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Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Economic Performance

Author

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  • Belu, Constantin

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

  • Manescu, Cristiana

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

Abstract

This paper studies the link between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and economic performance of companies. Acknowledging the argument that companies might behave socially responsible strategically, i.e. favoring the CSR dimensions that provide competitive advantages, we construct a novel CSR index based on a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model. We argue that this index accounts for CSR achievements from a strategic perspective, and use it to analyze the link between CSR and economic performance expressed by Return on Assets (ROA). When explicitly accounting for strategic behavior of companies, our findings reveal a significant positive relationship between CSR and economic performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Belu, Constantin & Manescu, Cristiana, 2009. "Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Economic Performance," Working Papers in Economics 362, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics, revised 01 Jan 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0362
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate Social Responsibility; Data Envelopment Analysis; Strategic CSR; System-GMM;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C67 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Input-Output Models
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

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