| dc.description.abstract | I am a CEO of a small-median-size enterprise, I want to understand whether a company engages in socially responsible behaviors bring positive or negative effects on company’s financial performance. So, in this master thesis, I used statistical methods to examine the linkage between company’s engagement in social responsibility and financial performance. I collected financial statement data and stock price/returns data of 747 companies (excluding financial institutions) listed on Taiwan Stock Exchange between 2005~2012. And compared with the existing literature, I controlled the sample through the same industry and similar size and whether its profitable situation was similar and constructed five groups of samples. I performed statistical test: t-test, Wilcoxon rank sum test and F-test to examine performance differences (differences in mean, median and variance) between companies with and without carrying out social responsibilities.
The statistical test results showed that the most of performance variables of firms with social responsibility is relatively high on the average; the median performance of the company with social responsibility is also relatively high; most of the evidence also indicated that the variability of the company’s performance is relatively low for companies with social responsibility. This means that a company engaged in social responsibility, on the one hand, helps to improve the operating results of accounting performance, enhance investor stock market valuation of the company, the other, will have a relatively low performance volatility.
In addition, in the high-tech industry, the positive feedback of firm’s engage in social responsibility is relatively high, in the non-high-tech industries, the positive feedback of firm’s engage in social responsibility is relatively small, which means in the high-tech industries, investment in social responsibility may create greater positive feedback. Engaging in socially responsible behavior and the benefits are likely to be different when the company itself in different industries or different competitive environments.
Generally, the empirical results of this master thesis supported the positive view that company engaged in social responsibility can bring performance improvement. On the finance implications, the company is engaged in socially responsible behavior like signaling in the context of asymmetric information environment, presents a metaphor for the company has spare capacity and operating stability. In addition to the reputation effects and the insurance effect benefits mentioned in the existing literature, investors also think the company’s business and financial risk is relatively low, which has positive effects on company’s debt financing and equity financing. For the implications in investment, a socially responsible company, information asymmetry will be less severe problem, especially in these socially responsible companies will avoid going to invest in a controversial industry and solutions, so these companies are basically faced less risk, and operational litigation risks are also less. All of the above description of the company engaged in acts of social responsibility is good, the company and society will be in a win-win situation. | en_US |