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Effects of corporate social responsibility on brand value

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Abstract

This study analyses the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on brand value, with the sample being a select group of US corporations with the best global brands. On the basis of the instrumental stakeholder theory, we confirm that CSR is a valid source of intangible competitive advantage. It is not used, however, to its full potential, given that CSR has a lesser impact on business performance than the size of the company and other conventional financial indicators. We contend that this undervaluation is because of the non-alignment of CSR initiatives with corporate strategy. The value added of this study in terms of methodology is the successful employment of panel data technique and the introduction of brand value as a measure of corporate performance. We also provide empirical evidence of the long-term nature of the impact of CSR initiatives on corporate performance.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science-FEDER (Project SEJ2007-67496) and the Ibero-American Chair in Management and Corporate Social Responsibility/Santander Bank, for their financial support for this research

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Correspondence to Tiago Melo.

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1holds a Master's degree in Business Management from Liverpool University and a Phd Degree in Business Investigation at the University of Salamanca. He collaborates with the Ibero-American think tank in Management and Corporate Social Responsibility of the University of Salamanca.

2holds a PhD in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Salamanca. Galan is Professor of strategy and organization at Salamanca University. He holds the Ibero-American Chair in Management and Corporate Social Responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility, Sponsored by Grupo Santander. He has published in numerous academic journals, including British Journal of Management, Industrial and Corporate Change, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of World Business, Long Range Planning and Research-Technology Management.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Table A1.

Table A1 Table of corporations included in the sample of this study

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Melo, T., Galan, J. Effects of corporate social responsibility on brand value. J Brand Manag 18, 423–437 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.2010.54

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