Research on the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance Based on Grey Correlation Analysis: Taking the Smartphone Company as an Example

Bingjun Li,Xiaolu Li

doi:10.4236/ojapps.2018.89033

Abstract

In order to explore the relationship between the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance in different CSR cultures, this paper respectively takes four representative smartphone companies in China, the United States, Japan and Korea as research objects, that is Huawei, Apple, Sony and Samsung smartphone companies. Then, dividing the CSR into five dimensions i.e. shareholder, customer, supplier, technology innovation and government and establishing the grey correlation model to empirically analyze the relationship between CSR and financial performance. The results indicate that for HUAWEI, the CSR performance in shareholder, customer and technology innovation have greater impact on its financial performance; for Apple, the CSR performance in shareholder, technology innovation and customer has greater impact on its financial performance; for SONY, the CSR performance in technology innovation, customer and shareholder has greater impact on its financial performance; for Samsung, the CSR performance in technology innovation, government and shareholder has greater impact on its financial performance.

Highlights

Since China introduced the definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in 1980s, the impact of it on financial performance has become the focus of Chinese academic circles
We can learn from the development experience of other countries and combine Chinese characteristics to provide a theoretical basis for the company in China to plan CSR activities
The results of this study indicate that due to the different stages of CSR in the countries where the four companies are located, the five dimensions of CSR have different impacts on financial performance among four companies, but overall, the results are consistent

Summary

Introduction

As for long-term financial performance, the CSR performance of large company has positive impact on it, but the SEMs are negative relationship. Dou [13] empirically analyzed the panel data of 955 listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen during 2009-2013, and the results show that the positive impact of CSR on financial performance is not obvious. Chen [14] selected “China Top 100 Corporate Social Responsibility Development Index” from 2009 to 2012 to analyze the impact of CSR on financial performance of China’s state-owned and private listed companies. The relationship between CSR and financial performance are different in different industries, and the results of the research analysis using listed companies in all industries are not necessarily applicable to each industry. Due to the characteristics of sample data of small sample size and poor information, the grey correlation model is established to empirically analyze the relationship between CSR and financial performance based on the companies’ CSR report and annual Report from 2012 to 2017

The Measurement Index System of CSR and Financial Performance

Empirical Analysis

Findings

Conclusion