M.Com., Facultyof Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / Following the release of the King III report on Corporate Governance for South Africa in March 2010, South African companies are expected to embrace the concept of integrated reporting in which they are required to report on their strategies, corporate governance, risk management processes, financial performance and sustainability. More importantly, companies need to show how these components of integrated reporting are linked to one another, so that stakeholders can make informed decisions about their current performance as well as their ability to create and sustain value in the future. The purpose of this report by is to determine whether the level of reporting by South African listed companies has improved subsequent to the release of the King III report. The findings of this study reveal improvements in this regard. However, there is still a need for further improvement in the level of reporting by South African listed companies in order to achieve the objective of integrated reporting.

Thesis (MBA.) -- Unversity of Limpopo, 2016 / The researcher using Quantitative process is aimed to appraise Corporate Social Investment (CSI) in relation to Corporate Financial Performance (CFP). This research addressed theoretical paradigms of CSI, leadership strategies applied to implement CSI and stakeholder theory is presented. The study area was Johannesburg Stock Exchange FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index. The top 35 recorded companies were chosen, and then from top 35, only 5 companies were used (25 observations). Data from 2011 to 2015 were obtained from audited integrated financial statements, websites, publications and annual reports. CSI indexes and financial presentation measures of companies were taken from the annual reports to be analysed using simple regression equation to examine the link between corporate social investments to company’s fiscal presentation. This study revealed a strong positive linkage among company’s social investment strategy implementation and share price, turnover, and return on equity. Companies that implemented social investment strategy noticed increase in profit because of factors such customer awareness, good firm reputation and competitive advantage.

Corporations  care  more  and  more  about  their social  responsible  performance,  and  this stands to reason. Conscience, business ethics and pressure of public opinion are playing important  roles. Furthermore,  some  evidence  shows that  better  CSR  performance  may bring the financial performance of a corporation to a higher stage. The purpose of this study  is  to  investigate  the  relationship  between  corporate  social  responsibility  (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP). Drawing on the triple bottom line principle and the stakeholder theory, we divided the stakeholders that corporations should take re-sponsibility  for  into  seven  categories: shareholders,  employees,  customers,  suppliers, creditors, community and environment (natural environment).  We  used  a quantitative  method  to  conduct the empirical  study. The  empirical  study  is based  on  samples  of 95 US  listed  firms.  We  have  used  seven CSR  indicators  as  inde-pendent variables and the CFP index as dependent variable. The independent variables concern CSR performance on shareholders, customers, suppliers, creditors, employees, community  and  environment.  SPSS  software  was  used  as  a  help for investigating  the correlation  between  the  dependent  variable  and  each  independent  variables.  We  run  a multi-index  regression  using  the  indexes  we  calculated  or  got  directly  from  databases. There is a significant positive short-term relationship between CSR for employees and CFP and a significant negative short-term relationship between CSR for community and CFP. Our  main  results  show  that the  seven  groups  of  stakeholders  (including  environ-ment) can be divided into three groups: fast responders, long term responders, and occa-sional supporter.

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In 2000 and 2001,The Financial Institution Merger Act and Financial Holding Act were legislated in Taiwan. There are 15 financial holding companies established till now. Financial holding companies hope to diversify financial commodities to investors through joint-marketing and gain cost-saving and risk-control and improve financial performance. It expects to pursue and promote broad business scope. Cathay Financial Holding company, one of the financial holding companies, is the biggest financial holding company except the Taiwan Financial Holding company. Cathay Financial Holding company has total assets exceeding NTD 3.68 trillion. The subsidiaries of Cathay Financial Holding company include Cathay Life Insurance, Cathay United Bank, Cathay Century Insurance, Cathay Securities, and Cathay Venture Capital. The financial performance of subsidiaries of financial holding company becomes more sensitive due to competition of financial liberalization and macroeconomic variables changed. The research not only uses a multiple-regression model and reported here was trying to examine the macroeconomic variables that determine the financial performance of subsidiaries of Cathay Financial Holding company, but also uses a managing capital method EAR to discuss the risk-control of Cathay Financial Holding company. Keywords : Financial Holding company, financial performance, macroeconomic variables, managing capital, EAR

