This study examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) in Taiwan. Using CSR awards as a social responsibility indicator, this study finds that socially responsible firms can achieve financial results superior to those of firms which do not pursue CSR initiatives. The relationship remains after endogeneity is treated. The Google Search Volume Index (SVI) is used as a specific proxy for firm visibility, observing that it has a positive influence on the CSR-CFP relationship. On further separation of the sample into electronics and non-electronics industries, the results demonstrate that SVI has a positive influence on the CSR-CFP relationship in the electronics industry. For the non-electronics industries, the results reveal that board ownership has a significant positive influence on the CSR-CFP relationship, and a negative relationship if it is a family business.

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This study investigates the determinants of initial public offering (IPO) underpricing by focusing on variables relating to information asymmetry, investor sentiment, and corporate governance and examines whether the determinants of IPO underpricing in high-technology and non-high-technology IPOs differ. With the data from Taiwan from 2009-2011, this study finds that overallotment is negatively related to underpricing, whereas market momentum, first day trading volume, and managers' ownership retention rates are positively related to underpricing, particularly for high-technology IPOs. Our results support the signaling hypothesis in high-technology IPOs.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate whether mutual fund investors can make effective cash flow timing decisions and examine the sensitivity of these decisions to past fund performance using cash flow data at the individual fund level.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines performance persistence and investor timing ability of 200 domestic equity mutual funds in Taiwan between 1996 and 2009. In particular, a performance gap measuring the difference between dollar‐weighted average monthly returns and geometric average monthly returns is used to evaluate investors' timing ability.FindingsThe empirical results show that funds that have performed well (poorly) in the previous year tend to continue performing well (poorly) in the following year, and investors' timing performance is negatively related to fund performance. The results also show that investors' timing performance is significantly and negatively related to fund size, length of fund history, and momentum‐style of funds, but positively related to value‐style funds. These results suggest that mutual fund investors are loss‐averse and demonstrate return‐chasing behavior in well‐performing funds.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the mutual fund performance literature by proposing an integrated framework that jointly tests fund performance and how it affects investors' cash flow timing decisions. Furthermore, the paper individually measures investors' timing sensitivity for the current best (worst) performance funds and consecutive two‐year best (worst) performance funds, and contributes to a growing body of research on the behavior of mutual fund investors.

This article investigates the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the productivity of parent firms for multinational enterprises in Taiwan. The current research specifically examines the potential differences in productivity effect between FDI toward developing (vertical FDI) and developed countries (horizontal FDI) and between electronics and non-electronics firms. Using panel data on Taiwan firms from 2000 to 2005, results obtained using propensity score matching (PSM) show that multinational firms experience a higher productivity following their FDI in developing countries. A time lag exists in productivity gain of investment to developed countries, and is relevant only to electronics firms. Employing the generalized method of moment of the panel fixed model to control for problems of endogeneity and unobservable heterogeneity, the empirical finding suggests that productivity effect caused by investing in developing countries remains significantly positive. A lagged productivity-enhancing effect is also found after FDI in developed countries for both electronics and non electronics firms.