Content Analysis of Turkish Export Companies’ Susta？nability Expressions

Sustainability, together with global economic, social, and environmental issues, is the present topic of interest worldwide. There is a need to have a holistic view of sustainability in addition to corporate governance for companies to maintain their assets. Those with awareness of this responsibility frame strategies for sustainability and preserve transparency in communication to all stakeholders. The present study aims to investigate economic, social, environmental, and management sustainability statements on reports and web pages/activity report of the multinational companies featuring in top the 100 exporters list on the Fortune Global 500 Companies 2017. The top 100 companies are included in the study sample as they represent the top players in world trade and thus are highly visible. Not only do all stakeholders expect to create economic value in terms of profitability, but they also expect to produce quality goods and services that improve the living standards of the society and reduce social and environmental impacts resulting from the activities. Literature deals with content analysis studies of companies’ sustainability reports. Majority of the previous studies highlight the differences in the content of the published reports according to the countries and sectors. The present study is unique in terms of analysis of all information related to corporate sustainability in the context of sustainability reports and web pages/activity reports of Turkish export companies