This research sought to find local evidence within the Israeli context that corporate social responsibility can have positive impact on corporate financial performance, similar to research findings in leading western economies. Such local based evidence, if found, would encourage the inclusion of CSR as part of strategic management of companies in Israel. The investigation focused on a sample of leading companies in Israel, forming part of the TA-100 stock exchange index, and was undertaken between 2005 and 2006. The research used quantitative investigation of secondary data on financial performance that is available for companies traded on the stock exchange. It included social responsibility ranking undertaken by the association of 'Business for social responsibility in Israel' – MAALA. This data was used to compare financial performance between groups of companies with different levels of social responsibility. The research found that higher social responsibility for companies in Israel was associated with higher financial performance, in comparison to their counterpart companies ranked as lower in social responsibility. However at the extreme, a very high level of social responsibility is associated with decline in financial performance. The research conclusion was that companies in Israel face the same CSR-to-CFP relationship, as their counterparts in leading western economies. This provides the rationale for Israeli companies to incorporate social responsibility as part of their business strategy aimed at improving financial performance.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a subject long debated since the 1930s, but the premises of the topic in regards to the what, how, why, and to whom it should be remain in question. The relation between CSR and corporate financial performance (CFP) has emerged at the forefront of this debate, particularly within the last 30 years, yet no unified theory has been reached. Other scholars interested in CSR have criticized the emphasis on CFP as a means of economic justification for what they believe to be a broader social issue, and have attempted to redirect the focus in CSR research to include other motivations and outcomes associated with organizational stakeholders other than shareholders. Using a descriptive and instrumental stakeholder theory approach, the focus of the current study was to explore CSR practices in both a dependent and independent sense. These theoretical underpinnings reflect stakeholder management decisions based on organizational characteristics, and the strategic management of various organizational stakeholders, respectively. The study population consisted of a diverse array of 353 U.S.- based corporations, 80 percent from the Fortune 500. Data included eleven corporate classification variables that represented organizations’ geographical location, industry, executive leadership dimensions, and financial health. It also included six CFP variables that represented accounting and market-based measures, and seven CSR variables that represented the key organizational stakeholders of the local community and environment, employees, and customers. The corporate classification variables were utilized to assess CSR performances, while CFP was assessed by analyzing differences among levels of the CSR practices. These assessments were performed for organizations for the twelve years within 1991-2002. Several results that assisted in informing descriptive and instrumental stakeholder theory were produced through the examination of previously used and under-explored variables. Specifically, the study results included new insights regarding how several organizational characteristics related to their CSR practices. Study findings provided elaboration regarding how performance differences in seven key CSR categories affected six representative accounting and market-based measures of corporate financial performance. Implications for practice for organizational decision-makers are provided along with detailed information pertaining to how, with inferences as to why, firms engage in CSR. Additionally, associated financial outcomes from different levels of CSR implementation are reported. Key findings from the study were that the CSR practices regarding employees and the environment remained stable over the twelve-year time period. Additionally, organizations’ geographical location, financial health, and corporate leadership dimensions had an impact on CSR practices for various stakeholder groups, with the exception of employees. A high level of investment in CSR for certain stakeholder groups did not produce the best financial outcomes in all cases; however, organizations that emphasized CSR in the categories relative to the community and its employees outperformed others with respect to certain financial performance measures.

Aim of this thesis is to design a financial plan of new settled company. The first part discusses the theoretical basis of financial planning. The second part focuses on the company itself and its analysis of the current situation. Consequently, it is proposed financial plan for the years 2017 - 2019 in the optimistic and pessimistic variant and an assessment of the financial plan.

That companies need to respond to the issue of climate change is no longer in question and with multiple carbon management activity options to choose from, companies need to select the most appropriate carbon management strategy to meet the challenges of a carbon constrained future. Because of South Africa’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change as a developing country and because of business’ pivotal role in addressing this urgent issue, it is important to characterise the corporate responses to climate change. The contextual factors that influence carbon management strategy decisions need to be understood so that appropriate policy decisions are taken to encourage innovation related to climate change opportunities.To this end, secondary data in the form of qualitative responses from 70 large South African listed companies to the Carbon Disclosure Project 2011 questionnaire were analysed for this study during September and October 2012. The detailed responses were first mined using a text-mining statistical program to identify the five carbon management activities currently practised by the companies. A cluster analysis of these activities revealed four general response strategies to climate change and carbon emission reduction pressures.The companies were found to have a strong focus on saving energy with less focus on higher-order sustainability activities. While market capitalisation, turnover, sector and carbon commitment were shown to correlate and indeed predict the carbon management strategy chosen by companies, no significant link was found between carbon management strategy and corporate financial performance. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Over the past decade, sustainability has emerged as one of the foremost issues faced by corporations across all sectors and Corporate Social Responsibility has gained much momentum in the past two decades. This research investigated whether investors in emerging markets are equally concerned about a firm’s social and environmental impacts as their counterparts in developed economies. The aim was to ascertain whether or not a correlation exists between CSR and stock market performance of South African listed companies. This was the first study undertaken in South Africa that specifically investigated the relative performances of SRI listed and non-SRI listed companies. The findings reveal that there are observable differences between the average market returns of the FTSE/JSE Socially Responsible Investment Index and the FTSE/JSE All Share Index, as well as the average price/earnings ratios and average price/book value ratios of all companies listed the JSE Main Board. Although two out of the three hypotheses failed to yield significant statistical outcomes, all the findings were in favour of the SRI. The research has opened up the avenue for future studies to investigate the purported links between sustainability and financial performance in the context of emerging markets. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a widely disputed and constantly evolving topic. One of the most recent methods of assessing CSR in South Africa has been through the usage of the Financial Times Stock Exchange/Johannesburg Stock Exchange (FTSE/JSE) Responsible Investment Index. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Socially Responsible Investment Index (SRI Index) was founded in 2004 and was replaced by the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index in 2015. The index evaluates listed firms based on their triple bottom line performance i.e., environment, society, and economy. The index includes companies that are thought to have good CSR policies. This study assesses the effects of CSR on the Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) of firms listed on the JSE that were included in the FTSE/JSE All Share Index (ALSI) as of the 31st of January 2021. This it does by analyzing the stock's financial performance over a five-year period between the 2015 and 2019 financial years. The requirements for stocks to be included in this study is that they must have had an average market capitalization between R2 billion and R100 billion between the 2015 and 2019 financial years and are not part of the real estate sector. The results of the nonparametric (Mann-Whitney) tests show that companies that are part of the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index perform better on average than those that are not included in the index. This conclusion is based on a review of the total return index (TRI), return on equity ratio (ROE), price-earnings ratio (PE), and the market-to-book ratio (MB). The analysis conducted using the net profit margin (NPM) as a measure of financial performance show that there is no relationship between CSR and financial performance. The Mann-Whitney test results where the return on assets (ROA) ratio was used showed a negative relationship between CSR and financial performance.

