The relationship between sustainability and the financial performance of enterprises: A comparative analysis on companies traded on the BIST

While financial results occur as a result of the activities of enterprises, social and environmental consequences also occur at the same time. As a result of these results, the concept of sustainability has started to come to the agenda in various research and meetings held around the world since the 1970s. Nowadays, it is expected that enterprises will include social and environmental dimensions as well as financial dimensions in the reports they publish with sustainability reports. Recently, the number of companies publishing sustainability reports in the world and Turkey has increased significantly. The level of achievement of social, environmental and economic sustainability goals of enterprises is evaluated by sustainability performance. In this study, which aims to determine the relationship between the sustainability performance of an enterprise and its financial performance, MCDM (Multi-Criteria Decision-Making) methods and independent sample t-test were used. In the research consisting of two parts, the relationship between the sustainability performance and financial performance of energy enterprises included in the BIST (Borsa Istanbul) Sustainability Index was examined primarily by the Entropy-based TOPSIS method and as a result of the research, it was concluded that their Deciency related to sustainability performance also affects their financial success. In the second part of the analysis, the financial ratios of manufacturing industry enterprises that have published and have not published a sustainability report have been analyzed with the "SPSS 26.0" program. As a result of the research, while there was no significant difference between the enterprises that published and those that did not publish a sustainability report, it was concluded that the average financial performance of the enterprises that published a sustainability report was higher. In this direction, it is recommended that businesses attach importance to sustainability reporting.