This study analyzed whether a systematic relationship exists between corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and corporate financial performance using 191 sample firms listed on the Korea Exchange. The Korea Economic Justice Institute (KEJI) index of 2015 was used to measure CSR performance; profitability and firm value were used to measure corporate financial performance. Return on assets was used as a proxy for profitability, and Tobin’s Q was used as a proxy for firm value. The correlation between these variables and CSR performance was examined through correlation and regression analysis. The results confirm that CSR performance has a partial positive correlation with profitability and firm value. These results are partly consistent with those of previous studies reporting a positive relationship between CSR and Korean firms’ financial performance using the KEJI index before 2011. In the relationship between CSR performance and profitability, only social contribution yields a statistically positive correlation. Analysis of the correlation between CSR performance and financial performance indicators revealed a positive relationship between the growth rate of total assets and corporate soundness and social contribution. Both soundness and social contribution showed a positive correlation with Tobin’s Q, the measure of corporate value.

Corporate social responsibility has recently become a new metric of corporate performance. Some argue that corporate social responsibility should be used not only for corporate image improvement, but also as a major competitive strategy. Given this perspective, this study considers the effect of corporate social responsibility on firm value using data from all firms listed on the Korea Exchange from 2005 to 2015 that provide corporate social responsibility information. Specifically, we use the Korea Economic Justice Institution Index, which is an important metric for corporate social responsibility in Korea, to empirically analyze the relation between corporate social responsibility and firm value. Further, given the growing attention to the Korean manufacturing environment and the significant influence of the global manufacturing environment, we aim to determine the differential characteristics of manufacturing corporations using the relation between corporate social responsibility and firm value. The results strongly support a positive relation between corporate social responsibility and firm value. Furthermore, our detailed analysis of the manufacturing industry indicates some differential characteristics with respect to this relation. Overall, we find that every corporation should adopt corporate social responsibility as an active competitive strategy, taking the corporate condition into account.

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From a supply chain perspective, new technologies such as blockchain can improve the efficiency and competitiveness of logistics and increase customer satisfaction. Although blockchain technology has been lauded as a way for firms to build sustainable supply chain networks, the rate of acceptance of this technology remains low. Therefore, this study seeks to identify the factors that discourage firms from merging blockchain with the supply chain. Instead of providing further reasons for adopting blockchain technology, we try to understand what deters firms from adding blockchain to their operations. Following the deductive approach, a confirmatory factor analysis is conducted on pre-test questionnaires to test, improve, and verify the constructs (questions) to measure the hypothesized factors. A theoretical model is proposed based on the hypotheses, and structural equation modeling is applied. The results are estimated using the partial least squares approach and a sample of 83 respondents. Our findings based on our empirical data support most of our hypotheses. We find that various factors impede the adoption of blockchain technologies, including technological barriers, constraints rooted in organizations and the environment, and system-related governmental barriers. In addition, various factors are critical determinants of resistance to blockchain in the technological, organizational, and environmental dimensions.

The extant literature shows that institutional investors engage in corporate governance to enhance a firm's long-term value. Measuring firm performance using the F-Score, we examine the persistent monitoring role of institutional investors and identify the financial aspects of a firm that institutional monitoring improves. We find strong evidence that longterm institutions with large shareholdings consistently improve a firm's F-Score and that such activity occurs primarily through the enhancement of the firm's operating efficiency. Other institutions reduce a firm's F-Score. Moreover, we find evidence that, while monitoring institutions improve a firm's financial health, transient (followed by non-transient) institutions trade on this information.