Does investing in sustainability leaders affect portfolio performance? Analyzing two mutually exclusive leading and lagging global corporate sustainability portfolios (Dow Jones) finds that (1) leading sustainability firms do not underperform the market portfolio, and (2) their lagging counterparts outperform the market portfolio and the leading portfolio. Notably, we find leading (lagging) corporate social performance (CSP) firms exhibit significantly lower (higher) idiosyncratic risk and that idiosyncratic risk might be priced by the broader global equity market. We develop an idiosyncratic risk factor and find that its inclusion significantly reduces the apparent difference in performance between leading and lagging CSP portfolios. Copyright (c) 2009, The Eastern Finance Association.

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In this article, I propose a simple new research tool -a template designed for pitching research. The two-page pitching template begins with four 'preliminaries': working title, research question, key papers and motivation. Following this is the core of the template based on a '3-2-1 countdown', namely THREE elements -idea, data and tools; TWO questions -What's new? and So what?; and ONE bottom line -contribution. The template ends with 'other' considerations. Finance and accounting examples are given to illustrate application of the template.

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