UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS ERASMUS UNVERSITY ROTTERDAM HO CHI MINH CITY INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES VIETNAM THE NETHERLANDS VIETNAM – THE NETHERLANDS PROGRAMME FOR M.A IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS THE IMPACT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON FIRM PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF VIETNAMESE COMPANIES BY TRAN PHUOC LOC MASTER OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS HO CHIMINHCITY, NOVEMBER2016 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES HO CHIMINHCITY THE HAGUE VIETNAM THE NETHERLANDS VIETNAM - NETHERLANDS PROGRAMME FOR M.A IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS THE IMPACT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON FIRM PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF VIETNAMESE COMPANIES A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS By TRAN PHUOC LOC Academic Supervisor: Prof. NGUYEN TRONG HOAI HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER2016 DECLARATION This is to certify that this thesis titled “The impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Firm Performance: The case of Vietnamese companies”, which is submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Development Economics to the Vietnam- Netherlands Program (VNP). The thesis constitutes only my original work and due supervision and acknowledgement have been made in the text to all material used. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank and gratefully express my special appreciation to my supervisor – Prof.
Nguyen Trong Hoai for all of his guidance, useful recommendations and valuable comments for my thesis. Secondly, I wish to convey my deep gratitude to Dr. Pham Khanh Nam, Dr Truong Dang Thuy for their valuable suggestions and comments for my TRD as well as the econometrics models. Furthermore, I will never forget the dedication of all VNP teachers and supporting staffs to give us high-quality lectures.
Next, I am also grateful to my wonderful teammates and classmates at VNP C21 for their help and motivation in our great time together. Special thanks to my family, friends and colleagues who support and encourage me during the thesis and studying time in this program. ii ABBREVIATIONS GSO General Statistics Office of Vietnam OLS Ordinary Least Square FEM Fixed effects model R&D Research and Development REM Random effects model ROA Return on assets ROE Return on equity SMEs Small and Medium Enterprises SOEs State-owned enterprises TCS Vietnam Technology and Competitiveness Survey UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization VCCI Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry VES Vietnam Enterprise Survey iii ABSTRACT This study attempts to identify the determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and to examine the impacts of CSR on firm’s financial performance of 6435 Vietnamese firms extracted from the combination of the Vietnam Technology and Competitiveness Survey (TCS) and the Vietnam Enterprise Survey (VES) within a three year period from 2010 to 2012. By applying the panel data and Fixed Effects Model, the empirical results suggest that CSR may have positive relationships with firm performance whereas the determinants of CSR include firm size, R&D participation, final goods ratio and ownership structures.
These results are supported by a majority of empirical papers about CSR (Erhemjamts et al., 2012; Margolis et al., 2007; Russo and Fouts, 1997) and theories about CSR such as stakeholder theory, resource-based view and stewardship theory. In addition, the study also reveals the situation of CSR in Vietnam: although a large number of Vietnamese firms are already aware of CSR, most of firms only participate in Labor CSR, which is mandatory by laws while Community-related CSR is generally ignored. Based on the findings, the thesis may propose several policy recommendations to improve the CSR practice in Vietnam. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents DECLARATION.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS. v LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF FIGURES .6 The structure of this study .1 Corporate Social Responsibility .2 Measurement of CSR .2 Measurements of firm performance .3 Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Performance .1 Vietnam Enterprise Survey .2 Vietnam Technology and Competitiveness Survey .3 Data sample in this study.4 Corporate Social Responsibility Index (CSR Index) .2 Variables and measurements .3 Conceptual framework and model specification. 38 RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.1 Overview of Corporate Social Responsibility and performance in Vietnam .2 Descriptive analysis results .1 Determinants of CSR engagement.2 Effects of CSR on Firm Performance.
54 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .