Evaluation of the Corporate Sustainability Performance of Manufacturing Companies in the BIST Sustainability Index with Multi-Criteria Decision Making Methods

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the corporate sustainability performance of manufacturing companies listed in the Borsa Istanbul (BIST) Sustainability Index using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods. For this purpose, by examining the literature, 11 criteria, including economic, social, and environmental, were determined and the criteria were weighted with method based on the removal effects of criteria (MEREC), one of the objective MCDM methods. According to the weights obtained through the MEREC method, the most important criteria were "return on equity", "operating profitability", and "asset profitability", while the least important criteria were "employee turnover rate", "training hours per employee" and "proportion of female employees". Subsequently, using the weights derived from the MEREC method, the companies were ranked using the CoCoSo (Combined Compromise Solution) method. According to the rankings, the companies demonstrating the highest corporate sustainability performance are Türk Traktor, Ford, Tofaş, and Otokar, while the companies with the lowest corporate sustainability performance are Kerevitaş, Coca-Cola, Petkim, and Tüpraş, respectively. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to test the consistency of the results obtained. Although these results contribute to the literature, in subsequent studies, MEREC and CoCoSo methods can be used to measure different performance criteria of companies. The fact remains that corporate sustainability performances of companies can be measured by using combinations of different MCDM methods.