Socially Responsible Investment - what impact and intrinsic value?

I would like to make to main comments: (1) what is the actual impact of socially responsible investing and (2) what is the relative financial performance of SRI to other funds ?

(1) Regarding the actual impact of SRI I think it a trully wide question that might be discussed from different perspectives. If we think on a long-term CSR perspective I trully believe that if this SRI acquires the critical mass and demand from main stream and institutional investors with will surely drive a need for compliance from corporations in a wide basis. Basically one can argue that this effort if successfull will really provide an impact across the board (sectors and geographies). The need for access to capital markets and financing will lead to compliance given that premiums might be charged to social responsible companies. Ofcourse this fact is mainly dependent on the potential future trends from investors. Hence I believe that insitutions today like ASRIA really fill in a huge gap of information providers that will have as main role the creation and understanding of this untapped demand.

(2) Regardind social responsible oriented funds I would like to refer to a recent McKinsey study: "Socially responsible businesses sacrifice financial returns to pursue social or environmental objectives; that much is known. Just how much of a trade-off they make has always been unclear, however, and evidence from the capital markets is inconclusive. A recent study has produced some surprising results: over the ten-year period we examined, a portfolio of investments defined as socially responsible generated returns of 8 to 14 percent. That is lower than the rate typically earned by "angel" investors—wealthy people who make direct equity investments in entrepreneurial ventures, usually at an early stage—but comparable to capital-market returns."
I would consider this finding as very encouraging due to the still somehow insipient corporate world consideration/concern and therefore less diversified potential targets of SRI (as compared to the global market).

Lastly I would like to thank and congratulate Melissa Brown for her time and informative session on SRI.

Cheers !