I measure the influence of ESG activities on Free Cash flow to the Firm and Free Cash Flow to Equity. I find that ESG activities primarily benefit the cash flows to creditors of firms in developed markets. The ESG effect predominantly comes from the excess spending of the firm on communicating how it integrates the economic (financial), social and environmental dimensions into its day-to-day decision-making processes. For developed market firms, the additional factor of excess spending on conditions for the workforce plays a role in boosting Free Cash Flow to the Firm.

Since theories of corporate finance are recognised to be conditional, this study explores the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2007-2009 and institutional settings in determining corporate financial decisions. The recession on the supply of credit and demand for credit affects the corporate financial channels. The credit recession causes more agency costs, bankruptcy costs and information asymmetry, which adversely influence both borrowing and investments. Firms reduce debt financing, retain more cash and cut corporate payouts due to a sharp rise in uncertainty. Moreover, the role of institutional settings on corporate decisions differs following the GFC. Three empirical chapters contribute to the literature: First, Chapter 3 investigates the role of GFC on determinants and the adjustment speed of leverage and debt maturity and reveals that the effect of bankruptcy costs, agency costs and information asymmetry only increases on debt maturity, as opposed to leverage in the post-GFC. The adjustment speed of leverage and debt maturity drops after the GFC due to the low supply and demand for credit. Chapter 4 examines how cash holdings have been affected by the GFC across countries which have different agency problems and analyses how the rise of agency costs and information asymmetry can explain cash decisions before and after the GFC. Financially constrained firms have quicker cash holdings’ adjustment compared to unconstrained firms. However, while firms in low-governance countries have slower adjustment speed of cash than those in high-governance countries in pre-crisis, it has been found that it is vice versa in the post-crisis period. Finally, Chapter 5 analyses the effect of agency problems and the GFC on dividend payouts. Contrary to firms in high-governance countries, those in common-law countries are less likely to pay out dividends, as confirmed by the substitute and outcome models, sequentially after the GFC. Also, dividends are used as a signalling device by the GFC. Overall, the GFC and institutional settings impact corporate financial policies of firms to specify where and when their shareholders invest. / Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Turkey İlim Yayma Vakfı İstanbul İktisatçılar Derneği (İKDER)

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Given that Sweden is one of the most sustainable countries in the world (RobecoSAM, 2018), with a big number of its companies as active participants in CSR, we investigate the impact that these CSR activities could have on CFP with a focus on the Financial sector, using in 26 listed Financial Institutions. As we will find out from the existing literature, the CSR-CFP relationship is neither strictly negative nor positive. If it is positive, then the firm will allocate more resources to CSR to achieve better financial performance, and the firm may fore-go or approach CSR initiatives with caution if they affect CFP negatively. Past researchers have studied this relationship before and found that the reason why financial institutions get involved in socially responsible activities is to gain public trust and justification usually after a public financial scandal. So, we explore this further expecting that if it is indeed a matter of fact that these institutions gain the justification from the public that they so desire when they choose to get involved in socially responsible activities, then it should be that the public trust and justification would translate into improved financial performance. Therefore, the research question that we seek to answer is “Does Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have an Impact on Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) in the Listed Swedish Financial Institutions” We examined the relationship between CSR and CFP using 26 Swedish financial institutions that are listed on Nasdaq Nordic stock exchange market (Stockholm) for the period between 2015 and 2019. The Fixed Effects Model regression analysis for panel data was used to test this relationship and we found that when Swedish financial institutions get involved in CSR, their financial performance is neither worsened or improved because of the insignificant ESG coefficients that we found.  Swedish financial institutions' engagement in socially responsible activities does not guarantee an impact on their financial performance.