blog




  • Essay / An impact of profitability on corporate social responsibility

    Since the 1980s, the media, government and the public have become increasingly concerned about environmental and social consequences beyond corporate activities. Environmental scandals, exploitation of employee welfare, and negative press releases about social responsibility attract considerable publicity. Investors have easy access to detailed CSR ranking reports published by a myriad of organizations. As a result, CSR has evolved to be on the essential corporate governance agenda (Porter and Kramer 2006). Companies actively participate in CSR activities for various reasons, such as addressing risk management (Eisingerich and Ghardwaj 2011), enhancing brand differentiation (Fry et al. 1982; Griffin and Vivari 2009). ), the achievement of the “triple bottom line” which refers to the balance between “people, planet and profit” (Elkington 1994), or expectation of less control. In addition to gaining a positive reputation, most companies invest in fragmented philanthropic activities instead of thinking about how CSR propositions could be integrated into their value chain. Some pioneering companies, such as Nestlé and Clarins, which closely linked a social issue with economics, proved to benefit society while strengthening their strategy (Porter and Kramer 2006). In China, CSR is a fairly new concept that has attracted considerable attention and quickly become popular over the decades. Rapid economic growth, flexible fiscal policy, and more liberal market transformation catalyze crowd enthusiasm for business success. However, the lack of effective supervision facilitates the company's shady activities. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayPoisoned baby milk, fake lamb products made from stray cats, industrial effluent secretly injected into groundwater…all Kinds of vicious incidents diminish customer trust. To preserve their reputation and differentiate themselves from their venal peers, companies actively engage in CSR initiatives. The global expansion of Chinese multinationals also allows Chinese companies to join the international trend in CSR investment (Msika et al. 2016). Even though the general public holds companies accountable for the social consequences of their operational activities, many companies are reluctant to assume their social responsibility. Social responsibility is often seen as “a cost, a burden, or a charitable act” for the winners (Porter and Kramer 2006). Many researchers attempt to prove that an honest CSR strategy could generate better financial performance, either from a theoretical point of view or an empirical approach, but this conclusion is frequently refuted in developing markets. Literature Review The study of the interactive relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance (CFR) dates back to the 1970s. The majority of researchers find a significantly positive relationship. Margolis and Walsh (2003) reviewed 109 articles since 1972 on this topic and found 54 positive, 28 nonsignificant, and 7 negative results. 20 articles did not provide explicit findings. For example, Waddock and Graves (1997) used KLD-ranked CSR scores as a measure of CSR disclosure, ROA, and return on sales as a measure of CFP. They find that companies with better financial performance..