Since the 1980s, the media, government and public have been increasingly concerned about environmental and social consequences beyond corporate activities. Green scandals, exploitation of employee welfare and negative press releases on social responsibility attract considerable publicity. Investors have easy access to detailed CSR rating reports published by myriad organizations. As a result, CSR has evolved to feature on the avoidable corporate governance agenda (Porter and Kramer 2006). Companies actively participate in CSR activities for a variety of reasons, such as considering risk management (Eisingerich and Ghardwaj 2011), enhancing brand differentiation (Fry et al. 1982; Griffin and Vivari 2009), achieving “triple bottom line” which refers to the balance between “people, planet and profit” (Elkington 1994), or the expectation of reduced control. In addition to gaining a positive reputation, most companies invest in fragmented philanthropic activities instead of thinking about how the CSR proposition could be integrated into their value chain. Some pioneering companies, such as Nestlé and Clarins, that closely linked a social issue to business have proven beneficial to society while strengthening strategy (Porter and Kramer 2006). In China, CSR is a fairly recent concept that attracts considerable attention and quickly becomes popular over the decades. Rapid economic growth, loose fiscal policy and a more liberal market transformation catalyze the crowd's craze for business success. The absence of effective oversight, however, provides convenience for shady corporate activities. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Poisonous baby milk, fake lamb made from stray cats, industrial effluents secretly injected into the bottom of underground water... all kinds of cruel incidents diminish the trust of customers. To save reputation and differentiate themselves from venal competitors, companies actively engage in CSR initiatives. The global expansion of Chinese multinationals also facilitates Chinese enterprises to join the international trend of CSR investment (Msika et al. 2016). Although the general public holds companies accountable for the social consequences of their operational activities, many companies are reluctant to take on social responsibility. Social responsibility is often seen as “a cost, a constraint, or an act of charity” for winners (Porter and Kramer 2006). Many researchers try to prove that a proper CSR strategy could produce better financial performance from both a theoretical perspective and an empirical approach, but the conclusion is often refuted in developing markets. Literature Review The investigation of the interactive relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance (CFR) could be traced back to the 1970s. Most researchers find a significantly positive relationship. Margolis and Walsh (2003) reviewed 109 articles since 1972 on this topic and found 54 positive, 28 insignificant, and 7 negative results. 20 articles provided no explicit findings. For example, Waddock and Graves (1997) used CSR scores classified by the KLD as a measure of CSR disclosure, ROA and return on sales as a measure of CFP. They find that companies with better financial performance in the current year are more likely to have better CSR disclosures next year...
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