Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance. Theoretical and Empirical Aspects

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rules on the financial performance of companies. In a theoretical part the author analyses selected economic theories that might justify a positive relationship between CSR and profitability, as well as explains the mechanism by which CSR might positively enhance economic performance from the stakeholders’ perspective. In an empirical part the author discusses selected econometric studies on the link between CSR and economic performance of companies, both from developed and developing countries. The article also contains the results of the author’s own research on the relationship between CSR and economic performance of the largest Polish companies on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The scope of the author’s own research is the period 1Q 2010 -IIIQ 2012. The research shows that participation in the Respect Index (indicator of CSR in the author’s model) is not statistically significant in determining the financial performance of Polish firms.firmy oraz wyjaśnia korzyści ekonomiczne, jakie może osiągnąć przedsiębiorstwo dzięki społecznej odpowiedzialności wobec wybranych interesariuszy. W części empirycznej autor dokonuje przeglądu wybranych wyników badań ekonometrycznych poświęconych zależności między CSR a kondycją ekonomiczną przedsiębiorstw pochodzących, zarówno z krajów rozwiniętych, jak i rozwijających się. Prezentuje również wyniki własnego badania, w którym analizie poddano wpływ uczestnictwa w indeksie spółek odpowiedzialnych (RESPECT INDEX) na wynik finansowych największych polskich przedsiębiorstw notowanych na warszawskiej Giełdzie Papierów Wartościowych. Zakres czasowy badania, to okres I kwartał 20010-III kwartał 2012. Wyniki badania wskazują, że uczestnictwo w indeksie nie jest statystycznie istotną zmienną, determinującą wynik finansowych analizowanych przedsiębiorstw.Celem artykułu jest zbadanie wpływu, jaki na wynik finansowy przedsiębiorstw może mieć stosowanie zasad społecznej odpowiedzialności biznesu. W części teoretycznej autor analizuje wybrane teorie ekonomiczne, uzasadniające występowanie zależności między społeczną odpowiedzialnością biznesu (CSR) a wynikiem finansowy

Biodiversity Conservation on Private Lands: Information Problems and Regulatory Choices

This survey paper examines various information insufficiencies in biodiversity conservation and their impact of regulatory choices. We surveyed the literature in the field and identified four major types of informational insufficiencies in making efficient biodiversity conservation decisions: 1) biological uncertainty 2) natural uncertainty 3) individual information, and 4) monitoring problem. The consequences of these four types of information insufficiencies on the choice of regulatory tools are explored. We discuss in this context three types of regulatory tools: land takings, environmental fees/charges, and contracts. The efficiency of each type of regulatory tools is shown dependent on the specific informational constraints that the regulatory faces.Biodiversity conservation, Information, Regulatory tools

The Life Cycle of Government Ownership

Government ownership may dominate private ownership under government failure. Such dom- inance disappears as product markets grow mature, giving rise to the need for privatization. Buyers' limited wealth imposes a constraint on how and when privatization takes place. In particular, ¯rms may be underpriced during privatization, and privatization may take place at a sub-optimal timing which results in ¯rm performances to deteriorate in the short run, and to improve only in the long run. Partial privatization may alleviate the constraint in some cases but exacerbates the e±ciency loss in others. When the government is lesser an interventionist or when the product market grows mature very rapidly, privatization is likely to take place at a sub-optimal timing. The analysis is applied to the dynamics of the Chinese non-state sector.government rent seeking, government ownership, privatization

A benefit congruency framework of sales promotion effectiveness

Are monetary savings the only explanation for consumer response to a sales promotion ? If not, how do the different consumer benefits of a sales promotion influence its effectiveness ? To address the first question, this research builds a framework of the multiple consumer benefits of a sales promotion. Through a series of measurement studies, we find that monetary and non-monetary promotions provide consumers with different levels of three hedonic benefits (opportunities for value-expression, entertainment, and exploration), and three utilitarian benefits (savings, higher product quality, and improved shopping convenience). To address the second question, this research develops a benefit congruency framework which argues that a sales promotion's effectiveness is determined by the utilitarian or hedonic nature of the benefits it delivers, and the congruence these benefits have with the promoted product. Among other results, two choice experiments show that as predicted for high-equity brands, monetary promotions are more effective for utilitarian products than for hedonic products. We then discuss the implications the multi-benefit and the benefit congruency frameworks have for understanding consumer responses to sales promotions, for the debate about the value of everyday-low-price policies, and for designing more effective sales promotions.Sales promotions; consumer benefit; benefit congruency

An integrative model of the management of hospital physician relationships

Hospital Physician Relationships (HPRs) are of major importance to the health care sector. Drawing on agency theory and social exchange theory, we argue that both economic and noneconomic integration strategies are important to effective management of HPRs. We developed a model of related antecedents and outcomes and conducted a systematic review to assess the evidence base of both integration strategies and their interplay. We found that more emphasis should be placed on financial risk sharing, trust and physician organizational commitment

Farmers' behavior and the provision of public goods: towards an analytical framework

The new CAP reform aims to stimulate the role of agriculture as provider of public goods. An analytical framework is developed to model farmers’ decision making and to gain insight into farmers’ behavior in response to a number of policy instruments. The framework integrates characteristics of farm, farmer, market, as well as the policy instruments. Theoretical analysis suggests that attitudes, off-farm employment opportunities, non-pecuniary benefits and expectations of future developments can play important roles in farmer’s decision making regarding the provision of public goods. Empirical research is needed to test the hypothesis