clustering of Predictors with OSCAR," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 64(1), pages 115-123, March.
    56. Heath Windcliff & Phelim Boyle, 2004. "The 1/ Pension Investment Puzzle," North American Actuarial Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 32-45.
    57. Di Giuli, Alberta & Kostovetsky, Leonard, 2014. "Are red or blue companies more likely to go green? Politics and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 158-180.
    58. Ang, Andrew, 2014. "Asset Management: A Systematic Approach to Factor Investing," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199959327, Decembrie.
    59. Alexander Kempf & Peer Osthoff, 2007. "The Effect of Socially Responsible Investing on Portfolio Performance," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 13(5), pages 908-922, November.
    60. Emmanouil Platanakis & Charles Sutcliffe, 2017. "Asset–liability modelling and pension schemes: the application of robust optimization to USS," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 324-352, March.
    61. Ravi Jagannathan & Tongshu Ma, 2003. "Risk Reduction in Large Portfolios: Why Imposing the Wrong Constraints Helps," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1651-1684, August.
    62. Stephen Brammer & Andrew Millington, 2008. "Does it pay to be different? An analysis of the relationship between corporate social and financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(12), pages 1325-1343, December.
    63. Eling, Martin & Schuhmacher, Frank, 2007. "Does the choice of performance measure influence the evaluation of hedge funds?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 2632-2647, September.
    64. Ballestero, Enrique & Bravo, Mila & Pérez-Gladish, Blanca & Arenas-Parra, Mar & Plà-Santamaria, David, 2012. "Socially Responsible Investment: A multicriteria approach to portfolio selection combining ethical and financial objectives," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 216(2), pages 487-494.
    65. D. Goldfarb & G. Iyengar, 2003. "Robust Portfolio Selection Problems," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 1-38, February.
    66. Amy J. Hillman & Gerald D. Keim, 2001. "Shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issues: what's the bottom line?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 125-139, February.
    67. Paul C. Godfrey & Craig B. Merrill & Jared M. Hansen, 2009. "The relationship between corporate social responsibility and shareholder value: an empirical test of the risk management hypothesis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 425-445, April.
    68. Alexander Kempf & Peer Osthoff, 2008. "SRI Funds: Nomen est Omen," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(9‐10), pages 1276-1294, November.
    69. Kirby, Chris & Ostdiek, Barbara, 2012. "It’s All in the Timing: Simple Active Portfolio Strategies that Outperform Naïve Diversification," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(2), pages 437-467, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stadtmüller, Immo & Auer, Benjamin R. & Schuhmacher, Frank, 2022. "On the benefits of active stock selection strategies for diversified investors," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 342-354.
    2. Paolella, Marc S. & Polak, Paweł & Walker, Patrick S., 2021. "A non-elliptical orthogonal GARCH model for portfolio selection under transaction costs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Maretno A. Harjoto & Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Marcus A. Nilsson, 2022. "Bondholders’ returns and stakeholders’ interests," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1271-1301, November.
    4. Henke, Hans-Martin, 2016. "The effect of social screening on bond mutual fund performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 69-84.
    5. Xing, Xin & Hu, Jinjin & Yang, Yaning, 2014. "Robust minimum variance portfolio with L-infinity constraints," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 107-117.
    6. Leite, Paulo & Cortez, Maria Céu, 2014. "Style and performance of international socially responsible funds in Europe," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 248-267.
    7. Bilbao-Terol, Amelia & Arenas-Parra, Mar & Cañal-Fernández, Verónica, 2016. "A model based on Copula Theory for sustainable and social responsible investments," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 55-76.
    8. Hwang, Inchang & Xu, Simon & In, Francis, 2018. "Naive versus optimal diversification: Tail risk and performance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(1), pages 372-388.
    9. Kremer, Philipp J. & Lee, Sangkyun & Bogdan, Małgorzata & Paterlini, Sandra, 2020. "Sparse portfolio selection via the sorted ℓ1-Norm," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    10. Philipp J. Kremer & Andreea Talmaciu & Sandra Paterlini, 2018. "Risk minimization in multi-factor portfolios: What is the best strategy?," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 266(1), pages 255-291, July.
    11. Luluk Widyawati, 2020. "A systematic literature review of socially responsible investment and environmental social governance metrics," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 619-637, February.
    12. Dai, Zhifeng & Wen, Fenghua, 2018. "Some improved sparse and stable portfolio optimization problems," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 46-52.
    13. Kais Bouslah & Lawrence Kryzanowski & Bouchra M’Zali, 2018. "Social Performance and Firm Risk: Impact of the Financial Crisis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 643-669, May.
    14. Andreas Hoepner & Ioannis Oikonomou & Bert Scholtens & Michael Schröder, 2016. "The Effects of Corporate and Country Sustainability Characteristics on The Cost of Debt: An International Investigation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1-2), pages 158-190, January.
    15. Maillet, Bertrand & Tokpavi, Sessi & Vaucher, Benoit, 2015. "Global minimum variance portfolio optimisation under some model risk: A robust regression-based approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(1), pages 289-299.
    16. Chavez-Bedoya, Luis & Rosales, Francisco, 2021. "Reduction of estimation risk in optimal portfolio choice using redundant constraints," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Yen, Yu-Min & Yen, Tso-Jung, 2014. "Solving norm constrained portfolio optimization via coordinate-wise descent algorithms," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 737-759.
    18. Vincenzo D'Apice & Giovanni Ferri & Mariantonietta Intonti, 2021. "Sustainable disclosure versus ESG intensity: Is there a cross effect between holding and SRI funds?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1496-1510, September.
    19. Meade, N. & Beasley, J.E. & Adcock, C.J., 2021. "Quantitative portfolio selection: Using density forecasting to find consistent portfolios," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(3), pages 1053-1067.
    20. Fernando Gómez-Bezares & Wojciech Przychodzen & Justyna Przychodzen, 2016. "Corporate Sustainability and Shareholder Wealth—Evidence from British Companies and Lessons from the Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-22, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate social responsibility; CSR; CSP; SRI; Sustainability; Portfolio optimization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:50:y:2018:i:4:p:379-401. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.