ESG Development in Large Companies: Environmental and Social Aspects

The integration of sustainable development principles into corporate strategies is becoming a critical factor for the effective strategic planning and competitiveness of large companies in transition economies. This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of sustainable planning strategies adopted by large companies in Russia and Kyrgyzstan in the energy, transport, and industrial sectors, with a particular focus on environmental initiatives and social programmes. A mixed-methods research design was applied, combining structured content analysis of corporate sustainability reports (inter-coder reliability: Cohen’s Kappa = 0.82), semi-structured expert interviews (n = 12), and statistical analysis of sustainability performance indicators for 24 companies (15 Russian and 9 Kyrgyz firms) over the period 2020–2024. The results indicate that Kyrgyz companies in the sample demonstrate higher growth rates of relative investments in sustainable development (+2.1% versus +1.6% of revenue) and a statistically significantly stronger correlation between environmental investments and financial performance (r = 0.65, p < 0.01) compared to Russian companies (r = 0.42, p < 0.05). Statistically significant differences with medium effect sizes were identified in the intensity of investments in social programmes (U = 45.5, p = 0.032, r = 0.44) and the emphasis on renewable energy development (U = 38.2, p = 0.018, r = 0.48). The study demonstrated that under conditions of resource constraints, sustainable development becomes a strategic mechanism for compensating competitive disadvantages, enabling companies to transform limitations into competitive advantages through targeted allocation of investments.