<p>Background: A spin-off is strategic instrument used to restructure an organisation and thereby maximize shareholder value. Theory and advocates argue that engaging in spin-offs will generate improved financial performance of the parent company as well as for the divested unit. Previous studies on the topic have primarily focused on the perspective of the parent com-pany and little attention has been given to the post spin-off performance of the divested unit, in particular on the Swedish market. Consequently this study will focus on the performance of divested units of spin-offs performed on the Swedish market.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the financial performance of the divested unit prior versus post the spin-off event in order to find poten-tial performance alterations.</p><p>Method: The study is conducted through an inductive approach based on quanti-tative data. In order to fulfil the purpose of comparing the financial per-formance, four financial ratios are used; Return on Assets, Market-to- book ratio, Sales Growth and Share Price. Statistical sign-tests are subse-quently conducted in order to find possible significant alterations in the financial performance.</p><p>Results: The results of the statistical tests all show unified findings in which no statistical significant change in performance post the spin-off event can be found. However negative tendencies are found for Return on Assets and positive tendencies were found for the variables M/B ratio and Sales Growth. The fourth variable, Sales Growth does not show a tendency in any direction. Similar results were found when classifying the sample into relative size and timing of the spin-off event.</p><p>Conclusion: Spin-offs on the Swedish market do not on average perform better as stand alone units. Vague positive tendencies could however be found on the variables connected to market expectations, and negative tendencies could be found for the variables measuring efficiency and profitability.</p>

Background: A spin-off is strategic instrument used to restructure an organisation and thereby maximize shareholder value. Theory and advocates argue that engaging in spin-offs will generate improved financial performance of the parent company as well as for the divested unit. Previous studies on the topic have primarily focused on the perspective of the parent com-pany and little attention has been given to the post spin-off performance of the divested unit, in particular on the Swedish market. Consequently this study will focus on the performance of divested units of spin-offs performed on the Swedish market. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the financial performance of the divested unit prior versus post the spin-off event in order to find poten-tial performance alterations. Method: The study is conducted through an inductive approach based on quanti-tative data. In order to fulfil the purpose of comparing the financial per-formance, four financial ratios are used; Return on Assets, Market-to- book ratio, Sales Growth and Share Price. Statistical sign-tests are subse-quently conducted in order to find possible significant alterations in the financial performance. Results: The results of the statistical tests all show unified findings in which no statistical significant change in performance post the spin-off event can be found. However negative tendencies are found for Return on Assets and positive tendencies were found for the variables M/B ratio and Sales Growth. The fourth variable, Sales Growth does not show a tendency in any direction. Similar results were found when classifying the sample into relative size and timing of the spin-off event. Conclusion: Spin-offs on the Swedish market do not on average perform better as stand alone units. Vague positive tendencies could however be found on the variables connected to market expectations, and negative tendencies could be found for the variables measuring efficiency and profitability.

Corporate Communication Management (CCM) is an important concept within the communication and marketing discipline. The term corporate communication came to the attention of the general public more than 40 years ago, due to changes in global business environments. Although corporate communication received great attention from scholars and the business community, its complex concepts are still unclear. Furthermore, many scholars believe there are influences of corporate culture, ICT diffusion innovations and corporate leadership on corporate communication and its impact to organisational performance, yet there is a paucity of studies on the validation of this theoretical assumption. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to address this gap by providing an elevated understanding of the concept of CCM and its antecedents, and in consequence, focus on organisational performance from the managerial perspectives. This study employs a two tier mixed-method research process involving qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first tier commences with a semi-structured interview (with 12 respondents) to refine a conceptual framework developed based on existing literature. Then, content validity (with 10 expert opinions) and pilot test (with 35 respondents) follow, to develop a measurement scale with good validity and reliability. The second tier involves online survey data (with 223 respondents) and secondary data (from Thomson DataStream) to test the research hypotheses and proposed conceptual model. In this stage, structural equation modelling (SEM) is employed. Results indicate a very good fit to the data, with good convergent, discriminant and nomological validity and reliability stability. The findings of this research show that corporate culture, ICT diffusion innovation and corporate leadership are factors that influence CCM directly. While CCM correlates positively with financial performance, it has no effect on mission achievement. Corporate culture was found to have a positive relationship with mission achievement but negative relations with financial performance. Furthermore, ICT diffusion innovation demonstrates a positive association with mission achievement. Despite corporate leadership having a positive relationship with mission achievement, there was no effect on financial performance. Therefore, this study answered the antecedents and consequences of CCM, and they were found to be influential factors. In addition, the study demonstrates that managers rely on internal factors such as corporate culture, ICT diffusion innovation and corporate leadership to predict and assess CCM. The findings have implications for knowledge of theories and practices, and also contribute in the development of a model that explains the CCM functions and shows that functions have a definite positive impact on financial performance. Furthermore, the research adds an insight to a growing body of communication literature (primarily corporate communication) and makes recommendation for future research directions.

