Financial Times: Getting ‘engaged’ offers path to salvation for active managers

Research by Cambridge Judge Business School’s Elroy Dimson, Oguzhan Karakas and Xi Li, published last year, used data from one large institutional investor to show a marked outperformance by stocks it held, once the investor had successfully intervened on an environmental or social issue, such as reducing carbon emissions targets. There was no downside; if the engagement was unsuccessful, the company merely tracked the index. Significantly, there were no such clear-cut returns after engagements on corporate governance issues.