CSR Versus Business Financial Sustainability of Polish Enterprises

Abstract

There are two approaches to “business sustainability”. One explains it through CSR practices that contribute to sustainability of the world, and the other defines it as company’s ability to survive and prosper financially in the long term. The main goal of this research in progress is to determine the relationship between the two approaches and answering a question: How is corporate social responsibility implementation related to the financial prosperity of the Polish listed companies? What kind of CSR implementation (incidental, tactical or strategic) could be associated with financial well-being of businesses and their sustainability? This paper presents results of the analysis of 93 Polish listed companies for the years of 2007–2017. Aggregate measures of CSR maturity and financial sustainability were used. Analyses concerning the relationship between CSR maturity and company’s financial sustainability and potential lead to the conclusion that in the studied sample these two categories remain independent. The study has shown that CSR maturity is not associated with financial sustainability or market valuation of companies, but it depends on the size of the company and the industry it operates in.