The thesis investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance. The thesis is organised into three parts. The first part, the literature review, is in three sections, the first section provides an introduction to the field of corporate social responsibility, its grounding in economic theory and its historical background. The second part of the literature review covers the social and environmental issues relevant specifically to the food and agriculture sector. The third section is a systematic review of the studies that examine the relationship between corporate social performance and financial performance. This review was carried out using a modified Cochrane systematic review method, more commonly found in the medical literature than in the economics literature. The results showed that 70% of the studies reviewed showed a positive and statistically significant relationship between CSR and financial performance. The second part of the thesis includes three empirical studies. The first study, an event study, assessed the impact of the FTSE4Good Index on firm price. The study examined the return to companies of being included in a modified share index that signals good performance in terms of CSR. The results of this event study showed that companies are not rewarded for being included in the index and are not penalised for being deleted from it. The second empirical study, a probit analysis, aimed to identify the probability of a company passing a social and environmental screen given information about the company’s size, financial performance and sector. Results showed that companies with small market capitalisation, low income gearing and high net profit margins were more likely to pass the screen than other companies. Companies in the energy sector were less likely to pass than other companies, and financial sector companies more likely to pass. The third empirical chapter assessed the effect on the financial performance of companies of passing a socially responsible investment screen. The results showed that there was a relationship between passing the screen and higher earnings per share, but the relationship between passing the screen and other financial indicators was not proven. These studies demonstrated the difficulties that exist to provide statistically strong evidence for the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance. Thus the third part of the thesis moved into a different area, from the supply to the demand side. This is the valuation of non-financial indicators and their relationship with CSR, this included a discursive chapter on intangibles and their relationship with CSR and a final empirical study: a choice experiment. This study demonstrated that MBA students take nonfinancial and ethical issues into account when making investment decisions. In conclusion, providing strong evidence for the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance is difficult. There are many ways of measuring CSR and many ways of measuring financial performance. Depending on the measures used, different results are obtained. Looking beyond conventional financial performance measurements, to intangibles, provides a more holistic picture of what is going on in the relationship and shows that there is more to company valuation and investment decision making than financial performance indicators. CSR is an important component of company reputation and has an intrinsic value that is difficult to measure but is no doubt very high.

Background: Foresight is a vague concept with several definitions. There is barely any existing practical evidence of how it should be conducted or what effect it could have on a company’s performance. Due to the lack of research done, a study within the field was justified. Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to investigate and measure if, and how, foresight practices influence company’s financial performance. Method and theory: A theoretical framework was established in order to compile knowledge about the field. These theories were used as a basis for upcoming in-depth interviews. To make foresight measureable the foresight maturity model was applied in order to assess the company’s foresight practices and to compare it with financial performance. The financial performance was assessed by doing an archival analysis on the company’s annual reports. Findings: The study indicated that foresight practices were limited within the studied companies. However, all the companies used it to some extent. Conclusion: The practices of foresight are greatly contextual and a clear relationship between how the foresight practices affect financial performance is difficult to map out and is need of further research. Tendencies of foresight practices influencing financial performance were however noticed. These tendencies indicated that there is a positive relationship between foresight practices and financial performance.