An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship Between Change in Corporate Social Performance and Financial Performance: A Stakeholder Theory Perspective

Stakeholder theory provides a framework for investigating the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance. This relationship is investigated by examining how change in CSP is related to change in financial accounting measures. The findings provide some support for a tenet in stakeholder theory which asserts that the dominant stakeholder group, shareholders, financially benefit when management meets the demands of multiple stakeholders. Specifically, change in CSP was positively associated with growth in sales for the current and subsequent year. This indicates that there are short-term benefits from improving CSP. Return on sales was significantly positively related to change in CSP for the third financial period, indicating that long-term financial benefits may exist when CSP is improved.     

Perceived value,transaction cost,and repurchase-intention in online shopping: A relational exchange perspective

This study proposes a framework to understand the impacts of both value-related and transaction cost-related factors on repurchase intention from online shoppers' perspective. In particular, this study defines the construct of cost as a three-component conceptualization (i.e., information searching cost, moral hazard cost, and specific asset investment). Based upon empirical evidence on a survey of 887 online shoppers, this study shows that consumers' perceived value and each cost component are positively related to repurchase intention. Importantly, information searching cost exerts the most significant influence on repurchase intentions among the four relational factors. The result suggests that providing sufficient cues to reduce consumers' information searching cost is the core element of repurchase intention formation. This article closes with theoretical and practical implications.     

Internationalization strategy,financial constraints and assets (in)tangibility. A study of euro area countries after the 2008 crisis

This paper studies the determinants of companies’ performance during the crisis based on their short-term (sales changes) and medium-term (exit) reaction, using firms’ data from the European Firms in Global Economy (EFIGE) survey and combining them with balance-sheet statistics. The results, based on the four largest euro area countries show that vulnerability to the crisis depended on a company’s mode of international operation. More sophisticated forms of internationalization increased firms’ resilience in the first and second waves of the crisis. The paper also investigates the mediating role of intangible assets and financial constraints in the relationship between internationalization and companies’ response to the crisis. While intangible assets were very important for preventing a drop in sales for internationalized firms immediately after 2008, they amplified the probability of firms’ exit five years after the crisis in weaker European countries (Spain and Italy). At the same time, financial constraints increased companies’ probability of exit. Innovation prevented a drop in firms’ sales and firms’ exit.     

Industrial policy in the era of global value chains: Towards a developmentalist framework drawing on the industrialisation experiences of South Korea and Taiwan

In this paper, I present a framework for GVC-oriented industrial policy that merges the so-called GVC perspective and the so-called developmentalist perspective—the latter of which is a perspective that industrial policy is most often analysed through, but has been somewhat neglected by the GVC perspective. I argue that the GVC perspective too quickly dismisses the relevance of industrial policy in the East Asian development experience, particularly those in South Korea and Taiwan between roughly 1960 and 1990. By drawing on the industrialisation experiences of these two countries, my framework for industrial policy suggests that the GVC perspective's ideas for industrial policy would be strengthened by more clearly acknowledging the continued importance of three observations by the developmentalist perspective: (a) the need for governments in developing countries to bargain with foreign investors for the purpose of domestic industrialisation; (b) policy design should not only focus on increasing exports, but also focus on replacing some imports with domestic production; and (c) linking up to the value chains of transnational corporations based in high-income countries can bring about some benefits, but ultimately, successful industrialisation necessitates a degree of competing with transnational corporations. State-owned enterprises have historically played an important role in this respect.